Powderface Trail

Activity: Trail Run

Distance: 14km (RT)

Altitude: 2,024 m

Elevation Gain: 500m

Area: Kananaskis (Bragg Creek)

Crew: Bennett, Mom

Lisa's Mom Rating: Yes

Trailhead: Winter gate closure on Highway 66

Getting There:

Go west on highway 66 until the gate closure.

Additional Info:

Beautiful (and windy!) winter day for a trail run.
You can also hike straight to the high point if you are looking for a quicker trip!

 Bennett on the trail

 Me on the trail

Bundled up in the wind

Tangle Ridge (Attempt)

Hike Name: Tangle Ridge
Activity: Hiking/Scrambling

Distance: Unknown (We did not reach the top. No GPS.)

Altitude: 3,001 m

Elevation Gain: Unknown (We did not reach the top. No GPS.)

Area: Columbia Icefields Parkway

Crew: Ben

Time to Summit: N/A (We did not reach the top.)

Lisa's Mom Rating: Yes

Additional Info:
This was similar to Roche Bonhomme (the day after, actually). We were on our way back to Calgary from Jasper and decided to pull over and strap on the snowshoes again. Basically once again, our energy was spent on route-finding and breaking trail for a few hours, and although we could have reached the summit if we were persistent, we still had half of our drive left and ended up turning around before our turnaround time. It was a beautiful day, and again this is a hike that I will most definitely attempt in the summer.

About 30 minutes into our hike

Maligne Canyon

Activity: Hiking/Walking

Area: Jasper

Crew: Bennett

Lisa's Mom Rating: Yes

After getting off of Roche Bonhomme, we decided to stop by Maligne Canyon and explore the boardwalk. I didn't end up taking any photos but it was beautiful in the wintertime and not crowded at all - I definitely recommend doing this one in the winter. We chatted with some of the ice climbers on the waterfalls, then hopped back in the car to head to Jasper Brewing Co. for BEER!

Beautiful winter day.

Roche Bonhomme (Attempt)

Hike Name: Roche Bonhomme
Activity: Hiking/Scrambling

Distance: Unknown (We did not reach the top. No GPS.)

Altitude: 2,495 m

Elevation Gain: ~750m (turnaround point)

Area: Jasper

Crew: Ben

Time to Summit: N/A (We did not reach the top.)

Lisa's Mom Rating: Yes

Additional Info:
We attempted this in winter so it was a slog. Ben was breaking trail in snow shoes, so we (he) did a lot of route finding and again, breaking trail, so it was exhausting and we didn't move too quickly. After a few hours and finally getting a glimpse of the peak through the trees (we were in the trees the entire time), we realized we were only half-way there elevation-wise, approx. 750m. So we turned around and of course we got down in half of the time with the obvious trail and downhill. We had fun anyways!


I'd love to do this again in the summer, it would be much more practical!

Moab Lake

Activity: X-Country Skiing

Distance: 14km (RT)

Area: Jasper (Icefield Parkway)

Crew: Ben

Lisa's Mom Rating: Yes

Bennett and I cross country skied to Moab Lake. It was such a beautiful day with the perfect temperature (okay, maybe on the cold side). It is trackset up until ~300m before the lake so you have to do some trail blazing/bushwhacking for the last bit but it is definitely worth it! I would love to go back...

Blazing Trail to the lake!

Beauvert Lake

Name: Beauvert Lake

Activity: Ice Skating

Area: Jasper

Crew: Bennett

Where:

At the Jasper Park Lodge just outside of town.

Additional Info:

On the night we got into Jasper, we decided to check out the lake to skate on! Since it was the first night that it was open for skating, there was only a small section that was smooth - a path around the lake was shoveled off, but super bumpy. We skated around for about half an hour and then decided to warm up at the lodge!
Don't forget your headlamp!

This is the only photo I have from this night, from the car, driving towards Jasper Park Lodge. Again, it was dark. Bring a headlamp!

Prairie Creek Trail

Activity: Trail Run

Distance: 12.5km (RT)

Elevation Gain: ~300m

Area: Kananaskis (Bragg Creek)

Crew: Mom

Lisa's Mom Rating: Yes

Trailhead: Winter gate closure on Highway 66

Getting There:

Go west on highway 66 until the gate closure.

Additional Info:

A warm winter day for a solid trail run in Bragg Creek with my mom!

 Mom on the trail

Bye sun!

