Training Log Archive: Bash

Tour of my old stomping grounds around Lake Louise with Slice, Carbon and 'Bent.





These are the mountains we explored today. Mt. St. Piran is the rightmost peak of the three big ones at the back. The smaller, mostly treed bumps in front are the Big and Little Beehives.



First we hiked steadily uphill in the trees past Mirror Lake and up to the Little Beehive. That's the Big Beehive behind Slice; we went there later.





We met a new friend today. We actually saw him on the drive to Lake Louise but it makes a more interesting story if I show him here. :) We saw a grizzly on the drive back but I didn't get my camera out in time.



The final part of the hike up Mt. St. Piran is less travelled and was still snowy in places. (It's the peak in the middle - higher than it looks.)





That's Chateau Lake Louise way below Carbon.









We had lunch on the peak of Mt. St. Piran in a light snowfall while friendly pikas tried to share our food. The views were worth the effort.









It was chilly enough that we didn't linger too long before starting back down.









Next stop had to be dessert, obviously, so we headed for the Lake Agnes Teahouse where we had apple crumble and coffee.







Fortified by our snack, we hiked around the back of Lake Agnes then took the switchbacks up to the Big Beehive. Then we went down the far side and returned to the Chateau Lake Louise.



Time adjusted to account for meal stops and tourist lookouts but our frequent photo breaks were on the clock.

Nice dinner afterward with Zoolander & Marissa, Slice & Darcy, the Carbons and 'Bent. Visiting friends is always one of the best parts of any western trip.

Back when 'Bent, Carbon's Offset and I got into UTMB, we planned a 4-day, Canmore-based mountain training vacation over Canada Day. As luck would have it, 'Bent broke two ribs a week before our trip and CO wanted to rest his leg to recover from some lingering pain.

Fortunately, Carbon volunteered to be our mountain guide, and we chose shorter routes that we could hike so we wouldn't jostle 'Bent's sore ribs by running. This wasn't a major compromise since our main objective for the weekend was to climb big hills, not to run.



We started with Mount Lady MacDonald, aka Lady Mac. The route starts along Cougar Creek, instantly recognizable from the videos of the flooding last year. A lot of work has been done on the creek bed. Look how small the creek usually is! Canmore's iconic peaks, the Three Sisters, were in the background.



Before long, we started going up, up, up in the forest. Eventually, the trees thinned out. The views were excellent.













Then it got more rugged.







We weren't headed to the very top today - just to one of the lower bumps.





We stopped at the "teahouse" - a wooden platform constructed for a teahouse that was never completed. There was some silliness here.





On the way down, 'Bent insisted that he wanted to try running. He was wearing a rib belt to hold his broken bones in place.



It didn't go well so we called a brief halt to give him a chance to gasp a little.



We hiked the rest of the way down.

At dinner, we had the pleasure of CO's company! Our friend Walker also joined us tonight.



Today's hiking times include lots of stops but I turned the GPS off for our summit breaks.

And after lunch, still full of fresh-from-the-east enthusiasm, we went up Ha Ling Peak on the south side of Canmore. Just like Lady Mac, we started in the forest climbing steadily, then we emerged onto an open slope with spectacular views.



The last part of the climb was a mix of scree, steep trails and rock.









On a clear day, the summit of Ha Ling was a beautiful place.



When you're up there, here's the view from left to right.







We were very fortunate that Carbon had an excellent new camera to test this weekend so we got to be her guinea pigs. Very nice camera! She gets photo credit for some of the best pics here.



The trip down Ha Ling went much faster!

Exhausted after a super busy week with zero training but it was all worth it as we sat in a Thai restaurant chatting with the Carbons, Flight and Chris tonight. Bring on the mountains!

Mocha is home smelling the daisies after a month of radiation therapy. No more hospital stays = one happy pooch! We won't miss driving to Guelph 4 times a week; I guess I'll have no excuse to skip training now. ;)

I really needed to sleep longer but my mother-in-law thinks it's rude to send email so she phoned at 7am. To be fair, it was a family emergency, and I'm sorry for her loss (a broken kitchen gadget).

No training today but got to hear some great Expedition Africa stories from FB and Willderness!

Another day of driving, errands, projects, e-mails and "to do" lists. Not loggable.

There's been some talk on the Run Trails Ontario Facebook page about tick problems on the Bruce Trail in the Niagara Region. One runner came home with a tick on himself and half a dozen ticks on his dog. He didn't say what type of ticks but... yecch.

I know a few people with Lyme now, some of whom are believed to have contracted it locally. I do a quick tick check daily now - ugh.

Luckily, I've only had to do this once so far but here is the proper way to remove a tick, for those of us who have been fortunate not to need this info where we live.
http://www.runnersworld.com/injury-prevention-reco...

This is the tick remover we used to get rid of my tick - available at MEC. Since I have a habit of playing in the woods, I now take one along whenever I travel.
http://www.mec.ca/product/5028-397/lifesystems-tic...

Dropped Mocha off in Guelph first thing. This is her final week of radiation therapy then she'll be back home full time. :) She had visitors in hospital today: a veterinary student and her baby, friends of 'Bent's sister. They sent photos - so nice! My heart goes out to parents whose children have been in hospital. Although this isn't remotely the same, I now have a sense of what that might feel like.