Kananaskis Country Day Hikes 2005
June 5th, 2005 | Outdoors, Photography
I just got back from a wet weekend of camping and hiking in Kananaskis Country near Calgary, Alberta. We had a good time in spite of the rain.
June 4-5, 2005
Camping: Owl Camp – group campground. This was the GMMC’s spring get together.
Photo Album
Owl Camp 2005 Photoset on flickr.com | [piclens-lite-link]
Saturday, June 4 – Prairie View Trail
We set off from the Barrier Dam trailhead in the pouring rain – many umbrellas were put to good use that morning. This trip had originally planned to scramble to the peak proposed to be named in honour of Grant MacEwan, but the poor weather side tracked us to this lower, more sheltered trail. Twenty-six intrepid adventurers headed up through the forest with the goal of reaching a viewpoint or two. Eventually the rain stopped and the rain gear got packed away. By the time we reached the site of the old fire lookout the clouds had cleared enough to give some nice views of Barrier Lake, Barrier Mountain and points south. A little higher at the Prairie View viewpoint, we had a good view of the prairie for which the viewpoint is named. At that point we stopped for lunch before heading further up the ridge to the current fire lookout site. After an all-too-short stop at the fire lookout, we retraced our steps back to the viewpoint. The return journey was peppered with light rain in the latter stages as we hiked back down through the forest to Barrier Lake and the cars. Wildlife sightings: Near the fire lookout, one male spruce grouse; and a raven with a badly torn wing (in flight). Distance hiked: 12.2 km. Elevation gain to lookout: 600 m.
Saturday, June 4, evening
An enjoyable game of (modified) Cranium was enjoyed in the Owl Camp hall. In addition to the standard Cranium game cards, an additional category of Scuplture was added to the game. The goal of the sculpture category was to try and build something and have your teammates guess what you were sculpting. Thanks go out to Claire and Christine for organizing this entertainment.
Sunday, June 5:
When I awoke on Sunday morning, the mountains had ceased to exist. The clouds were hiding everything, but at least it wasn’t raining. As I was eating my breakfast, I proposed a short hike to Grassi Lakes in Canmore. By the time I finished breakfast, the rain had resumed and did not let up. The hike was cancelled and David and myself headed back to Edmonton. No photos taken on Sunday.
Edited: 2006-06-25 – Updated photo album links.
Edited: 2008-02-23 – Updated photo links to Flickr and the text of the story.
