The golden ultra was my first multi-day staged race.  Its late in the season so weather can be warm and sunny, or cold and snowy.  This year, it happened to be the latter.  I wasn’t concerned about the weather, I was just thrilled to be out in the mountains for 3 days.

The key when its cold and wet is layers, you can always add and remove them to regulate your temperature.  I’m tend to bonk when over heated, but can run in cold weather all day, so for me this was perfect.  

I checked in prior to the day 1 race and received all 3 days bibs.  Lucky number 13.  My favorite soccer player Michael Ballack was number 13 (so was the world cup winning Thomas Muller), my favorite hockey player at the moment, Johnny Gaudreau is number 13 (he was also born on the 13th day).  So, in light of this, I was actually quite thrilled to get bib #13.

3 Bibs for Blood, Sweat and Tears, all lucky number 13

Day 1 – Blood

Day 1 was a wet cool day.  The course goes straight up Kicking Horse ski hill.  Its only just under 5km, but extremely steep to where a few sections were scrambling on all 4s.  

I totally over estimated the amount of water I would need.  Being the first day on a new course, I brought over 3 liters of water, but drank closer to 300ml during the race.  Extra water is extra weight and the water strapped around my body was beginning to feel like a weight vest as I climbed.  In hindsight I would have brought a hand held 400ml bottle at most.

Overall my legs were strong, no issues fading and I actually struggled to keep a reasonable pace, even though I understood this is a 3 day event.  At the steep parts of the climb you are locked into a stream and have to accept some much needed break time as people in front slow down.  I didn’t panic as my mantra for the entire weekend as “just finish”.

As we reached the summit the fog set in and it was snowing heavily.  I love it.

Looking back down the hill from the summit:

 

Day 2 – Sweat

Day 2 was the longest day of the weekend.  It was cool and drizzly, but it is fall in the rockies, so what would you expect.  I showed up early at the race, I prefer to show up early and mentally prepare for the race.

It starts early and flat for the first few kilometers.  There is always the few who blast out of the gates.  The elites you never see again, the rookies you reel in and see again after 20, 30, 40 kilometers.

After half way we climbed up into the snowline and the trail became ankle deep snow.  It got cold and a bit treacherous to run along the ridges, but enjoyable nonetheless.

As we dropped back down the hill it turned into long stretches of single track in the woods.  It started to get a bit tedious, but the aid stations were amazing.  At one I stopped for a while and loaded up on empanadas.

The trail from the bottom of the ski hill down to Golden is a series of switch backs.  At one point I started to hear a group gaining on me, every switchback they seemed to get closer and closer.  So… I decided to run hard for what I thought was 3-5km remaining.  In reality is was closer to 8km and as I got into Golden I was physically spent and mentally depleted.  At the last 100 meters I just needed to get through the gates.  My kids were waiting about 50meters out and wanted to stop for hugs.  Afraid I would stop and be unable to continue I opted for high fives and blasted with by with them running at tow.

They were champs though, while I was out racing, they participated in the kids race and did amazing.

I crashed into the finish line feeling spent, but great.

Day 3 – Tears

I had assumed by day three my legs would have been spent, but I woke up feeling pretty good, a bit rubbery, but good.  I showed up at the last segment early again, ready and eager to get going.

I was looking forward to another day on the trails, and spent an hour prior to start walking around the town of Golden.

The race started and the pace was fast.  I went out harder than I normally would have, considering it was a much shorter race than the previous day.  The initial pace was much faster than I anticipated.  I has going hard, and starting to hurt by the 6km.  It was then I saw the sign that split the 10km racers from the 22km racers.  I had not realized that most of the people I was racing with were only going 10km – doh!

I made a few wrong turns later in the race, but each time had someone behind yell out, I’m not sure what would have happened had there not been someone to redirect me.  I ended up running to almost the end with the guy who got me back on the right trail.  He pushed a hard pace adn I went much faster than I would have otherwise. 

I wrapped the last day up with a strong kick through the last 2km.  I felt great and was happy with both the day and the weekend.

Thoughts on Race:

Overall the event is amazing, very well organized, great volunteers and stunning scenery.  I met lots of great people (Dave, Andre, Sebastian), which is always part of the experience.  The course was very ‘runable’, and even though the weather was bad this year, this was one of my favorite races for sure.

