It seems I’m about to lose count of the number of times I’ve hiked and will hike Yamnuska.
On Sunday, Robbie, Adriane and I ventured out to Heart Mountain, but we discovered that Heart Creek Trail had been completely wiped out due to flooding and rock slides. It was quite the sight :S. We ran into a Parks Canada guy who explained that most of the Kananaskis landscape has now been changed. Bridges are destroyed; rock slides and floods have completely altered the trails; and many areas are now inaccessible. I think he said something like 400 mm of rain in a 24 hour period (or maybe a 48 hour period?) plus an additional 300 mm of melting snow. With that crazy amount of rain in such a short period of time, flooding seemed inevitable. It was very sad news to say the least, and it will be many years before the Kananaskis trail system will be back to ‘normal (… after such an event, is it even possible?).
He did recommend the east side of Yamnuska as a good place to go. We were itching to hike so of course we would venture off… and so would many other hikers. The lot was super busy, which made sense, seeing as it was one of the only trails in the area deemed safe for hikers. The sun was ridiculously hot that day and the mosquitoes were swarming like mad. Irregardless, it sure felt good to get out to the mountains! We didn’t reach the summit, but that’s okay- I think there will be many more opportunities this summer to conquer Yamnuska. Again.
Stats
Start time: 12:10 pm
End time: 4:50 pm
HIKES & HAMSTRINGS 