Mount Lineham and Rowe Lakes

July 21, 2017. A solo trip, with a challenging hike/easy scramble to the 2nd highest mountain peak in Waterton Lakes National Park, and a visit to a family of mountain lakes on the return trip. I have a goal of someday doing the Hawkins Horseshoe in Waterton – a route that involves a scramble up […]

Goat Lake

July 17, 2017. A moderately challenging hike to a lake in a hanging valley in Waterton Lakes National Park. I’d been promising my 9-year-old daughter that we could do a hike together, just the two of us. Last year she made it up and around Bertha Lake with no problems, so I figured she’d be […]

Chester Lake & Three Lakes Valley

July 10, 2017. A solo hike to high mountain lakes in Kananaskis country. My wife, who is both intelligent and stunningly beautiful, told me that I could leave the family behind today and hike on my own. This was a departure from our original plan for the 3 days we’d have in Kananaskis, which was […]

Hiking with kids

July 9, 2017. Today was day 2 of a short family hiking vacation. We did this last year with our kids, doing one short hike a day. Last year we did Rawson Lake, Ptarmigan Cirque, Grassi Lakes and Elbow Lake. This year, we only have 3 days, but the intent is the same: short, fun […]

Ptarmigan Cirque

July 8, 2017. This was a family outing with kids, aged between 5 and 11. Ptarmigan Cirque is definitely in my top 3 in terms of best hikes to do with kids (Grassi Lakes and Bear’s Hump would be the other 2 on that list). There’s a bare minimum of uphill slog followed by amazing […]

Table Mountain

June 24, 2017. Table Mountain is in the Castle Wilderness area in Alberta, overlooking Beaver Mines Lake. It’s a challenging hike/easy scramble, with variable options to get to the top. Ambrosi describes the on-trail approach in his Southern Rockies Trail Guide, and Nugara describes a scramble route in More Scrambles in the Canadian Rockies. Since this was […]

Bovin Lake

June 23, 2017. I decided to make my first foray in to the Castle Wilderness by checking out Bovin Lake. The trail is described in Ambrosi’s Southern Rockies Trail Guide, and seemed like a reasonable half-day objective for a solo expedition. The weather was partly cloudy and slightly cool, with a possibility of rain, so I […]

Writing on Stone Provincial Park

June 17, 2017 This isn’t really a report on a hike, but rather a nod to one of our family’s preferred outdoor playgrounds. Today was a “free” day for our family, and I was anxious to do a hike, specifically Goat Lake in Waterton. We didn’t have anyone to watch the kids, though, so we […]

Crowsnest Pass “Reconnaissance”

June 16, 2017. I went out to the Crowsnest Pass to work half a day on June 16. I decided to take the opportunity to try a hike. My intent had been to hike to Window Mountain Lake, which is described as a reasonably easy hike in Ambrosi’s Southern Rockies Trail Guide. The weather was […]

Turtle Mountain

Hike date June 3, 2017. I hadn’t done this hike before, so I went with the info in the 3rd (newest) edition of Kane’s Scrambles in the Canadian Rockies. His description is a little out of date, since it mentions power lines at the parking area and descending to the trailhead. There are currently no […]