Kananaskis Country Hiking

On our way to the lodge, we hiked (for the third time) Ptarmigan Cirque. It's a great high-altitude (starts at 7200') warm-up for the hiking to come. In spring (in early July, we qualified as mid to late spring visitors) the glacier lilies were still putting on a show. In general, the botanical vernal show all depends both on the microclimate and the altitude, and we were lucky:

It doesn't take long to get above the tree line, and the higher reaches of the cirque stretched all our senses after spending most of the previous day in airplanes:

On the second day, we planned to hike to Black Prince Cirque, a new destination for us, known for some steep stretches. Our invaluable guidebook by Kathy and Craig Copeland pointed out that after the initial lake, the trail was unofficial, and one landmark was "two dead larches to the left". So we were approaching this hike as a challenge/with some trepidation. But it turned out that we were not alone: a busful of senior Calgarian hikers, the Evergreeners, arrived as we were putting on our gear. Their bus displayed the sign, "Recycled Teenagers." We were not alone at the low lake where the official trail returned and the cirque trail headed on:

Crossing an avalanche slope:

 

Climbing one of the steep bits (certainly the slipperiest):

Despite the occasional drizzle on the return, a good time was had by all.