Turbulent times

So, a lot has happened since I posted last!  My canadian work visa ended (rather sooner than I expected) and I left Canada last April to spend the summer in Colorado with my parents, while Mike finished up work in Calgary and looked for a new job in the states.  Needless to say, it was a rather strange, unsettled year, not knowing where I was going to end up or what was going to happen.  I also lost my backpack and most of my outdoor clothing on a botched plane ride… that’s a long story in itself!   But, things move forward, clothing can be replaced, and Mike and I are now back together and settled…sort of… in Lexington, Kentucky.  We have done some exploring in this area already and hope to be breaking out the tent soon, so stay tuned for adventures from Appalachia!

It's not the Rockies, but there are some cool things to explore just the same...

Bryant Tarn overnighter

Bryant Tarn, Elbow-Sheep Wildland Provincial Park, June 26, 2010

If you are looking for a quick, secluded, quiet backpack, this is it.  Bryant tarn is accessed from Powderface Trail, a dirt road that connects Elbow Falls to Hwy 68.  We parked somewhere near the halfway point, and followed a faint road west to Canyon Creek.  To get to the tarn, you follow this expansive drainage for about a kilometer then turn right (west-ish) up a secondary drainage.  After following a faint trail with several creek crossings, some scrambling over rocks, and a bit of bushwhacking, numerous cairns on the lefthand side marked a steep trail up the side of the canyon, which then levels off and becomes a pleasant stroll through woods, meadows, and scree fields to the lake.  We estimated the trip was only around 7-8k, but took 2 1/2 hours because of the rough trail.

I can tell you, this was the most idyllic camping spot I’ve been to.  The area is open to wild camping, but if you go, please do your part to keep this area pristine!  We camped beneath the stunted spruce at the edge of the lake, surrounded by towering cliffs, and didn’t have any company other than pikas.  The lake still had some icebergs floating in it, which didn’t deter Mike from taking a quick dip in the morning, and we got to explore the area by scrambling up some of the lower cliffs surrounding the lake.   

This is an ideal spot for an evening hike in, and I’d love to go back and spend a day lying in the sun on the lakeshore and enjoying the quiet beauty.   For those who are more ambitious, like Mike, there are numerous scrambling options from the tarn, and he’s managed to explore much of the network of ridges in the area, connecting Mount Bryant, Tiara Peak, Wasootch Ridge, and Porcupine Ridge to name a few.

I’m smiling, so this must be early in the hike in! This gives you an idea of the terrain.

Sunrise on the tarn

Mike actually stood on that iceberg. If the ice doesn’t tell you about the water temp, the look on his face does.

Overlooking the tarn from the back cliffs, looking back down the canyon.

No, I don’t think I will!

 

Me on Forget-me-not Ridge

Forget-me-not Ridge, Elbow Falls area- Kananaskis, June 13, 2010

  So after our respective sisters had left for home, we were feeling like we’d been drinking and eating a bit too much, and maybe moving our bodies a bit too little.  So we headed out to do something that would make us feel a bit more normal again.  We’d been eyeing up Forget-me-not since last summer, and it looked in condition, so we decided to do it.  A few steep sections and river crossings made it interesting, but overall the trail wasn’t too steep or technical so we hoped not to be too sore the next day. 

To get to the ridge, you park at the trailhead near the Elbow Falls campground, at the south end of Powderface Trail.  We crossed the suspension bridge, then followed horse trails east and, after a river crossing, to a small, unmarked trail veering south, that headed straight up the hill.  That must be it!  The trail climbed very steeply for about 1/2 hour and then we came out onto the top of the ridge.  We were greeted by wide, rolling, grassy slopes and wide open views of the Rockies to the west and the praries to the east- even a view of downtown Calgary miles away.  There was no defined trail most of the way, but going was easy and we were able to meander along while enjoying the gorgeous views and blue sky.  I felt like breaking out into song, “The hiiiilllls are aliiiiive…”   

After one small scrambling section and lots of rock hopping, we made it to the high point of Forget-me-not Mtn.  It took us about 3 1/2 hours, and I was a little weary, but feeling good.  We had really only planned for a 5-6 hour hike, and as such only had limited food and water.  But since we were feeling good, we decided to complete the 24-k loop by dropping from the south end of the ridge into the Threepoint Creek valley, which would then take us to the Elbow River and back up to the trailhead.  Our map showed that there was a faint trail, so we were pretty confident.   

