Dan and I at the summit of Cascade Mountain one year ago
Exactly one year ago, I was in the midst of an incredible experience. Dan and I were hiking up Cascade Mountain with a Yamnuska guide, a Parks Canada guide, and Jeff from The Real Banff. I had won the Big Mountain Challenge that month, which resulted in a $26000+ donation to The Kidney Foundation of Canada. Of course, hiking mountains was also part of the win… and hiking mountains is what we did!
Fast forward a year later, and Dan (this time accompanied by his brother) is about to board a plane en route to Calgary for what we have called the Big Mountain Challenge-versary! Dan and I don’t see each other very often since we live in different cities, but when we do, there’s usually some sort of adventuring to be had. And since I have had a lack of scrambles this year, scrambling will be part of the adventure! All I know is that I’m pretty stoked about a weekend filled with hiking, laughs, and shenanigans. I guess spending quality time and catching up is okay too eye roll.
Saturday was hike #2 for the weekend. Fact: my ankles are weak now. Weak! Ever since ripping some ligaments in my left foot about a year ago, it has never been the same. Lo and behold, a short walk home from work earlier in the week would result in me spraining the same ankle again in a similar way. It’s been sore since then. My hope for Saturday’s hike was to take it easy on the ankle, so I strapped on the ankle brace from last year (it’s on its come-back tour), and a few of us headed to Buller Pass in Kananaskis.
Another fact: I very much dislike the gravelly Spray Lakes road. But it sure does lead to some amazing places!
View from Buller Pass. Ribbon Lake can be seen from here.
Buller Pass was a very nice day hike. Not super long with a bit of everything: forests (both alive and charred), a waterfall, a bridge or two (though one of them was out and replaced with a few logs for fording the water), a nice ‘meadow’, and a last push up a rocky slope to incredible views of the valley, mountains, Ribbon Lake, and Guinn’s Pass. Let me emphasis: the views are gorgeous! Of course, there was time for Shari, Robin, Bjorn, Robbie and I to take some photos… along with seemingly lots of other people. Who knew the hike was so popular?
The day ended with gorging on Grizzly Paw’s burgers and fries in Robin’s car because of a freak rain storm. Random, yes. But super tasty, nonetheless.
Stats:
Start: 12:45 pm
End: 6:10 pm
Distance: 15 km
Elevation of Buller Pass: 2485 m
Elevation Gain: 671 m
On Friday, Jess, Dave, Robbie and I headed out for an after work hike. I thought about going to Nihahi, which is where we ended up, but with the nights descending upon us earlier and earlier, we didn’t quite make it to the summit. That ended up being completely okay, though. We all packed sandwiches for dinner and by the time 7:00 pm rolled around, we decided to stop and feast. We chose a spot, about mid-way to the summit, facing west.
Such a pretty meadow!
I really do live in an amazing place. Calgary is a great city in its own right, but I love living here because of its proximity to the mountains. One minute, I’m working in the Statistics Canada data centre on main campus; the next, I’m eating dinner and overlooking the Elbow Valley while the sun sets behind the clouds and the expansive mountains ahead. The magnitude of the view was enough to create a reflective mood among the four of us, and in some ways, put us in our place. Not all dinners are that awesome in the true sense of the word.
On Sunday, despite being ridiculously tired, Robbie and I headed out for a hike. We stopped at the Barrier Lake Visitor’s Centre in Kananaskis to ask about potential hikes. The parks guy was super helpful, and we decided on a short hike to Rawson Lake, which has been on my list of hikes to do in Alberta for quite some time! So off we went to Peter Lougheed Provincial Park and parked at the Upper Lake Day Use area near the Kananaskis Lakes. I was all decked out in my 70L backpack and new North Face backpacking boots. I figured it would be a good training day, seeing as my big Glacier trip is a week away!
Broken bridge across Sarrail Creek
The hike was nice and short. Due to the flooding, a bridge was completely out, and so it required “fording” of the Sarrail Creek to access the trail. (A quick google search has revealed that “fording” is the act of crossing a river or stream at a shallow place). Then it was a steady incline to the lake. Apparently we were just short of crossing paths with a moose! Although that would have been quite the site to see, it’s probably best that we didn’t encounter it.
That way to Rawson Lake!
The lake itself was beautiful- a common reaction to most glacial lakes I’ve hiked to. We stopped for a lovely lunch and contemplated hiking up to Sarrail Ridge for an even better view… but alas, we opted for a nice, easy day, and headed back to the car. It was definitely a nice day for a hike and the weather cooperated by not raining until we were done!
Having lunch at Rawson Lake
One other point. I have now seen, with my own eyes, Mount Indefatigable. I’ve had that scramble on my list for goodness knows how long. I knew it was near the Kananaskis Lakes, and I think I’ve seen it before, but I’ve never stared at it from across the pond. I will conquer you, Indefatigable. Mark my words…
Mount Indefatigable… I will conquer you!
Stats:
Start: 12:45
End: 3:30
Lunch: 2:00 – 2:30
Distance: 7.8 km roundtrip
Elevation: 320 metres to the lake
This is my 50th post of 2013, which is halfway of my goal to write 100 posts this year! And what a fitting post this will be. It’s all about the birthday hike! The birthday hike tradition began when I was turning 30. While many people may want to party for their birthdays, all I wanted to do was get a bunch of people together and go hike a mountain with lots of great food and wine. We ended up making it a group birthday event to celebrate a few of the July/August birthdays. And thus began the tradition. Oh what fun!
Evidence of flood damage
Fast forward to this past Sunday for the 3rd anniversary of the glorious day. And it was quite a large group too! We all met at the McD’s before exiting the city and once the troops were gathered, we headed out to Kananaskis to hike Baldy Pass. In reading about the hike online, it seemed like a nice one to do that wasn’t overly strenuous and offered a great place for lunch. It is also a pretty popular trail to do, and although it was affected by the flooding, it was open and accessible. The morning was beautiful and sunny, and the wonderful weather would continue throughout the day.
Awww
At around 10:30, we left the trailhead for the pass. We were quite the merry group, chatting along the way and enjoying each other’s company. The beginning of the hike was quite rocky and there was definitely evidence that things had changed post-flood. Then it was into the forest for a short but steady ascent to the pass. The views from the pass were quite nice. On the one side, grey rocky mountains; on the other, quite the view of Kananaskis forests (I’m not sure what the area is called :S). Then it was time for lunch.
Lunch time!
This was the best food spread yet! We had bread, cheese, pasta, prosciutto, turkey slices, strawberries, hummus, veggies, samosas, potato salad, gluten-free brownies, some other things, and of course, wine. Actually we had two great tasting wines this time, which were both polished off by the end of the lunch. Great job everyone- I definitely think we all ate well and enjoyed it! And of course, lunch culminated with someone (Laura, ahem, and Robin) seemingly drinking wine from the bottle. It’s not a birthday hike until that happens! Another year gone, another birthday hike completed. Until next year… 🙂
Great selection of wines
Stats:
Distance: 8 km roundtrip
Start: 10:30 am
End: 2:45, including our long celebratory lunch!
Elevation gain: 575 m or so
HIKES & HAMSTRINGS 