Category: Hikes And Summits

If you’ve cruised around the Crowsnest Pass of Alberta perhaps you’ve seen that huge radio tower sitting atop a rocky promontory right above Island Lake. Yes that one, just prior to reaching the BC border…that’s the place! Well, it’s the goal for this hike. The trail, an access road used...

We’ve been up to the top of Junction Hill before, but for this outing we mix it up a bit and take a different approach when compared to the previous visit. Instead of tackling the east ridge head on as we did before (and as most people seem to do)...

We love a good hike. It matters not if we’re deep in the wilderness or in an urban setting, as long as we’re in motion and having fun. We’re so darn easy to please. Today’s outing finds us kicking about town – there’s just too much snow in the mountains...

A number of factors, nagging injuries being one, have kept us in the city for some time now. Still, we get out and have fun. It really doesn’t take much to amuse us and we find adventure where ever we are. Lately, for the hiking end of things, we’ve been...

We bought the book “Calgary’s Best Walks” by Lori Beattie. Love it. If you’re into urban trekking, it’s a recommended addition to your library too. It’s BIGDoer approved! Like that means something. Chuckle…so, inside the covers are a multitude of possible routes covering all quadrants of the city. For one...

Here’s a fine city trek, a loop of sorts taking in the entire length of Edmonton Trail in Calgary’s (shallow) Northeast and on the return leg quieter residential streets off to the east. It’s like going back in time, the closer one gets to downtown, the older things become. There’s...

Inspiration for this fine inner-city hike comes from the book Calgary’s Best Walks by Lori Beattie. Here we’ll be following Route #12, roughly, taking in a series of parks and hitting the pavement in number of older established neighbourhoods. The going is super easy. You don’t have to follow our...

This one’s for the adrenaline junkies. Imagine it – extreme grades, hands-on climbing, narrow ledges, acute exposure, rock falls and danger at every turn. This is where the Reaper hangs when he needs to meet a quota. They call it the Devil’s Drop, in hushed tones. Seasoned mountaineers have to...

That chunk of Kananaskis in the north is generally the domain of the all terrain vehicle. Still, there’s a number of places that can be hiked in the area without the two modes clashing. Lesueur Ridge, right at the K-Country Border, just west of the Forestry Trunk Road (Hwy #40),...

Hunchback Hills, in one of the quieter areas of Kananaskis, are an interconnected series of bumps worthy of a visit. You can hike all of them as part of an extended horseshoe route of sorts – best done by those with good nav skills. Or you can make an out...

This is the year we didn’t hike (much). Conditions were partly to blame, suffering heat in the summer and all that lung-clogging smoke from forest fires across the west lasting for weeks on end. Both are Kryptonite to us. Then there was gigs – many, many, that all seemed to...

Modest in stature Mt Ware, in the rolling foothills of Kananaskis a bit west of Turner Valley, has attributes unbecoming its size. There’s steep slopes, often rocky and loose underfoot topped by a narrow craggy summit, barren and windswept, more befitting a major peak than the minor bump that it...

A good hike can’t be beat. All that fresh air, scenery, each step the blood pumping and the body feeling fine…an amazing wilderness high. Sorry, too busy to die, I’m out walkin’ in the woods. Taking it to the next level, making it all the better, a history angle, something...

It’s an easy hike, not long and requiring only minimal effort, with a fair reward, a fine view at the end. This is Death’s Head, a low wooded ridge in the foothills of Kananaskis, Ware Creek area. By itself it’s not a destination – alone it’s just not worth the...

This is one easy hike, really just a lazy walk through the forest with some scenic views of surrounding hills and ridges to boot. Pretty nice, but hardly worth a long drive and best done if you’re already in the area. In our case we were doing some trail scouting...

We’ve been eyeing up the Strawberry Hills for some time now. These, a series of bumps, treed on the lower slopes, but with open tops mostly of grass, can be found in South Kananaskis, one of the least visited sections of that vast recreation area. Seems we know others who...

Let’s see…a nice easy hike taking one to a stunning mountain rimmed valley, home to a charming little lake. What’s not to like? Here, the perfect choice when ambitions are lacking but the call of the nature is loud and strong. This is about the easiest lake destination hike in...

This is our second trip to the top of Mt Hoffmann (alternately Hoffman). When we last did it many years back, the trail was not well known nor used, and as such was faint or even nonexistent in places. Since then, more people have come to know this pleasant little...

Here’s a fun little hike, far easier than most we chronicle. It makes a loop around the west end of the Canmore Alberta, also hitting up some trails in the woods just across the river. Mountains, lots or them to see. Stunning stuff here! There’s a bit of history too,...

A hill, not terribly tall but still well worth visiting, welcome to Deer Ridge, Sibbald Area Kananaskis, home to a nice little loop hike that’s both easy and scenic. This short route travels through varied terrain. There’s dark brooding spruce woods with carpets of moss, less dense stands of pine,...

This easy outing takes in two modest-sized lumps of rock and dirt in the southern section of Kananaskis, Indian Graves Ridge and directly west, Willow Creek Hills. It’s a fun, relatively short loop-hike, with some steep pushes, the reward, a good workout and lots of darn nice views to boot....

This hike is a breeze, barely a workout, and takes in the eastern section of Fish Creek Provincial Park in the south end of Calgary. The wide flat valley travelled has a very rural feel, belying the fact that it’s deep within the city. Interesting illusion! The going is super...

Here’s a crazy notion…let’s go back in time. Nothing out of an HG Wells novel, and there’s no magic machine to send us into yesteryear, instead let’s do this…pick the far end of a major walkable thoroughfare, in this case Centre Street, hike it in its entirety from the newest...

At one end we have Mount Columbia, up near Jasper, the highest mountain in Alberta, topping out at some thirty seven hundred metres in elevation. Rocky, cold, barren, lofty, it’s a stand out in a sea of tall peaks. Far end of the scale, we have sad little Ole Buck...

Probably one of the shortest and easiest outings found on this here website, hike along with us as we take in Long Prairie Ridge in the Sheep River area of Kananaskis. Just one of the many trails within the Sandy McNabb network, it takes one up a long low, east/west...

We’ve trekked around the Glenmore Reservoir an awful lot. Most of the time we don’t record the outing, but it’s been a while since we posted a trip report on the place, so here we go. Usually you’ll find us here when there’s snow on the ground, the mountains of...

Here’s a nice little walk in a small town setting. You can’t beat that. It makes an easy loop around much of High River, passing all manner of interesting places and things to see along the way. There’s wooded groves near the Highwood River, lonely stretches along an irrigation canal,...

This city hike takes one through Inglewood. It’s a loop route, using residential and side streets, taking in all they have to offer, peace and quiet among them, and specifically avoiding the hectic core or main street of the community. Let’s enjoy stuff in the neighbourhood that’s not so often...

This city hike makes a good sized loop around the CPR’s huge Ogden Shops complex. Along the way it takes in a variety of settings, quiet residential communities, empty streets in a long gone neighbourhood, and gritty, noisy, smelly industrial areas. I suspect we’re the only urban trekkers to like...