See you next year Golden Ultra.

“I hate running”, its something I hear whenever running comes up in conversation.  I get it, there are no goals to score, its not team based, its repetitive, its something gym teachers make you do if you misbehave.  I love running, but I get that others don’t necessarily share that enjoyment.  So when a conversation with my buddy Erik (whom I’ve known for since grade 7) turns to trail running, he mentions he’d be in for going for a run.  Erik is a super fit guy, so no issue with ability, but I figure a shorter, quick morning trail run would be perfect to get him more interested in the sport.  Boy did I screw up.  

We (I take responsibility for choosing the route) decide on a relatively short 22km run on the Mount Allen loop just outside Canmore.  I looked on the map and looked like a great ‘welcome to trail running’ circuit up Mount Allen, over the ridge to Mount Colembola and back to the starting location.  What I didn’t properly asses was the 1800 meters in elevation that was required to climb.  What we (I) calculated as a 5 hour run, would end up taking much longer…

The day started in the Wind Valley parking lot just outside Dead Mans Flats.  When we arrived it was pouring rain and cold (8C).  It didn’t deter us, but did make me consider just how enjoyable this is going to be.  We agree to just go and see what happens.  Erik brought his dog Toothless who would turn out to be a perfect running companion.  

As we hit the trail the rain started to subside.  The first 8km are a steady climb up a side, yet rugged trail.  At about the 8km mark you clear the treeline you reach the base of Mount Allen and start to get a stunning view of the mountains and valley to the northwest.

The sun came out and it started to warm up, the climbing gets steeper and you can start to see the peak of Mount Allen.

Looking back you can see Canmore in the distance.

   

Toothless was doing awesome, just powering up the hill.

There were a few sections of scrambling here and we had to start getting creative about how we get Toothless up steeper climbs.  

We stopped for a break just before the summit climb to give Toothless some water and food.  As I was taking a photo I noticed my phone had full LTE coverage.  Remembering it was our buddy Matt’s birthday, we called him on Facetime for some birthday wishes.  Matt turned out to be in Amsterdam, and we chatted for a bit, gotta love technology.

As we pushed for the Mount Allan summit, the wind picked up, the temperature dropped and it started to lightly snow.  Like my underestimation of the time this run would take, I also underestimated just how unpredictable the weather can be on a ridge.

View of the ridge we will take between Mount Allan and Mount Colembola:

 

Looking back along the ridge line we came up on:

Looking back:

Mount Allen summit ahead:

On the summit of Mount Allen looking east into Kananaskis:

We wrapped around the right side of the summit and approached the ridge that connects Mount Allen and Colembola:

On the ridge looking into the alpine bowl we loop around:

The end of the ridge looking up to Mount Colembola:

Just before the summit of Mount Colembola there is a section that requires some scrambling around a rock tower.  We poked around for quite some time looking for an ideal place to drop in knowing that Toothless will have to climb the same decent:

Reaching the back side of the rock tower:

Looking east down at Nakiska ski hill:

Approaching the summit:

Looking back at Mount Allen, and the ridge we initially came up:

Summit looking back:

We took another break at the summit of Mount Colembola.  Looking down with Canmore in the distance.  I assumed it was all downhill from here and would be a cruise back, but I was very wrong.

We encountered some technical scrambling sections that were not too difficult, but required some though around how we get Toothless down.  Toothless did an amazing job, although pretty scared in some sections, he was willing to let us help him down. As we left the summit of Mount Colembola we ran into a sheer cliff.  With no clear route down we started to explore for a safe/easy route down.  I was glad I brought a GPS what gave us some indication we were on the right path, but there was nothing that looked obvious.  What I didnt want to do is climb half way down only to get stuck.  In hindsight the route was on the right (east) side of the the decent.  Although not trivial, we found a route and managed to scramble down with Toothless:

Pointing to a climb down we did with Toothless.  We were all happy to reach a flat spot.

Looking back at Mount Colembola and elated that we made it down and past the last sketchy sections. 

The ridgeline down Mount Colembola.  Ready for the knee slamming decent:

The decent was a steep grind down Mount Colembola ridge and into a thick forest where we bushwacked down a few more kilometers before landing on the trail we originally came up.  We cruised down the last 6km before hitting the parking lot.  The day was hot and sunny by now and I had stashed a couple beers in a cooler with ice before we left.  