Pigeon Mountain

Hike Name: Pigeon Mountain
Activity: Hiking

Distance: 12 km (RT)

Altitude: 2,394 m

Elevation Gain: 1000 m

Area: Bow Valley (Dead Man's Flats)

Crew: Ben, Kris

Time to Summit: Unknown (blog created post-hike)

Lisa's Mom Rating: Yes

Trailhead: Near the Banff Gate Mountain Resort

Getting There:
Heading West on the Trans-Canada (Hwy 1), take the exit on the right into Dead Man's Flats. Take the overpass over the highway and follow the road up the hill until you reach a parking lot on the right.

Additional Info:
You hike along the cutline for quite some time, and then turn left up Pigeon. Once you've turned left, you quickly leave the trees and have the remainder of the hike in the sun. You can come down the way you went up, or continue on the ridge and then bushwhack down the old ski runs. I'd suggest finding a GPS track to stick to, because if you walk along the ridge for too long you may find yourself on top of some cliff bands.


Note: This area is closed from December 1 - June 15 annually for protection of elk and bighorn sheep.

Views open up early on

 Ben and I before the summit

 Looking towards Canmore. The summit is on the right (unknown hikers)

Nihahi Ridge

Hike Name: Nihahi Ridge
Activity: Hiking/Scrambling

Distance: 9 km (RT)

Altitude: 2,359 m

Elevation Gain: 760 m

Area: Kananaskis (Bragg Creek)

Crew: Ben, Jon

Time to Summit: Unknown (blog created post-hike)

Lisa's Mom Rating: Yes

Trailhead: Elbow Falls Campground

Getting There:
Head West on the 66 and turn left into the Elbow Falls Campground. Drive to the end of the road.

Additional Info:
Once you attain the ridge you can do a solid ridge walk (7km one-way!), it was November so we hit the ridge and turned around (total 9km RT).

 Sun is setting!

 Jon and Ben heading back down

Wasootch Peak

Hike Name: Wasootch Peak
Activity: Hiking/Scrambling

Distance: 6.5 km (RT)

Altitude: 2,362 m

Elevation Gain: 916 m

Area: Kananaskis Valley

Crew: Julia, Steph, Ben, Ryan, Tye

Time to Summit: Unknown (blog created post-hike)

Lisa's Mom Rating: No

Trailhead: On the East side of the 40 from the turn-off into Kananaskis Village.

Getting There:
Head South down Kananaskis Trail from the Trans-Canada (Hwy 1). When you reach the turnoff to Kananaskis Village, park on the other side of the road. There is a little parking area here.

Additional Info:
Stick to the climber's left of the creek. There is a pretty good trail up to the peak.

 Looking North-East from the summit of Wasootch Peak

Steph on the summit of Wasootch

Elbow Falls

Name: Elbow Falls

Activity: Hiking/Walking

Area: Kananaskis (Bragg Creek)

Crew: Bennett

We were on our way to Powderface Ridge, and the weather was looking iffy so we decided to at least stop at Elbow Falls to walk around and take in the view. While we were here, the weather cleared up a bit so we drove to Powderface Ridge and had a successful and sunny afternoon!

 Ben and the falls

Beautiful fall colours

Powderface

Hike Name: High Point on Powderface (Direct Route)
Activity: Hiking

Distance: 6 km (RT)

Altitude: 2,024 m

Elevation Gain: 700 m

Area: Kananaskis (Bragg Creek)

Crew: Ben

Time to Summit: Unknown (blog created post-hike)

Lisa's Mom Rating: Yes

Trailhead: Side of Highway 66, beside the High Point on Powderface Trail before it turns towards the campground. There is a road-side parking area.

Getting There:
Head West on Highway 66 towards Elbow Falls. Continue past the winter road closure gate and pull over before the road turns towards the campground.. Good luck..

Additional Info:
We started off the day with some cool inversion. When we got to the high point there were clouds passing through, covering the view and then revealing it again, changing our view every few seconds. We headed back into the trees to find a place to set up the hammock to make tea and eat Clif bars. By the time we set up, the sun was shining!


Note: The gate is closed West of Elbow Falls from December 1 - May 14 annually. You can still get to Powderface if you walk a few hundred meters down the highway after the gate closure. The trailhead will be the first car-turn on your right. This is NOT the direct route so the distance stats will be different - you can still get to the high point on Powderface, but it takes quite a while longer.

 The view from where we parked, looking at the inversion and towards Forgetmenot Mountain

 Almost at the top!