Mike and I on the summit of Forgetmenot Mountain, 2330m. The ridge you can see snaking away behind us.

As we started heading down onto the big, flat meadowy area below the summit, that we hoped would lead us to a quick, easy descent to the creek, I started getting a little worried.  There was not even a hint of a trail, and we had to climb down part of a cliff rock face.  We wandered out onto the meadow and walked to the far end, looking for a swift descent.  We didn’t get it.  Instead, we went scree-sliding between the thin trees and rock bands all the way down- no sign of a trail.  But when we reached the valley we found one following the creek!  Hallelujah! 

  

My celebration didn’t last long.  I realized that the map said that sections of the trail had been washed out during flooding in 2005, and it was obviously in some disuse.  No sooner did we find the trail than we promptly lost it.  We had a very obvious valley to follow, so we weren’t in danger of getting lost, but it is no fun bashing through trees and brush worrying about ticks and all of the huge spiderwebs with spiders IN THE MIDDLE of them, so when you run into the web you get a spider on your face!  EEEEEWWWWW!  Creepy-crawlies big time!  But at least we spotted some of the mountain’s namesake while we were wandering  

Forget-me-nots!

We finally found a trail after about an hour of wandering around and bushwhacking.  It was still faint, but the track was wide, and had been in use by deer, moose, and at least one (recent!) bear.  I started feeling better and better, and was relieved when we came to a post and a new trail (Threepoint Mountain Trail) that had been used by horses recently.  It was an easy return route, but by now we’d been going at least 6 hours, were out of food and almost water, and still had 9k to go back to the car.  And I started to find out about my horrible sumburn that was starting to form even under 3 coats of spf30.  (I’m VERY fair-skinned.)  So we soldiered on.  Although the last river crossing lifted my spirits a bit with the cool water, the last 4k along the flat, wide Big Elbow trail felt like a death march, but we made it back finally. 

  

I would DEFINITELY recommend this hike- it was so beautiful and easy walking along the top, and I feel like there will be some amazing flowers on the ridge in a few weeks- the only tricky part is the river crossings, for which I’d recommend sandals and some sturdy hiking poles- and no young ones going across by themselves.  However, I think we would have been better off simply retracing our steps along the ridge.   If you decide to do the whole loop, just make sure you bring enough water and food, and be prepared for route-finding and bushwhacking! 

Waterton with The Sisters

Bertha Lake and Mount Galwey, Waterton Lakes National Park, June 5-6, 2010

We were recently blessed with having both my twin sister, Christa, and Mike’s sister, Charlie, over for a visit.  Charlie comes across the pond every year for “boot camp” as she calls it- basically Mike drags her on the most brutal hikes and backpacks he can think of, and she gets an awesome Mountain workout before returning to her city life.  My sister is in her 4th year of veterinary school, and what better place to get beef cattle experience than Alberta? 

For the weekend that they were both here, we wanted to get as much mountain time as possible.  Banff looked rainy all weekend, but Waterton looked beautiful, so our choice was made!  Our friend Joey came along too.  After an exceedingly leisurely morning, we finally picked the perfect camp site and decided to get in a “quick hike” before dinner.  Most of the trails were still snowed in, so we decided on Bertha Lake. 