It ended up being an 8 hour day, covering 26km, but it was awesome.  I felt horrible for turning what I thought would be a 4-5 hour morning run into a full day excursion.  Toothless proved to be a perfect companion and Bakke knocked out his first trail run with ease.

 

After this escapade we’ll see if Erik agrees to come out trail running again.

The Iron Legs Trail Race in Bragg Creek has become one of my favorite events of the year.  The course is challenging, the weather is usually great and its very well organized.  Two months prior to the start of the race I hit a benign looking pothole on the cycle path and rolled my ankle.  I’ve never broken a bone before, but as soon as I rolled over on it this time I knew the *snap* and *pop* indicated something was more wrong than a simple sprain.  Within 5 minutes my ankle was the size of a grapefruit.

Of course I wasn’t running with my cell phone as it was a quick loop close to my house, which meant when my ankle rolled I was stuck laying on the path waiting for someone to walk by so I could make a phone call.  After a few hours of waiting, my wife picked me up and I took myself to the hospital for a xray.  People complain about the health services we have here in Canada, but my time in the hospital was less than an hour to check in, wait for triage, get an xray, talk to doctor about xray and get fitted for a cast.  Amazing!

Below you can see the tiny bone that broke on the inside of my ankle.  The bone break was minor, it was all the tendons that tore on the outside of my ankle.

Innocuous pothole that put my running on hold for 2.5 months. 

I got my gear together the night before, which meant I only got about 3 hours of sleep prior to the race.

At 7:00am the sun was just coming up at the start.

The air was thick and smoky which kept the temperature down, but destroyed all the views.

     

I felt great at the 55km turnoff.  But soon after hit a complete wall with a knot in my stomach.  Eating gels and sugar intensive foods during the day caught up to me.  I struggled up moose packers switchback, but was given a ginger candy at about km 65 which completely fixed my stomach and gave me a second wind.  The trek up moose mountain was smoky, yet enjoyable.  Its just the right grade that you can bomb down after the turn around point.

  x

Top of Moose Mountain:     

At the turn around point.  I had to take it easy on way down as my ankle still didn’t feel 100% stable:

 

 

I didnt take many pictures during the day as the air was smoky from all the forest fires.  It also didn’t help that I finished just as the sun went down.  I felt great at the end, actually much better than I did after running the 60 last year with the intense heat.  My ankle was fine, no pain, yet I did take it easy on it, especially on the downhills.

From crutches a few months ago, to finishing the race, I’m happy with the results.

The great thing about the Grizzly ultra is that its a 5 loop circuit, each loop unique, yet finishing at the same central hub.  This makes it really easy to have a single drop bag and drop gear as the day warms up.  The course follows the Olympic cross country ski circuit at the Canmore Nordic Center. 

Its late in the year so the weather isn’t ideal, but it was quite pleasant once you get moving and the blood flowing.  

  

I had arrived early to the race so I waited around while the sun came up and people started to arrive:

   

Although leg 3 is the longest leg and rated as the most difficult, I found leg 4 the most challenging as it had quite a bit of elevation and I was already spent by that time.  I loved being able to dump gear and use a single drop bag during the race.  The course is primarily double track with a bunch of single track in leg 3.  I ran with some minimalist shoes which worked fine as there is minimal technical sections.

The best part was the finish where my wife brought out our kids to greet me at the finish line.  Hopefully one day they pickup the sport and we can all run together.  Until then they are the best support crew I could ask for.

 

My buddy Danny organized a cat skiing trip to K-Pow, the old Fortress ski resort that is now closed and use solely for cat skiing.  It was a perfect day with tons of fresh powder and a great crew.

It was my first time cat skiing and although you prepare for avalanches, the day was uneventful in a good way: everyone left uninjured and safe.  There wasn’t a cloud in the sky and the skiing was epic.

