Bike to Red Rock Canyon Nov. 18, 2020 Waterton Lakes National Park Alberta

 So I got a Wednesday off work, so a friend wondered if there was any potential ice to climb up in Red Rock Canyon.  Since the road is closed every winter, nobody really goes up there in the winter and he heard there is good ice that forms in the canyon.  So with the warmer weather we figured the roads would be clear enough to bike.  So we headed out and biked up there and well the warmer weather was also bad for the ice as none was really there.  But I'd imagine that later in the season it would be pretty good.  We did explore a little and headed down and checked out Blakiston Falls which was pretty in the winter.  The bike ride in and our wasn't  bad except the wind on the way in made it a little more difficult.  Luckily we had it on the way out and only had to walk over a few drifts on the road in and out.  

Biking up to Red Rock

Some of the road was covered in snow and we had to walk our bikes

Beautiful snow covered cliffs of Blakiston

Anderson looking so Majestic

Here was what the ice looked like

Another view of the ice by the top bridge in the canyon

Wind blowing snow off the top of Blakiston

Another view of Anderson

Blakiston Creek above the falls

Ice forming around Blakiston Falls

Track of Bike/Hike

Time Lapse of Bike Ride Out

Prairie Bluff October 10, 2020 South Castle Alberta

 Today the weather was forecasted to be rainy, but not in the morning so we decided to do a quick sunrise summit to Prairie Bluff.  We decided just to take the service road all the way to the top and it wasn't that bad.  The wind was pretty strong most of the way up but the sunrise was amazing.  We took a little different way down and all and all it was a great day.

Sour gas well

Starting to get light

Horizon getting brighter above the shell plant

Summit in view

Love the silhouette pictures

Smokey skies in the distance hid the sun for a while but not the colors in the sky

Wide angle picture

Can finally see the sun through the smoke

Victoria, Windsor and Castle looked amazing...to bad the sun went behind the clouds otherwise we could have seen them illuminated with the morning sun

Larch season is over, all the needles are on the ground

Some of the trees still had leaves on them

Track of Hike

Summit Video

Summit Photo Sphere

Newman Peak Sept 29, 2020 Waterton Lakes National Park

My 200th post on my blog. So Carter joined the club of climbing all the summits of Waterton today.  This was his final peak and it was a beautiful day.  We headed out early because we had another engagement that night.  I'd been on every peak with him on his journey and it was great to be with him today.  I was 38 years old when I finished this task and he was 18...a little younger eh.  So we took our bikes because we wanted to finish early and that made a huge difference.  It only took us about 20 minutes to go the 4.5 km to the Goat Lake trail.  The way out only took us about 10 minutes.  The entire trip for the day took us about 4.5 hours with about a half hour rest on the top.  So also this hike carried a little special trip down memory lane.  This was the last mountain I hiked with my father 8 years ago.  He passed away suddenly 6 days later and this was the last time I got to spend time with him.  I told this to Carter and he said hopefully you don't die in 6 days.  I responded to him that if I do he better not climb this mountain ever again.  So this summer has been about getting this goal done for Carter and now that he is leaving on his LDS mission to Toronto Canada I won't have my trusty hiking partner anymore and I'll actually be able to hike new places, cause I've done lots in Waterton and I think it is time to hike somewhere else for a while. 

Beautiful start to the day with the sun hitting Anderson

Biking through the burned forest

Goat Lake

Spread Eagle Mountain in the distance looking down on Yarrow canon

There was already a snow cornice

A dusting of snow on the Glacier Peaks to the south

Finished his goal, all 33 names peaks of Waterton

Proud of this boy as he will be serving his LDS mission in Toronto for 2 years...leaves in less than a week

Summit view over to Avion Ridge

Looking west towards the Castle Area

Beautiful Larch Tree

Track of Hike

Summit Video

Summit Photo Sphere

Bike Ride out time warp

Ruby Ridge September 22, 2020 Waterton Lakes National Park

 So we had a Covid-19 scare and as a result we had to quarantine for 2 weeks and so that pushed back my son's Waterton Summit completion.  So today we decided to get one more done and now there is only one left...Newman.  I thought we could maybe do both in one day but the bike ride up the newly opened Akamina Road was too much for us and we were out of gas after finishing Ruby.  The ride up to Lineham Falls trail wasn't too bad but it does take a lot out of you.  We climbed this much like we did years ago but this time more than I reached the summit.  It was an overcast day but luckily there was hardly any wind.  On top we could see the Larch's turning color all around Ruby Lake.  It was pretty to see that.  We then headed down and took the awesome bike ride down on the nice new road.

Biking up the newly paved Akamina Road

Mt. Lineham and Lineham Cliffs in the distance

Blakiston in the background of Ruby's ruby ridge

Can see all the way to Cameron Lake and all the burned trees 

Ruby Lake surrounded by Larches at the base of Blakiston's Summit

Could barely see the Lineham Lakes

Elder's Evans and Ellingson

Better view of Cameron Lake in the distance

Track of Hike

Summit Video

Summit Photo Sphere

Time warp of bike ride down

Bertha Peak September 2, 2020 Waterton Lakes National Park

 So another Carter peak today, after today he only has two left to finish the Waterton Summits.  I've done this one two times before and the trail up to the lake I've done too many times that I can't remember so I figured we'd try a different approach and started on the Carthew/Alderson trail behind Cameron falls and once we reached the corner where the good lookout is of the townsite we headed up that ridge and continued it till we reached the summit.  With the fire this ridge wasn't that bad, it was steep in a few sections but nothing terrible.  Near the end there was a bit of route finding and steep exposed climbing but it was pretty enjoyable.  Once on top we had great clear views in all directions, but within moments of reaching the top some clouds started to form east of us and then within minutes we were above an inversion.  It was amazing to watch and I tried taking a bunch of pictures but they never really captured the moment.  We never got socked in as the temperature on the summit stayed the same.  But once we descended we noticed a significant drop as we descended into the clouds.  Once we came close to Bertha lake we were out of the clouds and then it started to rain a bit on us.  Pretty interesting day.  

Heading up the Burn

We refer to this band of rocks as the "T", if you look at Bertha Peak when driving into the park this horizontal rock band and an avalanche shoot perpendicular to it form a T in the mountainside

Looking down on the townsite

On the Summit ridge looking towards the summit in the middle

Some of the Larches are changing color

Great view to Upper Bertha Falls and Bertha Lake

Some of the exposed scrambling near the top

The beginning of the clouds forming

Getting more dense

Denser

Now surrounding us

Carter off in the distance on that ridge

Coming out of the clouds below

Summit Video

Summit Photo Sphere

Track of Hike