Tag: Hiking

Thanksgiving weekend was a satisfying one for your blog host. We Canadians roast our turkeys on the second weekend of October, rather than waiting another six weeks like our friends to the south. 

The first order of business was another parkrun. We had a special visitor from Cold Lake for the weekend who was up for the challenge. Dan was seeking more mountain adventures, and yes, the promise of a turkey dinner. There was no better way to start the holiday weekend.

Conditions were ideal. Dan took off right from the gun, while Deb and I settled into a more pedestrian pace. Unlike our foggy Nose Hill parkrun (#285) of two weeks earlier… our first… this Saturday morning brought fine fall weather.

Clear skies meant we could see every detail of the challenging circuit. It includes mixed hard asphalt, gravel and a short section of single track. The Nose Hill course consists of two laps of about 2k each, with an out and back section making up the 5k distance. It’s a good test. 

We enjoyed a brief peek of the mountains at the far end of the course. (The dusting of snow there was a prelude to our next adventure.)

When we arrived at the finish line, Dan was already cooling down, having put in a  hard tempo pace to reach his goal of a sub-20-minute 5k. We were content with a finishing time that was close to (okay, a bit slower than) our previous result. We headed home, all satisfied with our performances. 

The energy level is always higher around the house when Dan is there, and this weekend was no different. So, we were not surprised when he explained that his plans for Sunday included a hike in Canmore. 

I reminded myself that we would soon be lamenting the return of cold, dark and short days. I asked him to count me in. Who needs sleep anyway? 

He had selected Ha Ling Peak, a moderately challenging 8k round tripper with 700m of elevation gain. I had always wanted to try this one, especially since the trail modifications that were done in 2019. 

We made an early start, figuring that many enthusiasts would already be on the trail, all keen to burn some calories before a big dinner. In fact, it wasn’t that busy. We encountered more hikers making their way down from sunrise treks to the summit. It would have been a good one, based on the beautiful pink sky we enjoyed on our drive to the mountains. 

Our ascent was quick. We stopped only briefly at the two intermediate viewpoints. Then we marvelled at the engineering behind the wooden staircases built into the steep upper sections of the trail. Dan was nimble on the last scrabbly (and unmaintained) section before the summit, and as always, considerate enough to wait for me every so often. 

I wondered how I’d do near the top, given that Ha Ling is known to be a bit of a challenge for those prone to vertigo. I have to count myself in that category, after my vertebral strokes. 

I focused on the ground in front of me, only looking up when I stopped to catch my breath. Fortunately, I had no issues at all with my balance on the day. 

Views of the town opened up below us near the top. It was spectacular; a very rich reward for the 90 minutes of effort needed to get us there. 

Dan proposed that we make the side trip to Miners Peak, maximizing our reward even more. I was slightly intimidated by the prospect, until he pointed out that I was looking at the wrong peak. We checked out the cairn at the col, before making quick work of the small peak… more of a mound… directly in front of us. 

Having skipped down the mountain in no time, after meeting many groups of hikers on their way up, we made the obligatory stop at The Bicycle Cafe in town for an excellent latte. Delicious!

All in all, it was a fine and memorable weekend. It was made even better by the impressive results achieved by my Adrenaline Rush teammates (and many other Calgary runners) in top-flight marathons in Chicago, Victoria and St. George. More on that in a future piece. 

I feel very thankful indeed!

What a weekend!

Saturday.

parkrun is a worldwide phenomenon. It started in 2004 in the UK, when a small group of runners got together for an informal 5k run. There are now more than 3 million registered runners who can show up at any weekly parkrun around the world.

As a historical aside, park runs were a thing decades ago. That was in the late 1970s, at the dawn of the running boom. I remember doing 1, 3 or 5 mile runs around Gage Park in Hamilton, which were organized by the local YMCA. Like parkrun, those runs were free and informal. But I digress…

We now have several parkruns to choose from in the Calgary area. My friend Tim (a veteran of 100 parkruns) encouraged us to give it a try, so Deb and I decided to join for our first Nose Hill parkrun, and the 285th weekly edition.

Fog settled over the park as we did an easy warm-up jog. The field was large, with over 150 runners. It included a large number of airline employees from around the world. They were in town to participate in the World Airline Road Race, a large race that was scheduled for the next day.

Our run went well. We handled the two laps of mixed terrain without much trouble. That said, we saw almost nothing, due to the thick fog. It did make for some interesting photos, with runners disappearing off in the misty distance.

We finished in 30 minutes, and thanks to a modern technological touch, we scanned our personal parkrun barcodes against our finisher’s chips. An hour later we had an email with our age-graded results and our updated parkrun record.

We’ll be back for another parkrun soon!

Sunday. Another day, another early start. This time it was for a trip to the mountains.

Tim (yes, that’s parkrun Tim) and his wife Judi proposed the Pocaterra Ridge in Kananaskis. This moderately strenuous, point-to-point, 10-kilometre hike is renowned for its larches. And given that this weekend would see the larches at their golden peak, we knew the trail would be busy.

Despite our early start, the parking situation was already very tight when we arrived at the north trailhead. We carpooled to the south end of the trail at the Highwood Pass, got ourselves organized, and set off.

The well-trodden, muddy trail began climbing immediately. We admired the magnificent golden larches as we toiled through the first couple of kilometres of the hike.

The first of three peaks along the ridge hike maxes out at an elevation of 2722m. The views of the entire Kananaskis Valley to the north were spectacular, when we had views. This being an Alberta autumn, it had begun to snow. The temperature dropped and we reached for our toques and extra layers.

We made good time coming down from the summit. We timed our lunch stop perfectly, to coincide with a brief interlude of sunny and calm weather. By this point, the crowds were much thinner. Many hikers had clearly focused on the lower reaches of the trail, but they may have missed the best part of the hike. Our high altitude paid huge dividends, in the form of incredible views, as we walked along the well-defined ridge trail.

The last hour of the hike was a steep descent back through the larches to the highway. We gingerly made our way down, with quads burning.

Overall, it was a memorable day in the mountains, made better with good friends and magical views.