 

  

Unloading the cat:

Fresh tracks:

Cutting across an avalanche chute:

Fat skis recommended:

The cozy ‘lodge’ to suit up before the day:

Years ago I couldn’t run more than 15km without my IT-band seizing and getting a severe pain in my knee.  5 years ago I ran the Calgary marathon and tried to run through the pain.  I ended up really damaging my IT-band and was out for 6 months recovering.  I had come close to resigning myself that I may just not be able to run more than a half marathon.  On a shot in the dark I went into a physio clinic and signed up for a running assessment (I was actually trying to burn leftover heath benefits).  The verdict was that I was a habitual heel striker.  Recommendations were simple:

  • Run in minimalist shoes
  • Run with a cadence of more than 175 steps per minute
  • Change up runs with tempo, long, intervals
  • Ramp up miles no more than 10% a week
  • Use walk-run while ramping

To be honest the biggest change I felt was increasing my cadence and being conscience about smaller faster strides.  The result was I could run as long as I wanted with absolutely no knee pain.  I did suffer extremely sore calves which I attributed to the new stride, but that faded as the new muscles got use to the new stride.

With this new found ability I decided to see if I could run a marathon.  I signed up for the Calgary marathon and took it easy.  My humble goal was to at least finish, in under 4 hours.  I completed it in 3:45 and felt great the whole time.  With this momentum I registered for the Banff Marathon and ran it in 3:31.  I was feeling so good after I kept running for another 8km.  50km was the longest I had ever run and I felt great.

2017 Calgary Marathon @ 3:46:45

2017 Banff Marathon @ 3:31:41

 

Getting bored of road running, I decided to look into trail running options.  There is actually quite a few world class runs in the Alberta Rockies and I signed up for the Iron Legs 60km Ultra to see what would happen.  At this point I was still gunshy about injury, but I had been running for a year with absolutely no issues so I put in some training miles and showed up.

I went with the Ultimate Direction Mountain 3.0 vest and its been one of the vest purchases I’ve made.  Unbelievably comfortable and has pockets at all the right places.  Expensive, but worth every penny.  I went with heavier shoes than I normally would run in, but it turned out to be a good decision with the really rough terrain I would encounter.

Race day was a perfect summer day without a cloud in the sky.

The race started at sunrise with an easy 10km cruise along Elbow Valley train towards the Powerface staging area.  It was a mass start on single track so the pace was very regulated and slower than I would have started, but I followed the lead of others.  Walking up steep hills and taking it easy for the first 10km seemed the norm.  The sun was rising by the time we hit Powderface Creek Trail and continued on a gradual incline for another 10km.

At this point I was 21km into the race and feeling great.  Lets were fine, early pacing meant I had lots of energy and the weather was amazing.  Reaching Powederface Ridge Trail was a very steep switchback heading up to the ridge.  Running turned into power walking until we crested the top.

Once at the top I followed the ridgeline waiting to see the next marker.  I could see another runner out in the distance so assumed I was on the right track.  It turned out someone had removed the red marker tape the night before and about 10 of us ran past the turnoff, running to end of the ridge which came to a steep drop.  Realize I made a mistake I ran back about 2km until I could find the last marker.  There was a switchback leading down the backside of Powerface Ridge, but with no markers it was a drop of faith that it was the right way.  By this time we had 10 of us bunched up and the drop from the ridge was a fast pounding potential ankle destroying journey down to the bottom aid station.  Frustrated with the wrong turn I just let gravity take me, and the trail was perfect for a quick descent. 

  

30km in to the race, and feeling great lead me to my first inexperienced decision.  I blasted past the aid station grabbing nothing but a quick refill of water on one of my bottles.  The race had been relatively easy, weather nice and cool and I was feeling good.  The decision was made to just keep going. 

I would end up in the most grueling section of the course: Ford Knoll Trail and Ford Creek Trail.  I was not expecting steep incline after incline.  The declines were too steep to run, so they took just as much energy as the inclines.  By this time the mid day heat arrived and the temp was getting close to 30oC.  By the end of the trail I was getting mentally pounded and running out of water.  The third aid station couldn’t have come soon enough.  I loaded up on water, fruit and anything I could get down.  My stomach had rejected gels after the 3rd or 4th so I needed another mechanism to get electrolytes and sugars back in my body. 

Hooking on to Prairie Creek Trail would provide a great yet technical route back to Elbow Valley Trail.  It was smooth and provided a good opportunity to stretch the legs.  The way back we hooked onto Sulphur Springs Trail, which would normally be a great easy way to finish, but by this time the sun was in full force and the trail was totally exposed to the sun.  I was baking and started to feel the effects of heat stroke.  At the top some saintly volunteers were handing out freezies.  I ate it so fast it gave me a crushing brain freeze, but I was dying for a way to cool down. 

