Hiking – Page 12 – HIKES & HAMSTRINGS

Happy Birthday at Lillian Lake

Pre-hike photo at the Lillian Lake Birthday Hike 🙂

This past weekend was the second annual birthday hike. To be honest, I didn’t even know there was going to be an annual birthday hike! Last year, I coordinated a Nihahi Ridge hike to celebrate a few birthdays- mine, Robin’s, Shari’s and Laura’s. Thanks to Robin this year for his last minute planning and for rounding up the troops! It ended up being quite a success.

Triad of sexy

One of many bridges on the trail

The hike of choice was Lillian and Galatea Lakes Trail, about 30 km south on Highway 40. As with all hikes in the Rockies, it was beautiful. There are many bridges that cross Galatea creek along the way before reaching Lillian Lake. Due to time, we opted not to proceed to Galatea Lake, and instead stopped at Lillian Lake to feast. You see, we eat like royalty on these birthday hikes! Thanks to everyone’s contributions, we had bread, cheese, back bacon and turkey, malbec wine, grapes and cherries, pepperoni sticks, veggies and dip, and of course, birthday cake. There was definitely enough food to go around! We ran into a snag when we forgot a wine opener, but thankfully we were able to use a knife to push the cork into the bottle, and then thanks to Robbie, we used a celery stick as a spout to keep the wine flowing. Genius!

Laura showing off the malbec wine 🙂

Feasting like royalty!

Genius! A celery spout.

Wine for all!

Robin also decided to bring an inflatable raft for the lake. Why had I never thought of this before for any of my other hikes?! It’s quite tranquil to sit on a raft in the middle of a glacial lake. Such a great idea 🙂

Relaxing on Lillian Lake

All in all, the hike was about 5.5 km each way and took about 6 hours (10 am – 4 pm). It didn’t involve anything too strenuous or a scramble at the top, but it was a very enjoyable afternoon with good friends, great conversation, awesome food, and lots of merriment. Happy Birthday everyone, and cheers to another great year!

Cheers! Happy Birthday Everyone 🙂

To The End of the Earth!

Torres del Paine National Park (photo from Gadventures)

At the time of starting this post, it’s Thursday evening, and I’m in my SQL database class where we’ve just started the topic of automation. Naturally, my limited attention span for databases has caused my mind to wander. And to where did it wander? Travelling. As Peru approaches, I’m getting quite excited! And even though I don’t know how the 4 day hike will go, I’m already convinced that I’m going to love it. So I began perusing the Gadventures website for other tours that speak to me. As I was looking at the plethora of tours among the many different regions of the world, two things became clear to me:

1) I love to hike.

2) I love South America.

My love of hiking is no secret- I live beside some of the most spectacular mountains in the world! And Peru will be my second trip to South America. The first visit was a Gadventures tour of Chile and Argentina called Southern Discovery, where I had some of the best steaks I’ve ever eaten, and fell in love with Argentinian Malbec wines. I remember drinking wine in the Maipo Valley of Santiago, experiencing the beauty of the Chilean Lake District, crossing the Andes to Bariloche, and exploring the vibrant streets of Buenos Aires. Fantastic memories… *sigh*… but alas, I digress…

This was a gorgeous evening. Osorno Volcano 🙂

Excursion to Chiloe Island. I had some of the best salmon ever here!

A little while ago, I was on FB and came across a photo from a friend, Ashley. She’s totally awesome, and someone who sees the positive in life while taking advantage of all the amazing things life has to offer. In fact, Ashley was my tour guide on another Gadventures tour I took- Costa Rica Quest, which was also an amazing tour that I would recommend to everyone and anyone wanting an intense week-long adventure. Anyway, back to the photo. She was somewhere that I had never seen. The mountains in the backdrop of her photo were incredible! I messaged her right away: “Where is this and how do I get there??” She responded shortly after. (Thanks for your response! :D). She was trekking in Torres del Paine National Park in Chile. Say whaa?, so I googled it. Oh My God. Naturally, trekking in Torres del Paine National Park was added to my list!

Torres del Paine National Park (photo from Gadventures)

So which tour has sparked my fancy? Well, as the name of this blog post suggests, it’s the tour that will take me to The End of the Earth! After flying to Buenos Aires, the tour takes adventurers to Glacier National Park and Torres del Paine for some hiking before heading to Ushuaia, which is commonly regarded as the most southernmost city in the world. This it’s back to Buenos Aires for a final night on the town! Gawd, that sounds amazing. From the tour description:

“Perfect for outdoor enthusiasts who want to experience one of the world’s most pristine wilderness settings, this challenging two-week adventure packages the region’s essential highlights into one incredible journey: explore Torres del Paine, encounter the Perito Moreno Glacier and hike Glacier National Park. With years of local experience, we employ the region’s best guides to reveal the extraordinary, bringing you to our exclusive campsites which provide stunning views of Patagonia. Prepare to be awed.”

Believe you me. I am prepared to be awed.

Torres del Paine National Park (photo from Gadventures)

To The End of the Earth!

Earth Day on Prairie Mountain

The view to the south from Prairie Mountain

Yesterday, April 22nd, was Earth Day. The weather was absolutely beautiful, and I could think of no better way to spend Earth Day than to hike a mountain. I’ve really grown to love hiking since moving to Calgary. It gives me a sense of connectedness with nature and awe for my surroundings in ways that I find difficult to feel otherwise. This would also be my first solo hike of the season. As much as I love to travel with company, hike with friends and be around people, I do enjoy doing things on my own. I’ve always been that way, and consequently, I’ve done quite a bit of solo traveling and hiking. I notice that when I get all thinky, I either go to self-help books, or I venture out on my own. Yesterday was one of those days.

