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