My blog

A little bit about me and a lot about the things we do.

Saturday 19 August 2017

Picklejar Lakes Hike

Once again we headed towards Kananaskis for our hike.
There is still quite a bit of smoke in the air from the fires in British Columbia but it seems better as you go south and so we picked a hike a little further down the road.

We heeded the warning at the start of the trail head.
We carry bear spray, have a bell jingling, huff and puff up the trail to make noise and try and keep our eyes and ears open for anything that might look like a bear.  The trail started at a gentle ascent but soon it felt like we were touching our nose to our toes.

Once we emerged out of the trees we walked along a meadow before heading into an even more steep slope.



As I hike up these mountains I always try to remind myself that the views at the top will be worth the effort along the way.
We take lots of breaks along the way to take pictures and let my heart rate go back to a somewhere normal beat.  The trail turned to rock and shale with a thin path kind of laid out to guide your way.


This hike was leading us to four lakes one after another.  According to my fact sheet Picklejar Lakes are classified as Paternoster Lakes. 
 
Paternoster lakes occur in alpine valleys, climbing one after the other to the valley's head, called a corrie, which often contains a cirque lake. Paternoster lakes are created by end moraines, or rock dams, that are formed by the advance and subsequent upstream retreat and melting of the ice. - Wikipedia
 
So the goal was to hike to Lake # 1 and continue to # 4.
Lake One:

Lake Two:

Lake Three:

Lake Four:

After a short break we headed back.  Going back is always easy because you now have land marks AND you are going down hill.  Although some of the steep slopes were a little bit tricky.



Just climbing up over a rock pile
 




Ron's selfie!
As we got close to the road we heard an animal noise and Ron saw something black cross ahead.  Fortunately they were just free roaming cattle.  Strange to see but much better than encountering a bear. 
However, we were not skunked on the wildlife because on our drive out we did have to stop for these two.
It was another productive hike...A 8.3 km hike, burning just over 1700 calories which meant we treated ourselves and our boy to an A & W supper. 
 
Today Ron is off to work for 8 days in a row.  I'm catching up on life around the house.  So until my next blog....enjoy your week!


Thursday 17 August 2017

Ron's Birthday Hike

Last week was Ron's birthday.  He doesn't get the senior discount yet but he's closer each year.  I guess we all are.  The day had a little bit of everything.  Family, dogs, beautiful scenery and a birthday boy.
Still looking good!
The hike that was chosen for this day was in Kananaskis.  It was nice and warm.  The dogs took a break right off the bat to enjoy the view.
We really couldn't blame them because it was quite spectacular.
The trail started off quite gentle as we walked away from the Upper Kananaskis Lake.  We were treated to a falls just before we entered into the steady incline through the woods.

At our age, Ron and I are always content to follow the young ones up the hill and take breaks along the way.  When we made it through the trees we were rewarded with a beautiful view of Rawson Lake and a perfect place to have our lunch.



We decided to go to the far end of the lake even with bear warnings.  We carry bear spray but really hope that we will never have to use it.



The only bear that we did see on this day was on our way to the hike and we were safely in the vehicle.  The hike was close to 4 km one way with an elevation gain of 300 m (1000 ft).  It felt pretty simple after our Jasper hike.  On our way down we continued to snap pictures.




It always takes so much less time to come back down.  We stopped at the Upper Kananaskis Lake for a little break and three out four took the polar plunge into the Glacier fed lake.





Somebody had to stay dry and take the pictures.  It was a great day.

The next day was Ron's official birthday.  He worked but then was treated to a steak dinner and chocolate cake.  We played two games of Catan but sadly he was not able to win either.  Girls rule, boys drool!

Tomorrow we plan on heading to the mountains again to check out another trail with more lakes and mountains.



Thursday 10 August 2017

Ptarmigan Cirque Hike

There are so many choices of places to hike.  Two years ago I purchased a Hiking Book and it has come in handy to be able to chose the great trails to try.  Yesterday we headed to Kananaskis to the Ptarmigan Cirque Hike. 
The goal was to get to the top of the trail.  The elevation gain was 700 feet which was quite a bit less than our Jasper hike but it was still a good work out as we hiked through the trees.  Once we broke through the tree line the trail opened up to lots of wild flowers.



The goal was to to take lots of breaks on the way up for me to catch my breath and enjoy the views.

My great little instructions help me know how much further.  Along the way we passed a group of seniors who have a hiking club.  That pushed us to go a little further then them.  The trail turned into a steep slope of crushed rocks.


While I rested Ron took the time to build an Innukshuk.

We spent some time taking pictures of the cirque, the snow and me trying to get back down the shale.


On our way down we saw a couple of falls, some more beautiful flowers and gorgeous views.



Our whole hike only took us around 2 1/2 hours and I burned 970 calories.  We treated ourselves to a dairy queen on the way home.  If you burn the calories, you get to eat them!

Next hike....tomorrow!