CR2015: Canmore and East End of Rundle

On July 21st we flew into Calgary to launch our 2015 hiking expedition in the Canadian Rockies. First, we walked over to Hertz for our Hertz Gold "full-size car." They offered us an SUV, a Jeep Patriot, which we told them was unacceptable. We had three duffels of luggage, which would be in plain sight in the back of an SUV, whether taking a day hike between lodges or leaving the vehicle behind while at Lake O'Hara Lodge or Mistaya Lodge. We insisted on a car with a trunk. After 45 minutes, we were given the keys to a Dodge Charger.

We inspected the Charger carefully. Cars in western Alberta are subject to many physical insults, including gravel roads, and we did not wish to be charged for a ding or crack that was already present when we took possession of the car. We've had to pay for two windshield replacements in our years of car rental out of Calgary.

Mr. Charger already had a windshield chip, 

which we had the Hertz representative note. He said there was a small red dot on the contract diagram which indicated the pre-existing condition, but we got it in writing.

We arrived in Canmore and stayed at the Canadian Artisans B&B, hosted by Val and Bob, as we have for several years. This year, two pigs were waiting for us in our room,

along with Mr. Bear.

The next day we set out to tackle the East End of Rundle route, as we had in 2014. On our first day at altitude this would be challenging, but hey, we'd done it the year before.

First, a pit stop at the Goat Creek Parking area. We're headed up towards the high ridgeline behind the wooded bump.

Mr. Charger took us a few hundred yards back to the parking area on the edge of the canal leading to Whiteman's Pond, at the top of the gap on the right, saving us a trudge with billowing dust every time a car passed by.

The trail leaves from the roadside and immediately heads up.

The first point of interest is an avalanche-explosives warning sign.

The trail switchbacks through the woods, then takes a permanent bend to the north as the underlying rocks break through.

Sometimes there's a trail and sometimes you're looking ahead to spot a cairn (sometimes misleading) or piece of colored tape hanging from a tree, to which you must pick your way. Usually there are no more than two choices based on the boot traffic that has scuffed, polished, or mudded the rock. Here's a view looking back after our first half hour.

In a couple of spots the route skirts the edge.

After a brief flat spot and viewpoint at the crest of the wooded area, we're switchbacking through scree. In places there are multiple boot-beaten paths visible, and we must choose the footing that appeals most to us. We're using our hiking poles in earnest.

This panorama shows the wooded crest, bottom center, as well as a peek down the Spray Lakes valley.

Joan spotted nine mountain goats across the mountain!

The sky is constantly changing, both over us and down the valley. Will it rain? Who knows? We have rain jackets and rain pants. This photo tries to capture virga, rain not reaching the ground, visible to the south.

We reached the broad meadow below the final climb to the ridgeline, and decide to lunch. Ahead, more scree and the crest. The main trail is visible in the rocks (click to enlarge). This year there were far fewer flowers blooming in the meadow than in 2014; we were a few days later, and the season was running faster.

A young marmot romped through the meadow while we enjoy our break.

Then we resumed our climb. Last year we reached the ridgeline and stopped there. This year, we attained that point and continued to the left for a bit more altitude, with a scree slope on one side and a precipitous drop on the other, reaching a spot at the foot of the rock face towards the left of the earlier photo. The view encompasses both the Bow and Spray Lake valleys. You can see the lunch meadow down the bottom right corner.

Fully zoomed in, my camera captured the zone of the June Canmore natural gas explosion, not far from Canadian Artisans, which would be on the far right of this photo.

After drinking in the panorama we worked our way back down, and spotted several marmots. A young marmot led our focus to an adult; both are in this picture, at either side.

Another marmot snapshot near the top, with one on either side, although you'll likely need to click to enlarge. We save five in total on this trip, three adults and two young'uns.

Then it was time to plunge downhill, first through the scree slopes, and then through the mixed roots and rock outcrops lower down. As we went, it became harder to avoid slips and skids of the foot, even though we made an effort to focus. Dehydration? Low blood sugar? Going further than last year? Not having been at higher altitude in May like last year? All of the above? Still, we were doing well until almost at the end, when my right leg shot out from under me and I rolled downhill a turn and a half. I was OK, but Joan had to break out her first aid kit and wipe blood from small cuts on my face, and bandaid one of them. My right-hand hiking pole was bent, as you can see in this photo taken back at the car.

I would develop a bruise from where I'd rolled over the can of bear spray I was carrying, and a tear in the pant fabric under the bear spray meant that one of my favorite hiking pants was ruined after one day of hiking this year.

We cleaned up well, and had a good dinner at CrazyWeed. We were chastened but ready to keep going.

