HIKING

 Banded Peak IT IS FINALLY DONE. I don't know how long I have been talking about this hike but I am sure it has been almost two years that we have been talking about it. One of the four major peaks in Elbow, Banded is something that my family and I have wanted to do for quite some time. The crew for today consisted of my brother Ben, Dad and Mom. The plan was set - we were going to use E-Bikes from Ben's work for the approach, stash and lock them and then do the actual hike. Anyone who hikes Banded from the Big Elbow parking lot has my full respect; just to the trailhead of Banded is 14.5 km. We ended up leaving the car around ten, after picking up the bikes and getting everything ready. For anyone not familiar with E-Bikes, they have 3 modes: eco, trail and boost. Given that we would only be doing 28 km total of biking we could use them in the boost mode the whole time (and thank god we could). It makes a big difference to be able to do this. The bike in itself is not hard, bu...

 Mount Ware A late start for Dad and I today meant that we would need to plan something fairly quick; we landed on Ware. Having done little Ware earlier in the month, Dad had a pretty decent idea of what to expect from Ware. We opted to complete the first 5km or so on bikes as it is fairly flat and that would cut down on time. Arriving to the trailhead sometime around 12pm we unloaded our bikes and got started. The portion of the trail we biked was fairly mellow, but do not be fooled into thinking it will not put you out of breath. The trail is pine covered double track that has a creek running parallel to it the whole time we followed it. It was quite evident the trail see's fairly regular use by horses, which made it slightly less enjoyable for dad and I. About 5km into the trail, after a brief mishap that led to an unnecessary creek crossing, we stashed the bikes in the forest and started the hiking portion of the day. The majority of the portion we hiked was trail that runs thr...

 Moose Mountain Sunrise Hike Heading out later in the day Sunday (around 5pm) the plan was to hike with our gear to somewhere close to the base of the false summit of Moose, set up camp, and then proceed to the summit and return to our camp set up already. The trail fam for the day would be myself, my brother Ben, Dad, Dad's friend Mike and Mike's son Olly - quite an extended fam as compared to usual. The first part of Moose is always pretty mellow; steep double track covered in fallen pine needles. The first part I always find creates the best conversations because everyone is still relatively not out of breath. Today the conversation for Ben and I was how incredibly lucky we are to be able to have the mountains as part of our backyard. The fact that we can both work for the day, come home from work and go sleep on top of a mountain is something that most people do not have the opportunity to do. The only downside of having the mountains as a part of your identity is that it h...

 Mount Glasgow I can say with a fair amount of confidence this was the hardest hike I have ever done. Although the distance and elevation are considerable (23km and 1344m of elevation), that was not the reason this hike was hard. Everything that could have gone wrong pretty much did. Starting off from the Elbow day use parking lot, the approach to Glasgow is one of the trickiest parts of the hike. After you cross the bridge you hook an immediate right and you are officially on the Mount Glasgow Front approach route. This section of the hike can be described as "Create Your Own Adventure", if you are lucky enough to find the trail good luck staying on it. The trail weaves through the trees and has become so overgrown it is nearly impossible to navigate. On top of the route finding, I made the wise decision to go the day after it poured rain and my pants and boots became immediately soaked.  Meadow on the lower section of trail My thinking was that once you exit the forested se...

  Mount Burke First hike of the season in the books!! I returned home from Ontario on Friday and it took a total of two days before I found myself re-immersed into Alberta's nature filled backyard. Upon some discussion with the parents, we decided that Mt. Burke would be a good place to start the hiking season, and that proved to be an excellent choice. An early departure time of 6:15 am meant we would beat the heat and the crowds - should there be any. After a quick pit stop in Turner Valley to pick up our final member of the trail family for the day, our sights were set on Burke. The trail starts with a section of up and down forested trail and after a very steep descent you find yourself going consistently up until the summit. I like to think the trail can be broken down into three distinct sections: powerline walking, switchbacks and exposed rock. I am fairly confident that when I say the powerline section is the least favorite part of the hike, the rest of the trail fam would ...