The Bertha Falls trail is a very popular hike from the Waterton townsite.  The trail winds along the lake shore, with some excellent views over the lake, then up the canyon at a gentle grade to the falls at about 4k.  Bertha Falls are beautiful, although much smaller than Cameron Falls which you drive past to get to the trailhead.  Most groups, especially families with kids, just turn around at the falls.  We decided to venture a bit further to Bertha Lake, another 4k up.  After the falls the trail gets a bit steeper and winds up the valley.  We were fortunate that most of the snow was gone, and what was there was easy to kick steps into.  As we neared the top of the valley there were some gorgeous views out east over the praries.  We finally got to the lake, which was still iced over and snow-covered, but beautiful tucked into a big cirque with rock cliffs on all sides.  We sat on the rocks overlooking the lake and soaked in the sun, then headed back down. 

Since the hike took us about 3 hours, we were pretty hungry by the time we got back to our campsite!  Because we were car camping, we decided we would go all-out with dinner.  We got a roaring fire going, and we cooked up some chopped veggies in foil, roasted corn on the cob, grilled (and slapped) some amazing Alberta steaks.  SO much food, I couldn’t even begin to eat it all!  But it was SOO delicious.  After dinner and s’mores, we contemplated what hike we would do on Sunday.  Most of the hikes were still snow-bound so we had considered doing Tick Ridge on Mt Crandall, until Christa looked up at the tall, craggy yellow peak towering over our campsite and said, “Let’s do that one!”.  We looked it up on the map, and it was actually in our Scrambles of the Canadian Rockies book- Mount Galwey.  It was listed as a difficult scramble, but most of the difficulties were in one or two tricky moves on the rock bands near the top. 

The morning dawned hot and sunny as we unloaded at the trailhead for Galwey.  After last year’s tick fiasco, we were worried about trekking through tall grass, but there turned out to be a very nice trail up through the grassy slopes.  The trail rose quite steeply but the deep red rock bands characteristic to Waterton provided some flatter areas that were a nice reprieve from the climbing.  We immediately got amazing views of the valley which just got better and better as we climbed.  Eventually, we came out onto a final wide shoulder.  Above us was a wide, smooth scree slope, crowned by rock cliffs- this gives Galwey a distinctive look from this south approach. 

Here I have to make a confession- for the last year or two, I’ve developed something like vertigo or panic attacks when I am on big, smooth, steep slopes.  No idea why this has started terrifying me, but I kind of freaked out as we started up the scree slope on Galwey, so I went back down to the shoulder while the rest of the group soldiered on to the final cliffs.  There I made friends with some chipmunks while the others continued.  After the scree slope, the trail scrambles over some good, solid rock, with a few rather airy drops below.  Christa, Charlie, Mike, and Joey had fun peeking through a natural window in one of the cliffs at the top, where the wall is narrow enough for some of the rock to have crumbled away.  Joey and Mike braved the last few hairy 5th class moves to get to the top.  Christa and Charlie wisely hung back, but got to laugh at the boy’s summit dance moves.  From my vantage point below I could see some tiny figures boogying at the top. 

Finally the group wandered their way back down and picked me up. It had been a long day, and an amazing weekend!  Thoughts of Chicken on the Way carried our feet back down the steep slopes and back to Calgary.

The sisters heading up Bertha Lake trail

Bertha Falls

Resting at Bertha Lake

Deer love to hang around campsites and yards in Waterton

Our manly men cooking steaks with a big stick over an open fire. grunt.

Enjoying their roasted corn!

mmmmmmm, steak

Approaching Mt Galwey

Christa and Joey heading up Galwey

My sister sitting in the window in the rock on Galwey

Christa and Charlie near the summit of Galwey

Mike looking pleased to have made it to the top!

If you look closely, you can see two figures on the center stack of rocks- Mike and Joey on the summit.

At the end of the trip- Chicken on the Way! We earned it- Mike looks happy :)

Not the best first hike of the season…

Mount Cory, Banff National Park, Canada, April 18, 2010

There is only one way to describe the descent from Mount Cory- brutal. 

Mike and Caro taking a breather!