The Sulphur Springs trail back side was in the thick forest and smooth trail which made for some easy cruising back to the end.  Getting sloppy I stumbled on a tree root and in an attempt to stop myself from falling on my face did a quick stutter step. Immediately my legs felt like a jolt of electricity went through them, my calves instantly seized up and I slammed to the ground.  Rolling around, screaming on the ground like and idiot as my my legs felt like my achillies had snapped, one of the runners up in front of me heard and came back.  By this time I was laying in the brush with both legs stretched out straight, pain was slowly starting to fade and my embarrassment urged him to continue on. I lay there for another minute, absolutely gutted that I would injure myself this close to the finish.  I got up, started slowing walking, then into a slow run and after about 500 meters was feeling 100% again – strange. 

Feeling great and day dreaming I missed the last turn and ended up coming out in a field by the highway.  By this time I was just done, yet doubled back a kilo to the trail and took the right trail back to Station Flats and the finish line.

(below pictures are not mine, but are of the optional 80km route up moose mountain) 

It was nice to see my wife and little kids had come out to greet me.  My oldest was dressed up as a ninja and wanted to play flight with me, yet I just laid down and tried to recover.

The high of finishing subsided in about 15 minutes and the reality of heat stroke kicked in.  I wasn’t feeling tired, but the constant ingestion of gels and sugars was putting me off.  About 20 minutes after finishing I puked my guts out, then felt back to 100%. 

My total time was 9:38:02, my goal was to beat 10 hours so I was happy about that.  It wasn’t the distance that was hard, it was the elevation and heat.  Just under 2700 meters for the day.  

Overall it was a great day, very well organized event and one of the most enjoyable activities I’ve done in a long time.  With 60km under my belt I’m interested in the 80km next year, but lets not get ahead of ourselves.

Check out my relive.

Three years ago (in 2012), I sent out an email to a group of friends about hiking to Mount Assiniboine.  Its a mountain that sits just over the Alberta border in British Columbia.  Growing up skiing at Sunshine Village, I’ve always wondered where the vast meadows around the ski resort lead.  After reading a hiking blog that claimed it was one of the most outstanding hikes in the world I had to do it. 

The above picture is not mine, but was referenced here.

Considering I was born and raised within the vicinity of this range, yet never ventured out made we want to hike this segment.  As normally occurs peoples lives get busy and I found myself without anyone willing to go.  In the last minute my buddy Ryan, who always seems up for adventure, committed and it was on.  We only had 3 days, and it planned to be about 60-70km of hiking.

Below is the main trail.  We spent a day hiking around Mount Assiniboine and up to Nub Peak.  It would be easy to spend a week in this area exploring.

overall-assiniboine-trip

The night before I weighed my bag – 57lbs.  Fifty pounds is easy to carry for a few hours, but after a few days i didn’t think it would be bearable.  I did replace my 1990 backpack with a new bag from MEC.  Its amazing how much lighter and how much better the material is in new gear.  Lesson 1: if you are serious about doing back country hiking, invest in some decent gear.  I managed to shed about 5 pounds from by bag before leaving, but I did sneak 4 can of 500ml beers in the bag before finalizing the load.  I didn’t tell Ryan, but thought we could use a couple cold pints of beer when we made it to Assiniboine.  The morning of I said bye to my new family and took off for a few days of adventure.

Day Before:

The day before we dropped Ryan’s car off at Mount Shark then took my car together to Canmore.  We crashed in Canmore staying in luxury, knowing we had a few days of roughing it ahead.  I had free hotel points, otherwise we would have slept in the parking lot.

 

We dropped out gear off and went out for a good meal.  On the way back we picked up a bottle of scotch to fill our flasks.  At the end of a long day its nice to have drink, and the weight to benefit ratio of a good Scotch cant be beat.  I had not told Ryan about the 4 beers i had stacked in my bag.

Day 1: Sunshine Village to Assiniboine (Magog Lake Campground) – 30km

Our plan was to park a car at the Sunshine Skihill parking lot, then take the bus up to the starting point at Sunshine Village.  The first bus leaves at 8am, but after staying up late and one scotch too many we opted to make the 9am bus.

