Like thousands of other Calgarians, we headed west for the August long weekend. We knew the trails would be pretty crowded, so we spent a bit of time last week planning for this weekend's hike. Our criteria: in Banff National Park, a longer hike (at least 15 km) which would deter most casual hikers, somewhere we …
Continue reading Hiking Banff National Park – Lake Annette / Paradise Valley / Giant Steps
Last week we kept waiting for a good weather day for hiking. But after three or four days in a row where the weather turned out better than the forecast, we decided to take the chance that Friday's "30% chance of showers with possibility of afternoon thunderstorm" was likewise off the mark. We were on …
Continue reading Hiking Banff National Park – Bow Glacier Falls
Neil Jennings was one of the guests on alberta@noon (CBC Radio) last Tuesday. Fly fisherman, photographer and author of 7 books, Mr. Jennings is an expert on wildflowers. Since he was taking calls and emails from listeners, Mrs. GeoK dashed off a quick email with two wildflowers she'd photographed earlier in July but hadn't been …
Continue reading Hiking Banff National Park – Sunshine Meadows to Healy Pass
With only a few days left in our Spring Break, we've been closely watching the weather. Plans to get in our second hike of 2012 were put on hold earlier in the week due to a "winter storm warning" followed by a "snowfall warning". Fortunately, we woke up Friday morning to reasonably clear skies and …
Continue reading Hiking Banff National Park – Johnston Canyon to Inkpots
Although we were out on our mountain bikes several times this week (including a ride to the Canmore Nordic Centre, where we easily completed the green loop), it's been almost a week since our last hike. Since it's a long weekend here in Alberta, we anticipated many of the premier hiking trails in the Banff …