Mount Cory is a distinctive mountain just outside of the Banff townsite.  There is a very popular hike that goes over Cory Pass to the east of the summit, then loops around Mount Edith.  Of course, this is far too traditional for the likes of my friends, Joey and Caro and the BF, so we decided to attempt to scramble to the summit of Cory via a south-west ridge.  This is rather simple- you park on 1A at a paved turnout, and walk up.  Straight up.  For a long time. 

Of course, the quick ascent gave us fantastic views almost immediately.   Mount Rundle looked incredible, and you could see all of the town of Banff, Tunnel Mountain, even the Banff Centre for the Arts.  To the west we had stunning views of Borgeau and Goat’s Eye (part of Sunshine ski area.)    We were lucky enough to get a warm day and bright blue skies, so our spirits were high despite the occasional thigh-deep patch of snow on the rocky ridge.

Eventually we came out onto a saddle between two high points, carpeted with alpine grass and lichen.  With a shock, we recognized Castle Mountain in the distance as we came over the pass!  At this point, Caro and I had had enough climbing so we laid in the warm sun while the boys investigated.   We weren’t sure which way the summit was, right or left- so they climbed the rise to our left to get a  better vantage.  Turns out, the summit was the other way, to the right (East), and still a LONG way off.  We were probably only halfway!  Discouraged and sleepy from the sun, we decided to simply turn around- the views from the pass were so rewarding, we weren’t so motivated to try for the summit, although it would have been fairly straightforward.

At our pass, looking north-west.

This is where all of that ascending became DESCENDING.  Now there are 3 types of muscle contractions (here is the sport scientist in me coming out.)  The first is concentric, where the muscle is shortening, like in the “up” phase of a bicep curl.  The second is isometric, where the muscle is contracting but not changing in length, like pushing into a wall or holding a weight stationary.  The third type, eccentric, occurs when the muscle is contracting but lengthening at the same time, like the down phase of the bicep curl.  It is eccentric contractions that result in delayed onset muscle soreness or “DOMS”- and durning downhill hiking, your quadriceps are constantly contracting eccentrically.  I go into all of this because after this descent, I had the WORST case of DOMS in my life!  I seriously couldn’t walk two days after this hike, and the soreness lasted for 5 days.  OUCH. 

Ah, well, I guess that’s what I get for making this the first hard hike of the year!  This is why it’s just as important to train on downhills as it is uphills.  As for the hike, it was beautiful and scienic the whole way, and a great day out with friends, but definitely not a walk in the park.

Calgary Police 1/2 Marathon, and a new approach to big goals.

OK, so this isn’t a mountain post, but it was a pretty amazing day for me.  I have been having a very rough year with injuries, but I signed up for this half marathon in February thinking that 3 months was plenty of time to train.  Well, it would have been, had I not gotten this weird patellar tendonitis/ITband syndrome/bursitis thing going on.  So I only ran 2-3 times a week about 20 minutes each time, hoping that I would snap out of it.  No such luck, but by then it was too late to sell or transfer my race entry, and I am WAY too cheap to let $50 go to waste like that!  So I had to run it. 

I recently read the book “Walking the Big Wild” by Karsten Heuer, who walked from Yellowstone to the Yukon along the Rockies while trying to raise awareness for the Y2Y initiative.   I know it might sound ridiculous, but I decided I would approach this race with the same mindset as I might approach a massive multi-day walk like that- just go easy, pick away at it, and it WILL get done, eventually.  

So I had no speed goals, no expectations, just to go out and enjoy the course and the people.    And guess what- it WORKED!  And it worked better than I could have imagined.  I actually got a better time than I was expecting, and more than that, it wasn’t the least bit painful.  Given that I hadn’t run more than 20 minutes for the three weeks leading up to the race, this was one of the most empowering experiences of my life.    I hope that I will be able to carry over this “slow and steady wins the race” mindset to other aspects of my life, from big hikes and backpacks to paying off my student loan debt.    No more expectation of instant gratification for this girl!

