VivaEnduro

Two days before leaving for Northover I decided to jog home from work as a warm-up and pulled my calf muscle.  So a day before I went in for some physio and ended up getting acupuncture.  I’ve never had acupuncture before, but figured I would do whatever it takes to be in game shape for the hike.  It ended up feeling great the entire hike, quite impressed.

With the forecast looking unpredictable, we headed out Friday after work and stopped off at the Stony Nakoda Casino for some carb loading.  Adam had 5 pieces of cake and washed it down with a beer, I knew at that point it was on.  Ashley and Lucy joined us for dinner then headed back to Calgary.

Getting out to the mountain late meant there were no campsites left, so we decided to pitch a tent in a day use area knowing we would be up and out early the next morning.  Friday night it absolutely poured and the wind howled.  None of us got very good sleep and Glen left his hiking boots out in the rain.

The morning was cool and windy, but we decided to head out and see how far we can get.  The Traverse can be very dangerous if its wet or windy, so we knew turning back could be a possibility.  We made a big breakfast knowing it could be our last real meal until the evening.  Knowing that Bears like fish, we stuck to bacon and eggs for breakfast.  I haven’t ever seen Discovery channel footage of a Grizzly taking down a wild pig, so we figured it was safe to cook up.

 

At 7:30 we hit the trail, within 20 minutes it was warm and in the trees the wind was dead.

 

There was a sign before heading out warning that some of the trail was flooded, with a 2 hour detour, after a couple hours in we came across the first stream crossing.  Usually this section crosses over a trickle of water, not even large enough for a bridge, but with all the rain and heavy snowpack in the mountains it was a fast moving river.

We hiked up to where the trail was flooded and found a section we thought we could cross.  We tested the depth and it was about waist deep so we decided to wade across.  The water was freezing and the current strong, but was by no means dangerous.  We saved a few hours by not hiking around, and it was a good opportunity to ice my calf muscle which was doing great.

 

We waded to an island in the middle, then Adam and Glen waded the last section which was much deeper, while I decided to walk the fallen log.  I made it without falling, but it could have been a bad decision if i slipped off.

We missed the fork in the trail due to the flooding and missed the turn to Hidden Lake.  We walked about 1km past before we realized it, but decided to take a small game trail shortcut instead of backtracking.  The trail around hidden lake was brutal, because the official trail was under water, the trail we took wasnt much better than bushwacking.  Every 20 meters was another fallen log(s) to climb over, the forest was thick and wet and mosquitoes were out.  Everyone was hoping we wouldn’t have to come back through this trail.

At the end was the climb to Aster Lake.

We got up to the last crest before Aster Lake when we hit a few streams to cross, then a large Snow Field.  This year had heavy snow fall, and a cool spring which meant the trail was a few feet under snow.  With a steep grade of around 45 degrees we debated the best way to get across.  Adam, being the most capable climber decided to go across first and see if there was any way around.  We thought we could use the back wall to pull us up, but there was a 6 foot crevass between the snow and wall.  The snow had a waterfall running into it, and a water fall running out the bottom.  A slip and fall here meant you may slide down the snow and over the edge.  After exploring a few areas to get around we decided we would only meet more snow ahead and it wasnt worth the risk.

 

Looking up at the Traverse we saw black clouds and high winds.  Disappointed, but knowing there was cold beer back at the car, we decided to turn back.

By the time we got back to Upper Kananaskis, the sun was out and it was a perfect day, but the you could still see the black clouds over the ridge.

In the end we did about 25km, but never made it over the ridge. In another month (late August) the snow should be melted and we can attempt it again.

Before leaving next time we’ll make sure to check current trail reports and area advisories.