Happy Easter to all! Is there a better way to spend the day than hiking in the mountains? I guess that’s debatable, but I know my preference :).
Yes, the forecast called for snow. And boy did it snow. The snow even scared away some of my hiking companions. But in the end, three of us brave souls ventured out for a quick ascent of Prairie Mountain in Bragg Creek.
So on Sunday, a few of us headed out to Bragg Creek to hike Nihahi. As we drove, we noticed that there is so much snow in the mountains! A huge part of me is bummed that summer hiking is over; however, I’m super pumped for getting out just as much this winter. Traditionally, I’ve been low-key during the winter, but this year, I’m hoping for lots of winter walks, snowshoeing, nordic skiing and snowboarding. The 8 months with fly by in no time!
We made the last minute decision to hike Prairie Mountain instead. It’s generally a safe bet, snow or no snow, and it’s always guaranteed to have other hikers powering up the mountain. We made it to the top, enjoyed some lunch on the surprisingly windless summit, and then headed back down. Maybe it was the cold, but we were all exhausted afterwards. On this Thanksgiving weekend, I had so much to be thankful for. Among them, and I’ve said it before: I’m thankful for living so close to the mountains with the ability and capability to hike with people near and dear to me. 🙂
After the Booty Hunt on June 1st, I decided to go hard core… again… with P90X. It seems like my body is getting tired of it, though, since it decided to revolt! After day 3, I developed a nasty rash on my forearms and torso, followed by a horrible occurrence of positional vertigo that made me crazy dizzy. Okay, so I can’t say for sure that it’s the P90X that caused that, but what I do believe is that my body is unwinding from stress, unbeknownst to me, and manifesting in interesting ways. As everything has gone in the last few months, I was a bit derailed and needed to rest. But this has not stopped me from having a busy first half of the month!
The day the vertigo started, Adriane, Sarah, and Adriane’s friend Jo and I decided we’d hike Prairie Mountain. Yes, I’ve done this several times now, but for an early season after-work hike, it’s always a good one. And what a great group- so many stories being told, and so much laughter! It really did feel like the quickest ascent of Prairie in a long time. I do enjoy hiking on my own, but the time does pass faster when sharing the experience with friends.
Once the hike was done, I rested for a few days on Robbie’s orders. I tried to get lots of sleep and watched a bunch of TV (HIMYM is so good!). By Saturday, I finally decided to call Healthlink and a nurse advised me to see a physician, who diagnosed it as a bit of positional vertigo before sending me for a bunch of lab tests and an EKG. What a fun way to spend the weekend! But following this restful period, I did slowly get better throughout the week. On Wednesday, I walked over to the UofC to see Paul and Rob graduate. Congrats to Paul on his PhD and Rob on his MSc in Community Health Sciences. I still assert that my Certificate in Relational Databases trumps those :).
By Friday, I was stir crazy. I got in my car and decided to drive to Banff. Even though it was rainy, there’s always something new to see, so I stopped by the recently opened Cave and Basin National Historic Site, the birthplace of Canada’s national parks. It’s always fun to learn something new: The first national park in Canada was Banff in 1885. The underground cave contains bubbling thermal waters that smell of hydrogen sulphide gas. Translation: it smelled a lot like rotten eggs. I also learned that there’s a Banff Springs Snail, which is only found in the springs of Sulphur Mountain. A visit to Banff would not be complete without some random perusing of stores. So I did that too. The next day I would finally get to hike again by conquering Ha Ling, but more on that later…
June would not be complete without a few birthday celebrations. It was a fun dinner at The King and I for Samir’s 31st, and a great evening with lots of catching up and laughter for Selina’s 40th. So all in all, despite the vertigo, it’s been a pretty awesome first half of June!
Stats (for Prairie Mountain):
Start time: 5:20 pm
Summit: 6:45 pm
End time: 8:30 pm
It may only be the end of March, but I have now declared the start of hiking season! The weather has been so gorgeous lately that it’s hard not to drop everything and get out to the mountains. After Thursday’s attempt at Tunnel Mountain with Sony (only to encounter sheets of ice on the trail), I headed out to Prairie Mountain on Friday, which always makes a good shoulder season hike. Thankfully, all the squats from Shaun T’s Insanity have truly been doing wonders, and my legs did well to get to me to the summit. My XTR ice spikes also helped with all the snow on the mountain. Prairie continues to be a grind each and every time. I started the trail around 1:40 pm, reached the summit at 3:10 pm, and then was back at the car for 4:10 pm. This will be my initial metric to compare future times, as this will not be the last time I do Prairie Mountain this season!
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| The view to the south from Prairie Mountain |
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| “I’m happy to be here!” |
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| Snapping a quick photo during the ascent |
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| Just me and the trees |
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| I was preparing for a muddy/snowy hike |
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| Another photo-op |
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| The home stretch! |
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| Calgary in the distance |
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| The summit. The flag wasn’t there last year 🙂 |
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| Stunning mountains to the west |
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| Panoramic from the summit |
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| So many people in the Elbow Falls area |
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| At the summit. I conquered you real good, Praire Mountain. |
HIKES & HAMSTRINGS 