“I’m happy to be here!”

I decided to hike Prairie Mountain, which I’ve done several times and figured it would be a great hike to kick-start the hiking season :). It’s also close to Calgary near Bragg Creek, so it makes for a fairly quick excursion. I was interested to see how I would do considering it would be the first intense hike since last year. Either way, I knew that my quadriceps were in for a treat!

Snapping a quick photo during the ascent

Just me and the trees

I was preparing for a muddy/snowy hike

Another photo-op

The home stretch!

The hike was shorter than I remembered, but just as gruelling as I expected. My quads were definitely on fire at times and I had to control my pace and breathing for most of the ascent. I passed many hikers along the way, but for the most part, it was just me and the trees, earth and mountains around me. The summit is beautiful. On a clear day, Calgary rises up in the east among infinite miles of flat prairie land. In the west, there are gorgeous views of many mountain peaks. In between panting or focussing on my steps, I would smile to myself and reflect. I feel extremely fortunate and lucky to be living so close to such amazing natural beauty. Why wouldn’t I take advantage of it as much as possible…? There are so many epic hikes I want to complete, and seemingly never enough time.

Calgary in the distance

The summit. The flag wasn’t there last year 🙂

Stunning mountains to the west

Panoramic from the summit

The Elbow Falls area was swarming with families out to enjoy the weather, so by the time I parked and geared up with my bag, gaiters, microspikes and hiking poles, I didn’t begin my ascent until 1:50 pm. Even with the mud and snow, I reached the summit by 3:20 pm. The descent was kind of fun- a combination of walking, sliding, and running down the mountain. I was back at the car by 4:20 pm- so 2.5 hours up and down ain’t bad at all!

So many people in the Elbow Falls area

At the summit. I conquered you real good, Praire Mountain.

A Winter Hike at Grassi Lakes

Wow, it’s been a while since I’ve posted a hiking-related entry. That’s probably because evil winter came, and along with it, snow and cold weather. I don’t really like cold weather :(. I often want to punch winter in the face. But I don’t mind winter activities even though I don’t partake in them very much.

Well, today, friends Robin and Tushna and I decided we would head out to Canmore for a winter hike. You know, ’cause nature is pretty cool and stuff. The temperature was remarkably mild for this time of year and the sun was shining, so it was the perfect day for a trail. After stopping off at an information centre in Canmore, we decided on the Grassi Lakes hike, which I had wanted to do for quite some time. Grassi Lakes wasn’t so grassy, but the snow cover made everything look beautiful. I wouldn’t call the trail strenuous by any means, and it took maybe 1.5 hours, but it was a really nice little hike after being on a hiatus for a couple of months :). And the company was great as always- lots of chatting and laughing and jokes. The perfect way to spend a Saturday afternoon!

Pocaterra Ridge and Some Grizzly Bears!

So here’s a super quick synopsis of the amazing hike at Pocaterra Ridge, located in Highwood Pass… it was awesome. The End. Actually, I have a bit more to say :). Hiking season is winding down and winter is around the corner… Noo!! This, of course, means that I’m trying to get in as many hikes as I can. Adriane, her friend Mia, Paul and I decided that Pocaterra Ridge was the next to be conquered. We’ve been pretty lucky with weather lately, and yesterday was no exception. The weather was great, which meant for some stunning views all along the ridge.

I'm happy to be in the larches! — I’m happy to be in the larches!

Paul and I, and Mount Tyrwhitt in the background

The really cool thing about this hike is that it can be done as a one way hike, and it’s best completed with a car shuttle. We parked one car at Little Highwood Pass, drove to the Highwood Pass parking lot about 9 kilometres down the road to the trailhead, and then hiked up to the ridge, crossed each of the 4 peaks, and hiked back down to Little Highwood Pass. The larches are beautiful at this time of year, and the ridge was amazing to traverse. It was also a pretty challenging hike. I haven’t hiked many ridges, but if there are others as awesome as this one, then I need to find me some more ridges!

Almost at the top, but I had to stop for a photo!

Paul, Adriane and I at the top of the first peak

Three more peaks to go... :) — Three more peaks to go… 🙂

Stopping for lunch at the second peak :) — Stopping for lunch at the second peak 🙂

As we were leaving the Little Highwood Pass lot, a few hundred metres from where we were parked, there was a mama grizzly bear and her 2 bear cubs at the side of the road! We stopped on the opposite side of the road and watched from the car. It was the first time I had seen a grizzly bear, and she was huge! And to see her with her 2 cubs was an amazing sight. The cubs were playing, running and eating without a care in the world. They didn’t even seem to notice the cars stopped at the side of the road, taking photos and admiring in awe. It was definitely a great sighting at the end of a marvellous hike 🙂

Grizzly cubs playing :) — Grizzly cubs playing 🙂

Pocaterra Ridge is located in the Highwood Pass area of Kananaskis. The distance from the Highwood Pass parking lot to the Little Highwood Pass lot is about 9 km. The elevation gain is about 550 metres, but the cumulative gain as you go up and down over the 4 peaks is 1036 metres. We started at 10:25 am and reached the end of the hike at 3:30 pm :), so a little over 5 hours. All in a day’s work :). And just think, had we finished 15 minutes later, we probably would have crossed paths with the grizzly family on our trail… and that probably wouldn’t have gone over too well!