#justhike

So we’ve decided to do our WTC hike July 24-25. We are going to do it a bit different after speaking with some people who’ve done it before. The 24 hour time is just total hiking time, it doesn’t have to be done all in a row. So the plan has now become Alderson-Carthew and Akamina Ridge on day one, camp out overnight and then hike Crypt lake on day 2.

Still holding out hope to get out there a couple times before the big day.

We have a hike with the kids on May 22 to Fairy Creek Falls and a hike without the kids on May 29th up the Matevick Draw in town.

Where to begin with a write up of table mountain…..

I guess writing it all out now while my memory is fresh and my skin is still hot from the sun is a good idea.

It took us roughly 5 hours to complete, including a 1 hour detour at the beginning, photo ops and a snack break, and of course, the time we spent on the summit picking ticks off ourselves and drinking beers.

The ticks are really awful this year. I had three on me alone. And I’ve only ever had one on me before in my 27 years.

Table mountain in Beaver Mines, AB was a lot more challenging than I thought it would be, but not so challenging that it didn’t make a great early season scramble to get into the groove of things. My calves definitely got a workout ascending the loose scree and making footsteps for my friends to follow in.

The trailhead was very easy to get to. From the town of BeaverMines you just continue down the highway to the Beaver Mines Lake Campground. There’s a big Table Mountain sign where you can park your car.

We started the hike promptly by hiking around the interpretive trail by accident and completely missing the clearly marked Table Mountain trailhead, which is off to the right hand side of the big sign and marked with a smaller sign. You follow this trail a short way and come to a wooden gate. The trail is very easy to follow the whole way up and is marked with circular, red reflectors. We picked our way up the river gully until the trail branched off by the cliff band.

We went up to the left of the cliff band which was more vertical but less scrambling than the right hand side, I feel coming up the left and back down the right was a good choice.

Once up on top of the cliff and standing on the plateau there is a clear path up to the ridge, it’s loose soft scree and hard going but the best views always follow the toughest climbs!

We had a bit of snow to go through to get up to the ridgeline but nothing too crazy and definitely less than I was expecting for a hike like this one.

Once at the top we enjoyed our ginger beers and snapped some photos before heading back down. We came down the scree, shooting for the plateau top of the cliffs. You can pretty much slide and surf your way down the scree slope any way you choose to get back to the cliff. Once at the cliff we followed the path down the opposite side of the way we came up, back down the gully and into the tree line.

I’m just getting ready to head out with P and M and all the kids for a hike up to Josephine falls so I figured I’d take a minute to get my training for next week down. I managed 30 miles last week finally, going to try to hit at least 30 for both the remaining weeks in this up cycle. Once I know I can comfortably run that distance I’m going to start focusing on getting more elevation in, I want to be at 1000 m per week before June.

Anyways…

Training for the week of March 21- 27

So, this sunday, March 6th, we will be doing our first summit of 2016. I thought I would do a little write up on the things I’ve researched for it and the gear ect. I’ll be using. 

The deets:

Location: Pincher Creek, AB

Distance: 10 kms

Elevation: 675 m

Recommended time: 6 hours

Directions: (taken from trailpeak.com)

Take route 6 south from Pincher creek towards Waterton National Park and take the first right after the CPR train bridge. This road leads west towards the Shell plant. Continue past the Shell plant where there are huge blocks of yellow sulfur and enter the forestry reserve. Stay right at the first vee and continue until the storage complex where the West road is gated. You will see a sign here describing the Castle special management area and hiking for Victoria ridge. Find a place to park your car for the day near here (we turned right northwards and found a good parking spot maybe 50 metres from here).

Prairie Bluff is a straightforward summit hike with a small amount of scrambling and due to its location is clear of ice and snow already! Although that whole area is known for it’s hard and fast wind, so that will definitely be an issue. 

Gear: Oboz hikers, Camelbak fourteener pack, Nike pro insulated leggings and The NorthFace synthetic down jacket. In my pack I will have an extra layer of pants, socks and water proof Arc’teryx  jacket along with all the essentials ( first aid, water, snacks, knife, rope and other assorted survival gear)