Ok, it’s been a while…

I haven’t been keeping up with posts on here! I’ve had SO many adventures in the last few months. I will try to get some of them written up so that people can use them to plan their own trips. In the meantime…

I recently went on a “self-discovery” road trip. Things have been getting much too heavy at work and at home and I needed some time alone to get my head straight! It did help a lot, and although I didn’t come up with all the answers or have any epiphanies, I do have a better sense of what I need to do to get them. On the up side, I had an amazing drive west on Highway 1 through Banff, Golden, and Revelstoke (my new favorite mountain town!), then north to Jasper. Absolutely beautiful drive, and just what I needed to get myself straight.

Aster Lake backpack

Aster Lake Campground from Upper Kananaskis Lake, K country, 11k one-way. July 18-19, 2009.

We did this backpack last summer, and have been dying to get back.  Aster Lake campground is a primitive backcountry site in Kananaskis Country, south-west of Upper K Lake.  It is outstanding because of the variety of terrain you travel through to get there, and for the plethora of day trips and peaks you can bag with Aster as your base.    Unfortunately, for these same reasons it is often booked solid all summer.

We got lucky this trip because some friends had booked this trip several months ago.  But, when they found out that there was still snow in the area, several of the group members backed out and Mike and I snagged two of the spots they had reserved. 

The trail starts with an easy 4k around Upper K Lake circuit trail from the day use lot.  The trail then turns and skirts around Hidden Lake, which (lucky for us!) was low because of the lack of snowpack this year.  If the lake is very full, this stretch can take three times as long because you are forced up into the treefall and undergrowth to get around the lake.  As it was, it took us about 20 minutes to get around Hidden Lake.

Then the fun starts! At the far side of hidden lake, the trail suddenly goes from flat to practically vertical (or at least it feels that way).  It winds through a treed slope and then onto scree fields, where you follow the valley wall above Fossil Falls.  This is a pretty tough section trail with a full pack on, and I always have difficulty with this section, navigating the steep scree with cliffs below. But the falls were breathtaking!  The other two guys we were with were much stronger hikers, so they had to wait for me for a while as I slowly picked my way up.

Once you reach the end of the scree, the trail comes out over the lip of the valley into beautiful, lush alpine meadows and pine tree stands, with moss and soft dirt trails.  Patches of rough rock peek through the moss, and looking closely we saw many of the fossils from which the falls takes its name.  The trail gets a little hard to follow here, as many faint trails branch off, but if you reach the main river, you can then follow the river upstream to the campground.   The trail goes over several rises as you head towards Aster.  Wait, is that a Port-a-Potty on the horizon?  We made it!

Aster doesn’t have set campsites, so we picked a nice spot with a view above the bear lockers, then found a snow patch to play on, practicing self-arrests and building T-anchors.  The whole time I gazed longingly at Warrior mountain, rising like a wave of rock above Aster Lake.  Not this time, since a small remnant glacier at the bottom warrants gear for glacier travel to reach the ridge, but this is definitely in my book of hikes to do in the future. 

The next morning the guys bid us adieu and headed off over Northover Ridge route to Three Isle campground.  I was disappointed not to be going with them, but Mike and I had to get back.  Other than navigating the scree slopes (that stuff is even scarier going down!), the return trip was uneventful.  Next time we go, though, I’m DEFINITELY going to plan on a day trip to the top of one of the peaks there!

Hiking around Hidden Lake, about to start the hard climbing.

At the top of the hard climb, above Fossil Falls- breathtaking!

Relaxing near Fossil Falls- love this pic.

Our little tent! Warrior Mountain in the background- I am obsessed with this peak.

The guys relaxing at the end of the day

You’re never too old to play in the snow!

 

 

Porcupine Ridge, Kananaskis Country, May 10 2009

Last summer, as a fairly inexperienced backpacker, Mike went out to try a loop in Porcupine Creek.  What was supposed to have been a fun overnight trip turned into a 12 hour day as he followed the wrong creek bed, was forced to scramble up a slippery, steep scree slope, only to discover he was on the wrong ridge and had to slide/fall/throw himself down another equally harrowing scree slope; he then found out that the creek bed he descended into was dry and had to stumble another kilometer in the dark to find water so he could set up camp. 