The weather was perfect.  Our destination for the day was Magog Lake Campground, but if we got tired or the day got late there were a few stops we could pitch tents along the way.  The starting location in Sunshine Village, a ski resort in the winter.  The area had a number of day hikers starting out, but we were the only overnights.  In total 30km day we only passed 2 other hiking groups plus a runner who was going the same direction.

The hike to the top of the ski hill is gradual and marked with a wide pea gravel path.  Families and even a few young kids were hiking this segment.  Once you reach the top you are rewarded by the Sunshine Meadow:

  

Looking back you can see the trail leading back to Sunshine including the charlift station at the top of the hill.  

This hiking was easy and rewarding, something that would make a great family day hike.

 

Once you get to the end of the meadow, you reach Citadel Pass which has a drop leading down into Golden Valley.  There is a campgroup here (Porcupine), but the day was early and we kept going.

Getting to the bottom of the pass you finally reach Valley of the Rocks, and amazing place where we saw Mountain Goats climbing around.

At the end of this valley you come up a small hill and get the first glimpse of Mount Assiniboine:

It was easy to get a second wind here, but the reality was there was still about 12km of hiking left before we would reach the Assiniboine area.  We hiked for a few more kilometers to Og Lake and decided to make some lunch.

Ry also ventured down to Og lake to refill our water packs.  I had brought my Katadyn water filter so as long as we were near stream or lake we would have lots of water.

We considered tenting here for the night, but after a good meal decided we could push on to Magog Lake Campground about 6km further ahead.  The hike from Og was flat and easy through the last valley.  The whole time you are rewarded with better and better views of Assiniboine.  By this time however, we were both exhausted and the day was starting to feel like a slog.  I was regretting packing 2 liters of beer and considered stopping for a drink, but it wouldnt feel right before we reached out destination.

Upon reaching Magog Lake the views of the Assiniboine area were outstanding.

We reached the camp before dark and managed to get our tents up while there was still lots of light.  The campground was perfect, but would definitely fill up on busy weekends. 

By the time we had our tents setup and ventured down to the cooking areas it was totally black out.  I opted to save the beers for tomorrow evening and we opted for a glass of scotch and a cigar instead. 

The nights really cool down that high in the mountains and it was really cold by the time we crashed.  The good thing about a long day is you fall asleep as soon as your head hits the pillow, regardless of the temperature.

Day 2: Nub Peak and around Magog Lake (30km)

The following is a good map of the Assiniboine Area from the Assiniboine Lodge Site.

http://assiniboinelodge.com/general-info/maps-and-guide-books

We woke up to perfect blue skies and a great view of Mount Assiniboine from our campground.

  

We went and filled out the proper paperwork (missed it the previous night) and had a hearty breakfast.

After breakfast we set off to hike up to Nub Peak.  It offers one of the best views of the lake and Mount Assiniboine, and is one of the most popular places to take pictures of the valley.  We hiked the long way up around lake Magog, and by Sunburst Lake and Cerulean Lake.

Along Sunburst Lake:

After Sunburst Lake the path winds up towards Nub Peak.  In the distance you can see Elizabeth Lake.  Upon reaching the Nublet, you can start to see a view of Assiniboine.

Looking down you can see the 3 lakes leading up to Mount Assiniboine.

The peak of Mount Assiniboine is forbidding.  We stop for lunch and watch a helicopter circle over the summit for some time.  Later we learned it was a rescue operation.  A climber in his 60s had always wanted to summit Assiniboine, but after reaching the top he was unable to muster the energy to climb back down.  The helicopter was brought in to take him off the top with a harness.

After a bite to eat, we decided to hike up to the Nublet.  It is about half way up Nub Peak.  As we go up the trail the views get better and better.

Our destination:

A look back at the Niblet:

  

Made it to the Nublet.  Amazing views of the surrounding area.

One thing I’ll give Ryan is that he is not afraid of heights.  Climbing out onto outcrops to take a picture or check out a view gives me extreme anxiety.  Dammit Ry.

We kept going to reach Nub Peak.

At the summit is a chair someone built in stone.

Its the perfect place to chill and checkout the surrounding area.  There are a number of small walls built out of stones, I suspect it can get windy up here at times.

The ridge continuing on past Nub Peak, not climbable, at least I wasnt going to attempt it. 

Looking down at Assiniboine Lodge with the red roof in the distance.

