Trip Report: Grizzly Ridge

We took Emily, Jasmine, and her doggo Theo out on an easy hike up Grizzly Ridge this past weekend, in the Highwood Pass area. I believe Emily thinks I don't know what the word 'easy' means, but I contest that. It was a perfectly pleasant and cool sunny day... that is, until it wasn't. As we stopped for lunch, it began to snow on us, because you know, July in Canada. Fortunately we were right at the northern edge of the weather system, and it only lasted for a few minutes, before moving past us to the south.

The theme of the day was making new friends, as we added an extra member to our group when a girl was out of her element on the neighbouring mountain, Mt. Tyrhwitt. We helped her down and she opted to join us for a less technical ascent up Grizzly Ridge instead. Theo also made a new friend, a gopher we nicknamed Alan, who would scream bloody murder after being playfully shaken around in Theo's mouth a few times before escaping.

For those of you who are looking for a hike with minimal effort, but maximal views from the top, Grizzly Ridge definitely fits that bill.






























Summit Brew: Clifford Brewing Co's Pinball Wizard APA.

Trip Report - Heart Mtn/ Grant MacEwan Peak/ Unnamed Tower

Sooo... when your spouse says, 'Can we just do a short hike up heart mountain' (maybe 4 hrs return), and you respond with 'Yes', but fail to mention that you intend to summit Heart, then continue on to the next mountain over, and then continue on to an unnamed third peak even higher, with a stupid sketchy cliff... Is that Kosher? Asking for a friend.

And in unrelated photos, here are some shots from our scramble up Heart Mountain, followed by a trek to Grant MacEwan Peak, followed by another long-ish scramble up the west tower of an unnamed summit to the south, for a long and tiring day of hiking. It was epic (my description), or 'never again' (her description).


Looking back towards Lac Des Arc on the front side of Heart Mountain's summit.


Anita giving the victory pose, even though she gave up just shy of summiting the third peak.




On the ridge towards Grant MacEwan Peak.


Had to down climb this cliff face, which was most definitely not a good time.


Another look at the cliff face.










This one gives you a sense of how much elevation we gained and lost repeatedly, as we trekked along the lengthy ridge between peaks.


The final push up to the summit involved a steep scramble on a slab, or else a steep scree slog.


Looking back to where Anita called it quits.


Well earned summit beer.


If you look closely, you can see a red speck in the middle, which is Anita and her backpack.

The Missus' Big B-day

We took an extended weekend down to Southern Alberta last weekend to celebrate Anita's big b-day. I'll leave it up to you to hazard a guess as to which decade, but venture ahead at thy own risk. We got up at ungodly hours to take sunrise photos (Anita apparently got as many mosquito bites as her age while I slowly snapped away), stayed up late to take evening shots, scrambled partway up Bertha Peak, and did afternoon tea at the Prince of Wales Hotel. These only cover some of the adventures we got up to in Waterton Lakes National Park, but you can see in some photos the extent of damage from the Kenow wildfire last year that ravaged a large portion of the park.


Minutes before sunrise over our hotel.


Minutes after sunrise.


Cameron Falls.


Falls along the route to Bertha Lake.


Look close - the water is actually flowing away from you in this photo.




Inside the main hall of the Prince of Wales.












Warning sign for if you guess Anita's b-day wrong (or maybe a little TOO accurately).


Hiking through wildfire ravaged forest trail, on the way up to Bertha Peak.




Just because it's your b-day, doesn't mean you don't have to get out and work to bag a peak. #summitnazi






We were tired from a long previous day of hiking, it was hot, humid, and we didn't locate a proper gully up, so we stopped after scrambling up a sketchy rockwall to enjoy the view before calling it quits.