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canada general hiking moosling trip reports

Ribbon Lake camping

Camping at Ribbon Lake was another cunning plan of Tanya’s, come to fruition while my mother was visiting.  A bunch of us had booked camping sites up at Ribbon Lake, and four families gathered in the parking lot to hike in together.

The Ribbon Creek bridge is much further away when you’re hiking instead of riding the High Rockies trail.

There were four kids along in our group hiking in. All good little hikers, but enjoying the stops to check out the river and throw rocks into them.

Our lunch stop was at the scenic circular waterfall.

After a break to feed the starving masses, we wandered up through the burnt trees, gradually chatting and get to know each other. We knew Tanya & Mark of course, but hadn’t met the other two families before.

Almost everyone was in photo approved colours though!

As we climbing up above the treeline, we found a patch of snow! This also had to be played with.

And then a boulder for the kids to play on…

Goofballs hamming it up on top of the boulder…

The way up and over South Buller Pass was still a little snow bound, but easy to hop across, especially when you weigh under 25kg.

I always seem to end up dragging Mum out into snow, no matter how hard she tries to come in the middle of summer when there can’t possibly be any snow.  She’s a very good sport about my attempts to drag her about on mad adventures though.

The final section of scree up to the pass was clear though, and there was some scrambling on the rocks instead of walking on the trail.

We didn’t hang out for too long at the pass – it was windy! But down below we could see Ribbon Lake. We started descending steeply.

More snow! We didn’t do much glissading, but it was tempting.

This part of the descent was a little spicy. There was a steeply angled strip of snow that led into the creek. A slip would have led to coldness, wetness and possible injury. We took it carefully.

No-one slid into the snowmelt creek though! And we were marching across the bridge and along the final stretch through the trees.

We set up at camp, finding some empty tent pads, and then the boy got another lesson on tying the laces on his new shoes.

We met up with the other family there, and started cooking dinner and playing games.

Then we sent the menfolk to go and wash the dishes in the cold cold lake so we could take photos of them.

Sitting around the campfire, we read stories, ate dinner, and played Catchphrase with a neat little electronic gadget someone had brought along.

I ended up in bed fairly early – I started off there trying to get the boy to sleep, but I think I fell asleep before him.

The next morning the kids were up building forts out of the campfire wood collection – or really, just inhabiting the forts that had already been built.

Meanwhile the smaller kids brought in an engineering consult as they tried to construct a smaller house out of wood. The big bad wolf would have had them in no time.

Then it was time to say goodbye. Three families were headed onwards, to descend the chains below Ribbon Lake, pick up cars and start a lengthy car shuttle. We were headed over North Buller Pass, and another crew were headed over South Buller Pass. But no matter where we were all going, we could rest safely in the knowledge that we were all so lovely and brightly coloured that we were sure to scare off any predators that were trying to eat us.

Another fun camping weekend! And it didn’t rain that much, woo!

Distance in to Ribbon Lake via South Buller Pass: 10.5km
Elevation gain: 630m

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canada general hiking moosling

Heart Creek hiking

I think this was my first time back up Heart Creek since the flood – and it was much more of a pile of rocks than it used to be.

It is the perfect hike for a herd of small children though. It’s fairly short, with constant entertainment. Bridges! Rocks! Water to throw rocks into! Rocks to throw other rocks at! Water to try and fall into! Things to climb!

To add to the excitement, we ran into a couple of guys with pretty rugged remote control cars. The boys were filled with joy and wonder, and chased about after them as they were driven along the trail, and back and forth the creek.

I don’t know how much they cost, and I’m guessing it’s kind of astronomical, but I could see them being a fairly useful investment if you were looking for more entertainment and motivation while out hiking.

We made it up to the end of the trail, had snacks on a bench and then herded the kids back in the other direction.

A fun little early season hike, and highly recommended for small people.

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bikes canada general hiking moosling

Saturday adventures

I went out to ride with Kat along the Lake Minnewanka trail, which was in great shape. Clear all the way to the warden’s cabin, with just one fallen tree.

