I`m still in San Diego, but I`m skipping back to a blog on hiking when I was in the mountains. Jo was out west with me for five days, and I felt well enough to do a little hike. Cascade Mountain is my favourite hike in Alberta. If you are in or near Banff, Cascade can`t be beat - check out the scan of the scramble guide. It`s really challenging (especially the boulder scramble) and it`s a grind (9 hrs round trip, with loads of climbing), but the pay off is fantastic. The view of LakeMinnewanka from the summit is excellent, and the hike is a serious workout. It can get intense - the red crosses (see the guide) is where people have had `serious accidents``. There have been fatalities.
Jo and I made it to the top.......of Grassi Lakes (a nice hike, but the kind you take your kids on) (Please tell me you didn`t think we`d try to hike Cascade??? Not a change. I`d have needed those helicopter rescue hand signals after 15 minutes. I only included the scramble guide because I love the hike and wanted to tell you about it.
We had a good time hiking Grassi and I felt...stable (if that makes sense - my balance was good and I didn`t have an energy crash).
It went so well that I wanted to hike Sulpher Mountain the next day. Sulpher used to be so cool. If you slogged the two hours of non-technical switchbacks, you could take the Gondola back down for free. I was very disappointed to learn this former awesomeness is no more. A lift down is now $17. Jerks. In the end, I was WAY too tired the next day to do it anyway. Instead we walked up to the hotel. (There is a little urban hike you can do up to the BanffSprings, which take you past Bow Falls. It`s easy but beautiful). At the hotel, I had to sit drooling in a chair for about half an hour before I could move. Poor Jo just had to sit and wait. It was probably longer than a half hour. We seriously contemplated taking a taxi back down (about a 20 minute stroll). I made it! (ie walking).....barely.
Such a fun weekend.
4 comments:
Eh-hem.....When are you ever n.o.t drooling?
Luckily the walk back from the hotel was predominantly downhill so all it really took was getting your gigantor momentum moving forward and gravity pretty much did the rest ;)
Thank you (and your parents) for the incredible fun!
Cascade is on my hit-list for next year.....and I'l make sure to do it in 8hrs ;) Oh yes..It's on ;)
I hear grandmas and people carrying babies do Cascade in 7.75h...just sayin'... ;-)
I've had a change of heart...grandmas and people carrying babies do NOT hike Cascade in 7.75h. I don't want to be responsible for creating anymore red X's on that map. It takes then at LEAST 8.25h.
"Excuse me sir, are you signalling helicopter rescue yes/no, or are you practicing your disco YMCA and point moves?" Hey, all the cool kids seem to do mountain top yoga these days, who's to say mountaintop disco ain't legit.
After intently studying the pamphlet I have devised an extremely nifty short cut ;)
7.74hrs.
*ps: Isn't it slightly...worrying that the hike that includes subtle references to EXPOSURE should be printed on a pamphlet? Anyone?
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