Iguazu Falls

Activity: Hiking

Location: Puerto Iguazu, Argentina

Crew: Ben

While Bennett and I were in Argentina, of course we had to go see Iguazu Falls. We roamed around all day here, admiring the many beautiful falls, we rode on the boat that takes you right underneath some of the falls, and then hiked out to another little swimming hole in the late afternoon! It was damn hot. I've never been in a rainforest before - it's so different than hiking back at home! ;)

 Bennett and the falls!

Me and the falls!

On the boat

Mount Rae

Hike Name: Mount Rae
Activity: Scrambling
Distance: 8.3 km (RT)
Altitude: 3,232 m
Elevation Gain: 1040 m, ~600 to turnaround point
Area: Kananaskis Valley
Crew: Mark, Jaimie, Eric
Time to Summit: No summit (came back in 2018)
Lisa's Mom Rating: No

Trailhead: Highwood Pass Parking Lot/Ptarmigan Cirque

Getting There:
From the Trans-Canada (Hwy 1), go south on Kananaskis Trail (Hwy 40). Park at the Highwood Pass Parking Lot. It will be on the right side of the highway. The parking lot is past the turn-off for the Smith-Dorrien.

Additional Info:
Follow the trail up to Ptarmigan Cirque. You will cross the highway and head up the mountain. Enjoy the beauty of this area! Once you have reached the far end of the cirque, instead of turning back, continue around the mountain to your left (there should be a faint trail in the scree) up to the ribs in the rock. Pick a rib to go up, aiming for the saddle. Head right once you hit the ridge. You can follow the ridge or avoid the exposure below the ridge in the trails that can be seen through the scree. We stopped at the saddle after running into some snow. I came back in 2018 with Steph!

Note: Kananaskis Trail (Hwy 40) is seasonally closed. It closes from Peter Lougheed Provincial Park to the Highwood House Junction from December 1 to June 14 annually.

View from the saddle after attaining the ridge

Yamnuska ii

Trip #2:Crew: Connor, Matt, Katie, Mark, and Ben
Date: August 9, 2014
Time to Summit: Unknown (blog created post-hike)
Click here for the Mount Yamnuska Post

Ha Ling ii

Trip #2:Crew: Julia and Praveen
Date: July 27, 2014
Time to Summit: Unknown (blog created post-hike)
Click here for the Ha-Ling Post

Mount Baldy West

Hike Name: Mount Baldy West
Activity: Scrambling
Distance: 10 km (RT)
Altitude: 2,192 m
Elevation Gain: 870 m
Area: Kananaskis Valley
Crew: Mark, Jaimie, KT
Time to Summit: Unknown (blog created post-hike)
Lisa's Mom Rating: No

Trailhead: O'Shaughnessy Falls

Getting There:
From the Trans-Canada (Hwy 1), go south on Kananaskis Trail (Hwy 40). Park at O'Shaughnessy Falls. It will be on the left side of the highway.

Additional Info:
Go up the falls. There are faint trails here-and-there. This was pre-figuring out sh*t out so we thought we were on the main Mount Baldy trail. It was a surprise but we still had fun!

Mark and I on West Baldy

Silver Springs

Name: Silver Springs

Activity: Cliff Jumping

Area: Crowsnest - Cranbrook/Kimberly

Crew: Bennett

I had just returned from Europe after 2 months and Bennett had days off of fire fighting - so we decided to go on a roadtrip through Fernie, Lake Koocanousa, and then down into Montana. The first night, we set up camp ontop of the Silver Springs cliffs. The next morning we did some cliff jumping before we set off to Lake Koocanousa!


There were many different heights of cliffs to jump off of, from a few meters, up to 60ft!

 Silver Springs

 Mustering up courage to jump, and the jump itself!

Mount Yamnuska

Hike Name: Mount Yamnuska / Mount Laurie
Activity: Hiking/Scrambling
Distance: 9.3 km (RT)
Altitude: 2,239 m
Elevation Gain: 878m
Area: Bow Valley (Exshaw)
Crew: Steph, Jeevan, Shahir, Amy, JJ
Time to Summit: Unknown (blog created post-hike)
Lisa's Mom Rating: Yes

Trailhead: Yamnuska Parking Lot

Getting There:
Heading East on the Trans-Canada (Hwy 1) from Calgary, take the exit towards Seebee/Exshaw (Onto Highway 1X). When you reach the T intersection in the road (the 1A), turn right. Shortly, you will see a turn-off on your left into Mount Yamnuska Parking.

Additional Info:
The trail is quite obvious from the parking lot. You will climb up the hill for about a half hour. You will then come across a "keyhole" which you must climb through. From here, you begin your ascent up the backside of the mountain.
There is one short section that is traversed by using a chain bolted to the side of the mountain.
Once at the peak, you can either return the way you came, or head west down the scree.

JJ, Shahir, and Amy on the chain

I have done this hike on 3 different occasions.


Trip #2:
Crew: Connor, Matt, Katie, Mark, and Ben
Date: August 9, 2014
Time to Summit: Unknown (blog created post-hike)

Ben, Me, and Matt on the Scree

Trip #3:
Crew: Garrett
Date: April 12, 2015
Time to Summit: Unknown (blog created post-hike)


Trip #4:
Crew: Julia, Jaimie
Date: June 21, 2016
Time to Summit: 2:20