CR2014: To Canmore and East End of Rundle

Our 2014 Canadian Rockies adventure began on May 16, when we flew to Canmore. But there's a prologue, courtesy of Delta Airlines.

Joan booked our flights with Delta on January 17th, snagging a great round-trip fare to Calgary from Columbus. We would arrive in Calgary at 11:00 am (give or take), with a one-hour layover in Minneapolis, and depart from Calgary for home at 8:10 am. Three legs were first class; the flight from Minneapolis back to Columbus was economy-only.

On February 23rd Delta changed the schedule: the layover in Minneapolis would be 3½ hours, and we would arrive in Calgary at 1:30 pm instead of 11:00 am. There would not be time to take the roundabout route to Canmore via Marv's Classic Soda Shop. The Calgary departure was now 6:50 am. Ugh. Such steps backward to an originally great schedule.

On April 24th Delta called us and left a message. Two flights from Minneapolis to Calgary were being combined, and we were bumped out of first class. They were sorry for the inconvenience and would issue us $500 vouchers. And put us on an already clogged wait list for first. Our flight times were the same.

May saw two spurts of further alterations, mostly minor, such as flight numbers. But the flight from Minneapolis back to Columbus changed; it would now be a three-class aircraft rather than a single-class, and since we had booked economy, our seats were now in row 20 rather than row 3. When we discovered this Joan called Delta to complain. Hey, if that flight had been three-class from the start ... the agent moved us to 'economy comfort,' the middle class. Squeaky wheel.

We arrived in Minneapolis, waited out our longer layover, and then went to the gate, where we saw that Delta was frantic. The flight to Calgary was seriously overbooked; they needed at least 12 or 13 people willing to be bumped in return for flight vouchers. The bidding had actually started 24 hours before flight time on the online check-in. When we arrived the offer was $500 per person. It kept creeping up. By the time we boarded the plane the bump offer was $1300, but the catch was, the next flight would not arrive in Calgary until 11 pm. Not acceptable for us. Several minutes after getting settled in our seats, an agent came on board to and talked to a couple, asking if they were still willing accept the last offer. We heard that those last two seats went for $1500 apiece.

Good work, Delta. But we reached Calgary on time, rented a car from Hertz with decent trunk space (VW Passat), and made it to Canmore for the check-in window at Canadian Artisans Bed & Breakfast.

This is the window in the door to our suite, the upper of the two offered by Valerie and Bob Knowlden.

We had dinner at Rocky Mountain Flatbread, a short walk from the B&B and an excellent choice for a travel day. Then we crashed after our lengthy adventure.

On the 17th we tackled East End of Rundle. This hike is just across the valley from Ha Ling, which we had, to our amazement, successfully completed last year. After parking at a wide area next to Whiteman's Pond we crossed the road and began to climb.

The trail switchbacks as a true trail at first, but quickly becomes braided as it ascends over rock slabs and other obstacles that call for some scrambling skills. A couple of times we backtracked and took an alternate route.

It was huff-and-puff work, but there was always a view of the valley to pause and admire. The slopes of Ha Ling were also constant visual companions.

There are a couple of benches and meadows on the way up where the trail is temporarily flat. This is the first.

Plants and trees flourish in the most unlikely spots in this alpine environment.

Up and up we went. We reached a point where you could look into the Bow and Spray Lakes Valleys, separated by Ha Ling and its siblings, at the same time. The haziness is due to forest fires further north.

A meadow was the second big landmark. Hikers on this meadow had caught our eye last year as we climbed Ha Ling.

Joan and I decided to keep climbing to reach not the peak, but the edge of the ridge, to peer down into the Bow Valley and Canmore.

At full zoom, my camera captured this image of Canmore's new Elevation Place. I don't have a sweeping panorama of the Bow Valley because I was wrestling with my substitute camera on this first outing.

Here's a look down into the Whiteman's Pond, part of the three-dam power generation system fed by the Spray Lakes reservoir. The water falls 300 meters from this middle dam to the second power station. We parked not far from the narrow right-hand end of the pond.

This view looks back the way we had come; the meadow is on the right.

There are a variety of courageous plants growing among the scree up here.

Our hike back down was less intimidating from a route-finding point of view, our having seen the terrain on our way up, but there were still a couple of occasions where we took the less desirable braid, or where Joan and I briefly took separate routes around an obstacle. Going downhill on a steep slope is always tougher on the joints than going up, and we were glad for our hiking poles.

We met several people coming up on the way down. A late start doesn't deter people out here. Then again, sunset isn't until after 9:40 pm.

Joan and I were well pleased with this initial hike. Our incessant tromping of the paths at Clear Creek Metro Park had strengthened our muscles, but more time was still needed to boost our red blood cells -- I'm sure we reached 8,000' altitude on this hike.

Tomorrow we would return to Talus Lodge.