The valley we came in through the previous day.

End of the trail

Looking down at Og Lake where we stopped for lunch on Day 1:

One of the many Inukshuks on the peak: 

A marmot running around up top:

After some time on the peak we decided to head back down, the opposite side we came up.  This trail heads back to the Assiniboine Lodge.  Back at the Lodge we were exhausted and found out they sold beer, perfect way to end a great hike.  I started to feel silly lugging 2 super cans of beer up in my pack when we can just buy cold beer from the lodge.

Cold beer on the patio:

Heading out from the Lodge we decided to hike around the back side of the lake ie. the long way around, to get back to our camp site.  There was a line of the map indicating a trail, so I assumed it would be straight forward.

View out from the Lodge:

The trail started easy but quickly turned into boldering.  Normally it wouldn’t be a problem, but we were 25km into a day and just ready to get back to our camp and eat before it was dark.

View back across the lake towards the Lodge:

Sunset on Assiniboine

 

We got back to camp just as the sun was going down behind the horizon.  We were both famished and fired up the stoves to make some dinner.

I must say the beers we brought were good:

We crashed early, after dinner, beer and more scotch and I slept unbelievably sound.

Day 3: Assiniboine to Shark Mountain (via Wonder Pass) – (30km)

We decided to take the longer, more scenic Wonder Pass route back to Mount Shark.  There is a more direct Horse Path, but a group of hikers we passed mentioned it was not nearly as scenic as Wonder Pass.  In hindsight it was a great decision.

We got reasonable start in the morning and felt remarkably fine considering the past two days we had.  Although my pack was significantly lighter (no beer, less food), it didn’t actually feel any lighter.  We passed the Naiset Lodge, the only other Lodge in the area.  Where as the Assiniboine Lodge is very luxurious, the Naiset Lodge is as basic as it comes, just a stove and roof.  If I did another trip, especially in the winter I would love to stay here.

Hike up towards Wonder Pass.

Fuel for the day.

Crossing back into Alberta.

Valley leading down to Marvel Lake, one of the most scenic and amazing places we came across.

Its a large lake in a steep valley and the pictures just dont do it justice.

We came out at Bryant Creek and lost the trail.  We had to blaze our own trail, or at least follow what we assumed was the trail until we finally stumbled back onto the main trail.

 

  

We stopped at Big Springs Campground to refill our water and have lunch.  I had brought my water filter which makes it easy to fill up whenever you need (or whenever its accessible).  

The trail from here was flat and forested. Not much for views, but super enjoyable, especially after the elevation we had scrambled in the past few days.

As you get closer to Mount Shark you start to see the Cross Country Ski trails and signs in the area.  I’ll definitely have to come back in the winter.

The home stretch:

 

We made it!  What a trip, definietly one of the highlight hikes I’ve ever done.  Amazing weather, good company and stunning scenery.

We drove back to pickup my car from the Sunshine Parking lot.  

Ryan and I head into Canmore for a beer and hearty meal.  I love this area and will definitely return.  I’m hoping to get out in the winter and ski from Mount Shark to Assiniboine Lodge.  Otherwise, I’d love to try to jog from Sunshine to Mount Shark in a day.  Time shall tell.

 

 

Where: Chester Lake, Alberta

Total Distance: 9.5 km

Having two kids really changes the types of adventures that fills your weekends, however, we decided as a family to test our stamina with a short yet rewarding hike up to Chester Lake.

One of us is excited

One of us is excited

The route is well marked and easy to follow.  The hike is a decent ascent up to Chester Lake, where we planned to have a picnic.

Chester Lake Hike

The route up is a wide easy trail and offers little views until you reach the top.

 

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Once at the top the scenery is spectacular and well worth the “climb”:

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At the top is Chester Lake.  We were running short of time, but there is the option to hike around.  There is also a fork to head up to the elephant rocks.  We did not go, but it is highly recommended and only a few hundred meters further.

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We stopped for a picnic and relaxed before heading back.

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Halfway was almost 4.5km, yet it took us 1 hour and 45 minutes due to the frequent stops with the little ones.

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The way down has an option to branch from the main trail, it is the same distance, but provides a bit of change from the route up.  Overall, it was a good hike for kids and well worth the trip.  The drive back to Calgary we stopped in Canmore and had dinner before driving home.