Bryant Creek Shelter iii (Overnight)

More info to come!

Trip #2

Initial trip

Northover Ridge (Overnight)

Name: Northover Ridge

Activity: Backcountry Camping/Backpacking

Total Distance: 41 km

# Nights: 2

Date: July 21 - July 23, 2018

Area: Kananaskis Lakes

Crew: Ben, Mark, Laura
Trailhead: Interlakes

Route: 
Day 1 - Interlakes to Aster Lake (14km, ~600m) +3km because we missed a turn (so deep in conversation that we went 1.5km without noticing!)
Day 2 - Aster Lake to Three Isle Lake via Northover Ridge (13km, ~950 total)
Day 3 - Three Isle Lake to Interlakes (11km, all downhill, baby)


Northover Ridge has been on the top of our list for a looooong time. We have been talking about it for a few years, and booked it for September 2017 but had to cancel due to a snowstorm and hiked into Assiniboine instead. We finally got it booked for the summer of 2018 and we crossed our fingers for nice weather.

I'll start talking about booking - book 90 days in advance from the first day of your trip - they are strict. We emailed them at 9am on the 90-day-prior-mark and didn't get one of the 5 tent pads at Aster for the Friday night, so we shifted our trip by 1 day (Saturday to Monday instead) and booked right at midnight to get in. This was actually for the best, since on our hike in, everyone we talked to who had done the ridge said it was insanely windy - including on Saturday (the day we originally planned to do the ridge). Luckily, our ridge day - Sunday - had little to no wind and no rain/snow! We were beyond stoked. Of course.

The first day was pretty funny, as we were all head-down, chatting, following each other and kept missing turns. At one point we walked 1.5km in the wrong direction (at least it was flat!) and had to double back so we tacked 3km onto our day.... nice warmup, right??... right. The trail to hidden lake was a little tough to find (with our heads down & hearts in the middle of the now, as Bennett would say) but once we found it, it was quite obvious and a well-beaten track. I'll point out that the trail in the trees around Hidden Lake is solid too - as older trip reports say it is a bushwhack - it is not anymore.

Aster Lake Campground is a beautiful little spot. We met a guided group who had just summited Joffre that day and also ran into some friends at Aster Lake - which is hilarious, considering it is probably the smallest campground in Kananaskis (with 5 tent pads)! We ate some delicious backcountry tacos for dinner - not even dehydrated - thanks for carrying 2 lbs of raw meat in, Laura! We had also read about a porcupine infestation on previous trip reports and they were the butt of the jokes for the weekend - so we were diligent about hanging our packs and hiding our boots in our vestibules - and were looking forward to laughing at the porcupine shrieks in the middle of the night - but that didn't happen... so update: seems that there are no more porcupine at Aster Lake! Haha.

The next day we hiked Northover Ridge to Three Isle Lake. And what a day it was! The photos will speak for themselves (below), but it was a stellar day with pretty ideal weather. We all agreed that this is the best backcountry trip we have ever done in Alberta/BC. The boys went for a dip in Three Isle lake, we played Shithead (which Mark remained undefeated in?????), then called it a night (at 9:30... bunch'a night owls).

Get ready for a photo overload...!

 Making our way to Aster Lake (Day 1)

 Laura (Day 1)

 U wot m8? (Day 1)

 One of the few scramble sections on the way to Aster (Day 1)

 The entire Aster Lake Campground in 1 pic. Seriously beautiful spot. (Day 1)

 The most scenic outhouse. (Day 1)

 Walking towards Aster Lake. Mount Warrior in the middle background (Day 2)

 Tight on the left path around Aster Lake (Day 2)

 HI MOM (Day 2)

 Joffre, Bennett, Warrior. (Day 2)

 Laura walking towards the pass we have to ascend soon (just right of Center, Day 2)

 ..and the Tarns, which you can random-camp at (they are in BC, Day 2)

 Bennett, Joffre. (Day 2)

 3 studs. (Day 2)

 A group close behind us (Day 2)

 A group not too far ahead of us (Day 2)

 Group pic before dropping down towards Three Isle (Day 2)

 Mark and the huge landscape (Day 2)

 Dropping in towards Three Isle, which can be seen at the end of the valley (Day 2)

 Crew still cruisin' (Day 2)

 Dinner with a view (Day 2)

Heading back to reality! (Day 3)

Elk Lakes Cabin (Overnight)

Name: Elk Lakes Cabin

Activity: Backpacking / Ski Touring

Total Distance: ~25 km

# Nights: 1

Date: February 24 - February 25, 2018

Area: Elk Lakes Park (BC) / Peter Lougheed Park (AB)

