We drove out to Kananaskis Country, about an hour door to door from our place to our campsite, and camped for 3 days at Peter Lougheed Provincial Park. On the way back we took 'the scenic route' through Longview (home of world famous beef jerky) and Black Diamond and Okotoks (southwest of Calgary - think ranches, large pickup trucks, rolling hills, lots of cattle and horses).
On Saturday, we hiked up Ptarmigan Cirque trail, off highway 40 (aka Bighorn Highway) which is only open from June 15 - November 30 each year. Once on the highway, we could see why - herds of rocky mountain sheep pretty much live right on the highway.
The start of the trail:
After hiking through that flat area there, we crossed the highway and began heading up the mountain trail. Kerry actually climbed right to the top of the peak second from the left, which appears to be smaller but is actually farther away and taller. Gregg and I stuck to the trail (as best we could with the snow and mud) and stopped climbing at the Cirque (glacial bowl).
This is near the highway, snow already. It was a strange experience hiking through snow in shorts in 30 degree weather:
The snow did give way at times to tended trail and at others to muck and streams. This is a huge alpine meadow area but we were too early to see most of the wildflowers - there were mostly glacial lilies:
Getting closer to the top:
And at the end of the trail - I was freaking exhausted - the mountain air is pretty thin and it's hard to catch your breath.
We hiked up right up to the end of the cirque - there were streams from the melting snow everywhere and then a waterfall. Kerry went on ahead of us and climbed Mt. Rae, the snowy peak you see off in the distance.
And this was the view from the top - the highway isn't visible from here, it's about 700 feet below the point where we're standing:
The next day we hiked to Rawson Lake, which is a post of its own...
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