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.