27 August 2013

This Land is my Land

We went hiking this weekend in Kananaskis Country. There are so many hikes I want to do that chosing one can be really tough sometimes, but we eventually settled on Grizzly Peak. I'd seen some photos from a friend of a friend and it looked like a great hike. You can't beat the view you get from the mountains in Kananaskis and you get the added bonus of not needing a park pass.

The very beginning of the trail

N and I hoped in the car and picked up a friend early Saturday morning. After unsuccessfully trying to get coffee at three independent coffee places, we gave in to Starbucks and headed West for the Rockies. 


Grizzly Peak is an unmarked trail between Grizzly Creek and Hood Creek. It was relatively easy to find using the landmarks described in online guides. We parked in the ditch on the side of the highway, changed into our hiking boots, and started up the trail. You could distinctly see it running beside the creek from the beginning, despite it being an unmarked trail. 

It started climbing pretty quickly right from the start. We weren't going to get much of a break on this hike, it seemed.It was so steep that it took us over an hour to cover the first kilometre. I'm sure the boys could have climbed faster, but they had to wait for me and I'm just a little bit slower.

T being....T
Right from the beginning, there were some great views and fun obstacles. There was a little point where we had to scramble and carefully hug the side of the mountain. It looks a lot more difficult than what it is. 

Obstacles!


The trail as pretty distinct until we got about three quarters of the way up, when we hit a bunch of scree. You could tell people had made different decisions as to which route to take and there wasn't a clear trail. We continued to scramble up and then decided to take the steep grassy route up to the saddle instead of scrambling up some interesting rock and creek. It was steep and tough, but definitely better than the alternative.



Let's take the grassy route...

The saddle itself was pretty amazing. I wasn't expecting to find a beautiful clearing up there, surrounded my mountains. It was so peaceful and seemed like a great spot to take a lunch break. We found a nice little spot and hunkered down for some food. It was gorgeous. 




Finding a lunch spot

From the saddle, it was an easy 15 minutes to the summit. We really lucked out with the weather and it was gorgeous when we reached the top. Most summits are pretty windy so we took advantage of the stillness and hung out for a while, enjoying the view and chatting. It was breathtaking.










Thanks for an amazing day as always, Kananaskis Country! I highly recommend Grizzly Peak if you're looking for a new day hike to try. The views are incredible right from the start, the saddle is beautiful and peaceful, and it makes for a great day!



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