Hiking Above and Beyond

To better enjoy the photos, please click on them to increase their size.

Setting off yesterday, I thought the title of this blog might have been, 'Spending time with the Grizzlies'.

The 'Making Waves Gang' had spotted a grizzly soon after they departed Calgary and we were heading into prime grizzly country - The Boulder Pass / Ptarmigan Lake Trail,  19.3 kms, 694 m of elevation gain and 8.24 hours of amazing vista's.

Before heading out of the carpark, a check was made to confirm we had all the necessary gear - bear spray, hooter, whistle and instructions given on how to react! The initial hike was 3.7 km of road walking.

 Right from here, we regularly 'cooed' and called loudly 'yoho bear', banged our poles together and swivelled 360 degrees to check the surroundings. Guess who called loudest and longest?
Not long after leaving the road, we happened on actual bear footprints, but it was agreed they were at least 2 days old. About 2/3 the way through the hike up, we found more footprints and quite fresh bear diggings.

So here I am telling the tale of the 'hike above and beyond'. For all the warnings, noise making and forest and open space peering, it didn't detract from my enjoyment of the day. The 'Making Waves' team are extremely experienced hikers and I had complete faith in their research for this hike.

As we hiked along the road, birds were chirping in the firs and a stream gurgled and tumbled not far below.

At 2.6 kms [I needed to rest], I turned round and had my first view of Mt Temple, that was going to be so much a part of our day's beauty.

Just over a kilometre later, this is what we saw!

At this point, we crossed the ski fields at the back of the Lake Louise slopes, before entering a  narrow forest trail.

Eventually this opened out and the beauty of Ptarmigan Mountain revealed.

Streams were crossed.

Energy food eaten beside the cabin shelter.

Then onwards and upwards, not forgetting to look back and admire the Valley of Ten Peaks.

A marmot was on lookout duty.

And this ladybird was having a fun time exploring the vegetation.

As we were cresting Boulder Pass the vista's were staggeringly beautiful. My photos cannot do justice to the incredible  Mt Redoubt and its boulder field.

Could this hike get any better? The answer was before us, as we we began the descent to Lake Ptarmigan. The pristine beauty of the partly frozen lake, surrounded by patches of snow and dominating mountains, had me jumping for joy!

Thanks Andra for catching this moment.

I was lost for words, so I'll let the pics tell the story.

Finding our lunch spot.

Mt Ptarmigan towering over us.

At about 2 pm, we really had to tear ourselves away from this spectacular vista and commence the trek back down.

The beauty didn't lessen. Mt Redoubt 

And of course, if you hike with the 'Making Waves Gang', you have to be ready to play.

But now the time really had come to descend, with an element of bush bashing just for fun and some even louder bear noises from me.

 Mt Temple was determined to impress all the way down.

Glacier Lilies made a splash of yellow beside a gently flowing stream. As I took this photo, I was informed that they are prized food for the grizzlies.

In this view, Mt Redoubt was dominating the valley.

And so we were back to the road with a last lingering look behind to Mt Ptarmigan and a final view ahead of Victoria Glacier.

                                           

                                           

How lucky are the 'Making Waves Gang' to have these mountains on their doorstep, but how incredibly lucky am I to have met Andra through her blog and so get to share their mountains with them. My sincerest thanks for making these unforgettable memories.

I would love to read your comment.

Grotto Canyon - Canmore

To better enjoy the photos, please click on them to increase their size.

Our hike started from beside a delightfully small lake with picnic tables and hopeful fishermen. Not long after starting, I was wondering why Stuart had chosen this trail. We were passing the extremely loud, Baymag #2 Magnesium Processing facility. Thankfully its noise was just a memory, as the trail veered right through mixed forest and small pretty wildflowers, taking us to the edge of the drainage system for the canyon.

The views across the Bow Valley, near Canmore, were constantly changing with the weather patterns. The depth and width of this drainage would have multiplied ten fold in 2013, when 220 mls fell in just 36 hours. As we hiked, I tried to imagine the torrent of water surging between the narrow walls.

,

The trail trekked above the creek bed for a short distance, before dropping down and paralleling the trickle of water of today's stream.

The canyon walls appeared and the creek bed very quickly narrowed.

At this point the rain began to fall, so the camera was put away and the wet gear donned.

Some distance and time later, we left the canyon and again walked along the creek bed that was showing obvious signs of the force of nature.

This cave tempted us, but the slippery conditions prevented our entry.

It was at this point we turned round, but I feel that there must be more canyon around that corner.

Thankfully the rain passed and as we descended, we were fully able to appreciate the sheer canyon walls and tenacious trees, growing in the most improbable clefts of the rock.

The canyon is a popular rock climbing area and we witnessed several people readying to climb. Looking closely at the walls we could see many bolts, anchors and chains. These 2 lads had just finished climbing this wall. [medium difficulty for the area.]

Try this one.

A side canyon here took us to a small waterfall.

.

The wet conditions enhanced the colour of the rocks.

We found several ancient pictographs on the flat rock surface.

We missed the high level trail that we had hiked earlier and continued down an even narrower part of the canyon, wondering if we would have to retrace our steps.

The exit. Too bigger a drop.

Let's try the slide technique.

                     

                                    Success!

                                                        

The final hike back through the trees began, just as the rain drops rejoined us, thundering down just as we reached the car. Lunch beside the lake was cancelled.

At just over 6 kms, this was a short hike, but with its dramatic features, incredibly rewarding.

This is a link to the same trail, hiked by another blog friend in Feb 2013, before the weather event.

http://hikingwithbarry.com/2013/02/08/grotto-canyon-ice-walk-bow-valley-hiking-alberta

I would love to read your comment.