3 fellow ThoughtWorkers and I headed off for our first hike of the 'summer'. I say 'summer' because it's June and this weekend the temperatures dropped right off and the snow returned. Unbelievably!
I was super excited about the whole thing. Had raided the North Face store in Chicago and MEC in Calgary, for the right gear so I didn't look too much like an amateur. Although the whole time I was buying things to ensure I didn't get too hot ironically.
We drove to Kannanaskis Country which is about an hour from Calgary in the first range of the Rockie Mountains. The closer we drove the more and more snow seemed to appear. By the time we got to Elbow Falls we felt like we had been transported back into mid winter. Or perhaps Narnia.
So this morning I loaded up with sandwhiches, filled up my new Camelback and dug out the thermals. Elbow falls was our first stop. I had also been there in November. But today, in June, there was much much more snow!
We then drove up the river a bit further to the Little Elbow campsite. We headed up the river and then up a steep (to me on my first ever hike) trail towards Nihahi Ridge. We went up 600ft i think in rainy snow and then pulled over for lunch. JJ even had brought Tea, my good English friend.
While we were having lunch the clouds lifted and the sun even came out! We could finally see where we had climbed up to. And there were some amazing views. We really are very lucky to have that sort of landscape on our doorstop.
Another thing that struck me about this trip was how well set up these places are. There are toilets and everything!
The hike down was much easier, although super slippy with the mud and snow. The hike back looked like an entirely different place in the sun.
Then it snowed again! In the space of 10 mins we truely had all seasons. Rain, snow, hail and sun!
It was a really run day out. Great company and great scenery. Lovely to get out of the city for a day, and soak up the fresh air!
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