Grrrrrizzly goodness!

Well, we timed it pretty good today I must say! The day started out with blue-bird skies and perfect temps, so Shawn and I decided to grind up Grizzly Peak. I've done it before, but he hadn't, so we headed down to the Kananaskis Lakes area and managed to summit this cool little peak before a nice afternoon thundershower rolled in.

A hazy view down the valley.

Summit brewskis! Might have to be a new tradition?

 

The hike was great, the company was great, the lunchtime views and beverages were great (LOL!).... what more could a person ask for!! Love my life!!

Cheers!





K-Country lives!

Due to all the flooding earlier this spring and restricted access to the area, the status of Kananaskis Country has been a bit of a mystery to me. So today, my friend Megan and I took the long way around to the Burstall Pass trailhead. To dispell all myths.... Highway 40 is open to the Kananaskis Lakes / Hwy 742 junction, and there are a few campgrounds open, however many hiking/biking trails have been damaged or just plain washed away and are still not accessible at this time. As well, the Kananaskis Golf Course is NOT OPEN.... but they were having a massive sale in the pro-shop!

It will be interesting to see how things look in the next few years. Nature's wrath really took its toll; here's hoping it will repair itself!

At any rate.... Once we got ourselves onto the right trail this morning (damn useless guidebook - or maybe it was the useless guidebook reader??!), it was nothing but stellar-ness!

Burstall Flats

Robertson Glacier

View back down the valley.

Burstall Pass

Leman Lake

The trail was varied and awesome - braided creek flats, gladed meadows, Karst formations, thick forest - and the views at the pass were gorgeous! EnviroCan was forecasting rain.... but as you can see, the dreariness did not materialize.

Tomorrow is supposed to be 27C, so more outside time is in order - can't wait! Yeah!

Cheers.

Twist my rubber arm....

Well.... it is a holiday Monday, and I (briefly) had plans to work today.... Thank crikey I came to my senses!! LOL!

At the last minute, Stanley lured me outside. Stanley Glacier, that is. My friend Caroline came out from Calgary this morning, and in between cloudbursts, while standing in the Beamers parking lot, we decided to load up and go west and see what we could find.

At Castle Junction we headed south.... turns out we made an excellent choice!



Does that little brown-haired girl look familiar?!

And ironically, as we pulled into the trailhead, a long-time friend whom I haven't caught up with in months was getting out of the car next to us! So we all hiked together. Awesome!!

Yup! Much better than being at work!!

Interesting burn area.

It's Sonja!

 

Tons of waterfalls, coming off the hanging glaciers.

The headwall below the tongue of the Stanley Glacier.

In the 'austere' meadow, as one of the
guidebooks describes it!

'Austere' is accurate, I would say!

Stanley Glacier

The view back down the valley.

A marmot - posing as a cairn??

We got rained on for a few minutes, on the way down.
It was refreshing!

Blue skies again!

 

The day was absolutely fantastic, and I think it might be one of my new favorite trails. Did I mention how happy I am that I bailed on work?!

Sadly, tomorrow I don't have the same luxury... I do need to make an appearance... but it's a short week and in just three more sleeps I'll be back in the mountains! Yeah! My happy place.

Cheers!

Classic Rockies

 

Today was another simply amazing day in the mountains!  We left Canmore early this morning and made a random stop at the Lake O'Hara parking lot... and how's our luck - we pulled up right beside the very nice Parks lady, asked if there was a chance we could get on the bus, and *POOF*! She had a cancellation and we were IN!!

Early morning calmness.

Fun viewpoint!

This guy took an after lunch dip...

You know how I love jumping pics....

..... well, everybody was jumping!!

 



 

 

Of course we had a back-up plan had the bus not panned out... But I am still stoked that it did - my friend goes home to Ontario tomorrow... so finishing his trip by spending a day in Lake O'Hara is super rad! We were so fortunate to be able to get in there on short notice.

 

Not sure what's up for the rest of the long weekend.... Folk Fest is happening in Canmore, and the weather forecast is continuing to look decent. I may have more visitors for a day or two - so no matter what I get up to, it will be entertaining I'm sure!

 

Cheers!