So was I surprised when he suggested we do Porcupine Ridge this weekend? you betcha.

Porcupine Creek trail starts at Highway 40 and runs east.  About a kilometer up the trail, the creek splits into a north and south fork, and the ridge rises up in between the two.  There is no official trail up the ridge, so you have to kind of pick your way over rock slabs and through thin pine forests for the first few kilometers.  The ridge opens up then, but apparently that means more snow, so progress was pretty slow.  After scramling over fun rocky slabs (the rock is super grippy and excellent for climbing), the trail followed the ridge slightly north and over a few steeper slopes.  The snow got progressively deeper, so we did eventually have to don our snowshoes.  While Mike marched stoically ahead, Mark and I had fun rolling snowballs down the slopes and watching them turn into giant wheels spinning down the hill.

The view from the top was beautiful- Wasootch ridge to the south, Tiara Peak dead east, Lorette and Mary Barclay to the west, and several beautiful peaks to the north.  We lunched atop a large snowdrift at the ridge crest, and contemplated our descent.  Since the snow was in good condition, we decided to glissade down a steep gully to the North fork far below. (NOTE: this was probably pretty stupid, so please don’t try it unless you know what you’re doing).  The top was pretty steep, so we were a little hesitant, but gradually we got more comfortable and it was a BLAST!  Except that I, in infinite wisdom, failed to bring waterproof pants or pants with any substance to them, so  the glissade pretty much felt like someone took ice-cold sandpaper to my bum.  Ouch.  But it was so worth it. 

At the bottom we had to bushwack a bit to reach the creek, and then just had a long, easy hike out along the wide bed of gravel and rock deposits, following the same route that a lone moose had evidently taken a day or two before.   At the bottom of the trail we encountered several groups of climbers taking advantage of the warm weather in the canyon.  Several creek crossings kept us on our toes- well, Mark did his best to stay on his toes anyway     It was a great hike, but after my run in Weaselhead Flats in Calgary the day before, my legs felt like jelly, and I was nodding off as we drove back into Calgary.

Looking east from Porcupine Creek trailhead

Nice view from partway up the ridge

 

This was supposed to be an easy weekend…

 

 

 

King Creek Ridge, Peter Lougheed Provincial Park, May 2 2009

We didn’t go backpacking this weekend, much to Mike’s dismay.  I told him I’d do a day hike instead, so he decided on King Creek Ridge, a 3k hike (6k round-trip) in Peter Lougheed Provincial Park. It looked easy enough, but Mike failed to tell me that the route to the ridge was a direct frontal assault of 750m elevation gain. 

 We arrived at the trailhead and promptly got lost trying to find the trail leading up the ridge.  So we followed a series of criss-crossing deer trails around in the direction we thought we should be heading.  Eventually, we discovered a series of cairns marking the trail, so we assumed we were on the right path, but as we kept going the slope got steeper and steeper, and we began scrambling over rock bands and scraggly bushes clinging to the slope.  I was getting worried, and my calves and hamstrings were burning. After about 2 hours we finally came out onto the ridge, which was topped by 2 feet of snow.  We had debated at the car about bringing our snowshoes, and decided to carry them despite feeling a bit silly on the dry, dusty trail.  We were extremely glad we had them at the top, even though my legs were not happy to be carrying the extra weight all the way up.

The ridge meandered along towards the north, becoming progressively narrower and more snow-covered.  We turned back where a large narrow cornice of snow covered the ridge crest, about 3/4 of the way to the ridge summit.  So we had lunch admiring the gorgeous 360 degree panorama, Kananaskis lakes to the west, a tall, striking ridge to the east, and sunny skies all around.  Then began the quad-burning descent back to the car.  Where we discovered that the ticks had been out in full force during all of our bushwacking.  Ah, nature!

My legs are still sore.

hiking back down the ridge, looking South