Out in K-Country, near Nakiska.
They were wet and cold.
D—SCAM!! WOULD NOT HIKE AGAIN.
Category: general
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Hyperbole and a Half
Just because I don’t want a huge post about nappies to be sitting at the top, but I’m feeling too tired to come up with anything more coherent, here are some links to some of my favourite posts by the awesome Allie Brosh at Hyperbole and a Half.
Disclaimer: Don’t read any further if you’re not interested in cloth nappies/diapers.
*Second disclaimer: I’m going to call them nappies, not diapers, because I’m not from the US
This is just a summary of my cloth nappy set-up. I’ve only been doing it for a couple of months (although now updated from the ‘have been doing this for 19 months now’ perspective), so things will probably change, but in the meantime, this is the sort of thing I found really handy to read before I started the cloth nappy process, as a lot of information out there was really short on detail and photos (although there’s heaps of fantastic information at Karen’s Diaper Pages (she’s also much better at doing the pre-fold folds than I am, I’m still getting the hang of it), and a bunch of photos of prefolds on babies at Green Mountain Diapers prefold page . There’s also a good summary of all the different types of nappies available these days here. So here we go…
This is a great little hike, going up from the Spray Valley to the Pass between the Three Sisters and Mount Lawrence Grassi. It’s also a good alternative to the more mainstream Canmore mountains for the days when there’ll be over 100 people on Ha Ling Peak.
Access is via K-Country, parking in a pull-out from the Spray Lakes Road, and then heading up the drainage that leads to the pass. Keep to the left side of the drainage as you hike up, and in 100 metres or so you’ll see a giant cairn that leads you onto a path in the trees. The track goes back and forth between going directly up the drainage and travelling along the trees to the side of the drainage (mostly on climbers’ left).
Most of the way up you have a good view of the scree-filled shoulder that leads down from the Big Sister to the pass – but amazingly, there’s no final slog through steep scree, instead the track disappears into a patch of trees, zig-zags upwards through them, until suddenly you’re spat out onto a grassy slope that leads you onto the pass proper.
The views don’t rival those of the peaks around Canmore, but are still great – and you’re unlikely to have to share them (unless you count the pesky Alpine Helicopters scenic tours zooming overhead).
The track itself makes for a pretty nice hike too – there’s some scree, some trail through trees, and some scrambling over rock (with a nice stream flowing for at least part of the hike). The scrambling takes some attention, but isn’t so full-on you can’t do it while carrying a 2 month old in a sling.
Total distance: 6 km
Elevation gain: 595m (1952ft) (Trailhead 1670m (5478ft), Pass 2265m (7429ft))
Hiking time: The return trip took us about 3.5 hours, but with food, photo and diaper changing stops, actual hiking time was closer to 2.5 hours.
I’ve been thinking that a new mountain bike would be nice. My old hardtail was always a little too large for me. And maybe, just maybe, I should try out this crazy dual-suspension thing that all the kids have been talking about.
But it seems an awful lot of the women’s specific cross-country style MTBs out there at the moment don’t really appeal to me though – far too many horrible paint jobs and ugly frames (also I’m anti-white-bits-on-bikes, we all know they just end up brown). These three are all pretty acceptable though – anyone have any other recommendations?
Now I’m just going to sit here waiting for the mountain bike fairy to come and visit (he’s a huge guy with tattooed calves, a full face helmet, and a big tutu with grease stains on it, you’d know him if you saw him).