Category: moosling

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canada general hiking moosling

A lakey sort of jaunt

Another exercise in toddler coaxing, this time up to Lillian and Galatea Lakes in K-Country, with a grandmother in tow (although she didn’t require any towing at all).

The best of the fall colours …. weren’t really visible from this hike. There were certainly a few yellow leaves here and there, but on the whole it was green, and just stuck to the standard level of spectacular, rather than the techni-colour version you can get in the mountains in autumn.

Lillian Lake lurks in the trees with some campsites nearby. We had lunch there, because otherwise we may have started gnawing on our hands for sustenance. Afterwards we carried on to the higher Galatea Lake, which is certainly worth the extra kilometre or so of wandering uphill, as it’s a genuinely lovely alpine lake, whereas Lillian Lake is more of a tree-bound puddle affair.

There were nice views, but the trail seemed quite long for how long it was. A side-effect of toddler herding combined with being accustomed to covering trails at running speed more often this year.

Distance: 14km
Elevation gain: 685m

(Sorry for the phone photos, I completely forgot to bring my camera *gasp*)

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canada general hiking moosling trail running

Lake O’Hara: The latest in the crazy summer adventures series

Another summer day, another silly plan. This time we decided we wanted to visit Lake O’Hara. We’d been there a few times in winter, but never in summer. Paying for the bus was inconceivable however, so we fashioned a cunning plan whereby we would push the Chariot up to the lake. There we could leave the Chariot, and release the Moosling, hopefully heading up onto some of the higher trails (or just around the lake).

Lake O’Hara

We ran on and off to cover the 10km up to the lake. Sometimes the Moosling hopped out and walked, other times he stood up in the Chariot and made incomprehensible demands, and otherwise he just sat and read his choo-choo book (and asked lots of questions about helicopters).

The big push up the road to get to the lake (no bikes allowed – it’s either walk or pay for the bus)

Up at the lake we stopped for lunch, then set off a-wandering. We headed up towards Lake Oesa, after an initial false start (where the Moosling threw up on Alex, and they both retreated to Lake O’Hara for a quick clean-up). Then it was decided that Alex didn’t like the look of the exposed ledges on the high circuit path, so rather than trying to cover the whole circuit, we’d just retreat to the lake, and do the easy circuit.

Looking down on Lake O’Hara

Released from his Ergo, the Moosling thought this was a great idea, and happily ran around the lake. Even better when we found some snow up at the far end that he could throw at us.

Traversing the lake

Back at the day cabin, we picked up the Chariot, transferred Moosling into Chariot (where he promptly fell asleep until we hit the carpark). Then then run down the hill, taking it in turns to run with the Chariot (which is a bit of an interesting proposition when you’re running downhill and you don’t have the version with brakes). The kilometre markers all the way along the trail helped with equitable distribution of Chariot time, and we even managed to make it back down to the carpark at the same time as the bus, after seeing people sitting around waiting for it, and essentially deciding it was obviously a race.

Thoroughly recommended, although I’d really love to do the full alpine high circuit now.

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canada general hiking moosling trail running

The Icefields Parkway tourist expedition

Bow Lake was freezing cold of course, but not so cold a toddler couldn’t demand to have his shoes and socks taken off, and then run in and out of it.

Touristing Aunt and Cousin, and photo-bombing toddler

Playing on the boardwalk at the Columbia Icefields Centre

Running out to Nigel Pass and back again – it’s a 10 minute drive to the trailhead from the Icefields Centre, and then about 14km return with less than 300 metres of climbing to go all the way to the Pass and back. We didn’t quite go all the way, as we were trying to fit in around having sent everyone else off on an Icefields glacier tour which didn’t last quite long enough. But a nice alternative to Parker Ridge if you want to do something quick while having visitors entertained nearby.

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canada food general moosling

And then he was Two!

His favourite things are helicopters, trains, cars, puddles, running, and anything with sugar in it. Now his vocabulary has started to explode too, beyond the old basics of ‘fire’, ‘nana’ and ‘outside’. He loves to run away exploring when we’re outside

For his birthday, he got a wooden helicopter, a fluffy cat-bus (from Totoro!), a shiny yellow Tonka truck, a fancy fedora, some Thomas the Tank Engine undies, and a book full of Awesome Stuff, amongst other things.

And then there was the cake shaped like a helicopter (kind of – the decoration ended up being a little rushed and last minute). The cake was nonetheless appreciated.

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canada general hiking moosling

Sunshine Meadows, and the run out via Healy Pass

With family visiting and a warm sunny day, it was time for another trip out to Sunshine Meadows.

We had lunch up at Rock Isle Lake with the ground squirrels (who didn’t get anything from us, but are quite habituated).

And then I left the menfolk behind and went for a run out to Healy Pass and then back out to the Sunshine base carpark. It’s a cracker of a run, about 20km, and plenty of signposts, so it would be very hard to get lost.

There are plenty of fantastic views along the way (above: coming across from Wawa Ridge, looking out towards Healy Pass, and below, looking back towards Sunshine Meadows from Healy Pass). The wildflowers were out, and the bears weren’t.

I was first back to the carpark, so had time to sit with my feet in the icy cold creek. And wish for a cold drink to go with it.