 Clouds at the High Point of Powderface

Enjoying the view of sunny Mustang Hills with our tea

Ribbon Lake (Overnight)

Hike Name: Ribbon Lake Campground
Activity: Backcountry Camping/Backpacking

Total Distance: 23.5 km

# Nights: 1

Date: September 19-20, 2015

Area: Kananaskis

Crew: Ben, Kristen, Ariana
Trailhead: Began at Buller Mountain Day Use Area (Spray Reservoir side) and left a car at the Ribbon Creek Parking area in Kananaskis Village 

Route: 
Day 1 - Ribbon Lake via Buller Pass (10.5 km)
Night 1 - Stay at Ribbon lake Back Country Campground
Day 2 - Ribbon lake to Ribbon Creek parking via Ribbon Falls (13 km)

Ben heading up to Buller Pass

 Ariana, Kristen, and Ben after Buller pass (day 1)

 Sunset at Ribbon Lake (day 1)

Kristen coming down on the chains (day 2)

 The three siblings coming down on the chains (day 2)

Canmore Half Marathon

My second half marathon! Definitely could have trained more.... but I was too busy hiking ;)

I ran this again in 2018.

Castle Lookout

Hike Name: Castle Lookout

Activity: Hiking 

Distance: 7.4 km (RT)

Altitude: ~2,200 m

Elevation Gain: 520 m

Area: Banff National Park (Bow Valley)

Crew: Oliver, Julia, Jaimie, Kate, Trevor

Time to Top: ~2 hours

Lisa's Mom Rating: Yes

Trailhead: 5 km west of Castle Junction on the Bow Valley Parkway (Highway 1A)
 Getting There:
From the Trans-Canada (Hwy 1), continue past the town of Banff. Before Lake Louise, take the turnoff north towards Castle Junction. Turn left at Castle Junction and it will be about 5km down the road to the trailhead.

Additional Info:
We had a whirlwind of a day.. We left a little later in the day, planning on doing a quick hike to Larch Valley/Sentinel Pass. There were 6 of us but lo and behold... we forgot our park passes. And lucky for us, there was a 30 minute wait at the parks gate to buy one! By the time we got to the Moraine Lake turnoff, the road was closed and we decided to change plans and do a different hike. We found Castle Lookout, which seemed to be a quick hike to a beautiful lookout - and it was! A great hike for the hangover day we were having + the half marathon I had to run the next day..

Pictures to come.

Alice Lakes

Name: Four Lakes Trail

Activity: Hiking

Distance: 6 km

Area: Squamish

Crew: Mikaila, Byron

We were trying to find a hike to do and settled on going to Alice Lakes Provincial Park, just north of Squamish. This was a pleasant walk/hike through beautiful lush trees and vegetation that is much different than our home Rocky Mountains!

Haha. This is the only photo I took.

The Chief

I did the Chief again with Jaimie, Bennett and Andrew in 2017. We did all three peaks.

Hike Name: Stawamus Chief
Activity: Hiking/Scrambling

Distance: 6 km (RT)

Altitude: 610 m

Elevation Gain: 535 m

Area: Squamish

Crew: Mikaila and Byron

Time to Summit: Unknown (blog created post-hike)

Lisa's Mom Rating: Yes

Trailhead: Stawamus Chief

Getting There:
Head South through Squamish and turn into the Stawamus Chief Parking lot

Additional Info:
I was visiting Mikaila in Squamish over the Labor Day long weekend in 2015. I arrived on Friday and we hiked up the Chief for sunset that night.

Sunset from the Chief

Windtower

Hike Name: Windtower
Activity: Hiking/Scrambling

Distance: 10 km (RT)

Altitude: 2,682 m

Elevation Gain: 969 m

Area: Kananaskis (Spray Reservoir)

Crew: Julia

Time to Summit: Unknown (blog created post-hike)

Lisa's Mom Rating: Yes

Trailhead: Spurling Creek

Getting There:
From the town of Canmore, follow the signs toward the Nordic Center. Continue past the Nordic Center towards the Spray Reservoir. Continue along this road until you reach Spurling Creek. Park on the right side of the road. The hike starts across the road.

Additional Info:
Take the trail up to Windy Pass. From here, continue around the bowl. Follow the cairns as they will lead you up Windtower. There are nice views of the Spray Reservoir behind you as you climb.
The summit is windy, as advertised.

 The view behind of the Spray Reservoir. Weird weather was coming in, so we moved quickly.

You can see me in my blue jacket on the left. View of the Rimwall and 3 sisters.

Julia on the summit of Windtower