Crew: 13! I'll shamefully say I don't know everyone's names, but Bennett and I joined Jordan and Shannon, Andrea, et. al.
Trailhead: Elk Pass Recreation Area Trailhead

Route: 
Day 1 - Trailhead to Elk Lakes Cabin (10km), tour around the area, up the Viewpoint Trail (~5km).
Day 2 - Return to the trailhead


Bennett and I were invited to join Jordan, Shannon and a huge crew of their friends to spend a night at the Elk Lakes Cabin. We met at the trailhead and headed out on the x-country trail system for 6km to Elk Pass. There was a Cross Country Ski Marathon happening on the same day so we did our best to stay out of their way.. Once we hit Elk Pass, we dropped down the other side into BC, along the power line for another 3-4 km. Its a pretty shallow downhill for touring skis (but pretty decent downhill for cross country skis!), so we kept the skins on for most of it as there were some flats and uphill sections. We skinned off for the last maybe 400m of distance to get a bit of skiing in.

After eating lunch at the cabin, we headed out to find some more skiing, and decided on the Viewpoint Trail which took us maybe 60m up to a gorgeous view, and skiied back down & across the lake to get back to the cabin. Bennett and I had our dehydrated chili from our cancelled Bow Hut trip (Special Avalanche Advisory was posted that weekend. Heartbreak.), dark chocolate, and red wine. Perfect combo.

The next day we had our classic dehydrated eggs and salsa (+a pack of bacon this time) and skiied back out the way we came in.

 The cabin!

 Skiing along the lake to find some tuuuurns

 Bridge Crossing

 Up the Viewpoint Trail

 Again.

 The Viewpoint

Making dinner back at the cabin.

Mount Indefatigable

Hike Name: Mount Indefatigable

Activity: Hiking/Scrambling 

Distance: ~10 km (RT)

Altitude: 2,672 m

Elevation Gain: ~1000 m

Area: Kananaskis (Kananaskis Lakes)

Crew: Bennett, Steph, Mark, Jeevan

Time to Summit: ~2.5 hours to North Summit +30 to South Summit

Lisa's Mom Rating: Yes, depending on which peak & route

Trailhead: North Interlakes

Getting There:
Heading south down Kananaskis Trail (Hwy 40) from the Trans Canada (Hwy 1), take the right-hand turn towards the Kananaskis Lakes, and continue straight on this road until the left turn towards North Interlakes. 

Additional Info:
We camped at Boulton Creek Campground for the weekend and decided to hike up Mount Indefatigable, as it has been on most of our lists for a few years. We actually meant to go to the South Summit and traverse to the North Summit (true peak) to do the full loop, but we missed the turn towards the South Summit and decided to just continue to the North one first. We ended up thinking this was the better way to do it, as the final scramble before the North Summit would be difficult (in our opinions) to scramble back down, but was OK going up. The traverse to the South Peak was somewhat easy to manage and route-find (it was usually just best to stay on top of the ridge). A fun scramble, and an AWESOME ridge-walk between summits.

 Mark relaxing at the last grassy bit on our way up to the North Summit

 Steph scrambling up to the North Summit

 Ben and I on the North Summit. Ridge to the South Summit & the South Summit in the background.

Taking photos of a fire taking off a few valleys away

 Jeevan scrambling over to the South Summit.

Scrambling along the ridge to the South Summit

 Steph ridge-walking to the South Summit

Mark and Bennett ridge-walking to the South Summit

Heading back down from the South Summit

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.

Turbine Canyon (Overnight)

Hike Name: Turbine Canyon Back-Country Campground
Activity: Backcountry Camping/Backpacking

Total Distance: 52 km

# Nights: 2

Date: July 3-5, 2015

Area: Kananaskis/Peter Lougheed

Crew: Ben and Andrew
Trailhead: Interlakes

Route: 
Day 1 - Upper Kananaskis Lake to Turbine Canyon via Forks (17 km, 525m)
Night 1 - Stay at Turbine Canyon Back-Country Campground
Day 2 - Attempt to hike to 3 Isle Lake via Maude Lake and Beatty Lake. However with the 2013 flood damage in the valley, we could not get through the second pass and had to turn back around and returned to Turbine Canyon. Talking with other hikers, apparently no one else had made it on this route yet this year. (18 km, 800m)
Night 2 - Stay at Turbine Canyon Back-Country Campground
Day 3 - Return the same way we came in

 Andrew and I on day 2

 The valley we hiked through on day 2

Me and Andrew on the bridge at Turbine Canyon Campground on day 3