A lazy start meant that we were out on the trail along with quite a few hikers and other bikes, although mostly on our return. We ran into some bird watchers too, and slowed down to spend some time trying to spot a bird that I cannot recall the name of.

Meanwhile the menfolk stomp up Ha Ling, which was also in great condition apart from the band of snow at the treeline.

This year brings another warm and early spring.

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canada general hiking moosling trip reports

Pigeon Mountain

Picking hikes in spring is always a bit tricky. Trails have started to dry, snow has kind of melted – but there are still snow patches and ices lurking about the place. It was really a bit too early to try hiking Pigeon Mountain. Based on what you could see from the road, Alex was convinced it would be dry – I was a little more dubious, but figured a little snow wouldn’t kill us.

We set off fairly late – it was afternoon by the time we started hiking. The day was sunny and warm, but slightly unsettled. I was slightly hungover, having been drinking last night while enjoying the Missed Connections improv show at ArtsPlace, and then wandering out to dance to an 80s cover band and engage in some ironic head banging (it may have been ironic but it still gave me a sore neck the next day).

It didn’t take us long to hit snow – unsurprising. It didn’t take long for my slight hangover to fade either. Thankfully.

It’s five kilometres up the road before you reach the turnoff for the Pigeon Mountain trail. If conditions are good (that is, the road isn’t covered in snow) then it’s worth bringing bikes to ride up to this point, if only for the coast back downhill again.

Having turned off onto the Pigeon Mountain trail things got icy in the trees and I finally caved and put on my spikers – if only to help Finn along. But the section through the trees doesn’t last long, and then suddenly we were out and into the alpine, above the treeline and finding huge stretches of dry trail again.

Dry trail that was climbing steeply, and covered with the huge herd of bighorn sheep. There were about 40 of them, mostly young looking, and carefully keeping out of our way.

We stopped for a brief lunch, then continued onwards and upwards, and it got windier and windier. Light saber battles unfolded across the scree fields. Rock sabers were wielded.

In the end we gave up on reaching the summit. Travelling through the snow had been slow, the wind was strong, and the daylight wouldn’t last forever. We went up to the saddle below the summit, and tried to pretend it was just as good. 6.8km in, it would still be a big return trip for an early season hike on small legs.

One of our party set off alone, aiming to make it to the summit without the aid of oxygen. The rest of us began the descent to base camp.

The clouds made empty threats, finally managing to cover up the sun but nothing more. Descending through the snow was not as fast as we’d like, and our shoes were getting wet – another spring hike where we’d underestimated how waterproof we should be. No bears on the way down, just more melting snow and out of tune singing.

Back at the car without injury six hours later, adventure completed. Success! Oh, except for the tick we found in Finn’s hair that evening – ew, ew, ew.

Distance: 13.6km
Elevation gain: 883m

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canada general hiking

Prairie Mountain

This was the first example of Instagram making me do something I would not otherwise have done. Because I kept seeing photos popping up of people hiking up Prairie Mountain, and beautiful mountain-filled shots with the Canadian flag at the summit cairn. And so when we were trying to come up with a run to do, I suggested Prairie Mountain.

The reports I’d read had led me to suspect a fairly dry trail. This was a lie! The trail was dry low down, but then a good solid sheet of ice for a good while. We scampered about back and forth through the trees, and marvelled at the trusty Kananaskis trail building – find a hill, then make the trail go straight up it.

I started off with the spoiler photo that gave away the fact we made it to the summit. And that the summit was totally in cloud, and so our scenic summit shot was all flag, no view. But the conversation and company were great, and the people watching was pretty entertaining too (tiny white fluffy dogs being carried, people without spikers attempting to walk up and down and ice, intense men with hiking poles striding up the hill while engaging in very loud and deliberate breathing).

The run ended with us successfully negotiating our way down through the treacherous section and back to the car. Nice to make it to the top of a new mountain, maybe I’ll do it again some day when it has a view.

Distance: 7.5km
Elevation gain: 700m (according to my watch, which isn’t perfectly accurate)