Kananaskis (sounds like how it’s spelled) Country – August 9th – 11th, 2016

We pulled into Interlakes Campground within Peter Lougheed Provincial Park around 1pm and got one of the last sites bordering the lake. It was an immaculately clean and well-kept campground. There were even rack marks around the fire pit from someone cleaning the dirt. Props to Canada on the cleanliness of their parks so far! Although our legs felt like jelly from Andy’s birthday hike, we rallied and did a steep, but short (2.2 miles one way) hike to Rawson Lake.

Big horn sheep in the road in Kananaskis Country.

Our campsite at Interlakes Campground.

The view from our campsite.

View along the hike to Rawson Lake.

After a good night sleep, we packed up camp and finally saw a black bear on our way towards Canmore! YAY! Once in the Canmore area, just south of Banff National Park, we got a camping spot at Spray Lakes West, which was slightly more out of town that we were originally hoping for… since on our way back into Canmore we had a self-inflicted Bernard moment: we ran out of gas! We flagged down a truck that was passing and the driver was nice enough to take Andy to the nearest gas station – about 20 minutes away in Canmore. He got a container of gas and took a taxi to the end of the paved road. The taxi driver was a bigot bully who just yelled at Andy about the fundamental problems of multicultural politics, so Andy had a good time with that. Happy to be out of the taxi driver’s van, he hitch hiked from the 1988 Olympic Nordic Center and had better luck with a friendly hiker from Calgary who brought him the rest of the way – good thing he’s highly attractive because the whole debacle only took about an hour!

After spending more time on the internet and getting laundry done, we went to Tavern 1883 to celebrate Andy’s birthday. The food and drinks were good and we got to watch some of this years summer Olympics.

The next day we hiked Ha-Ling Peak, which was GRUELING! It was only 1.4 miles, but with 2600 feet of elevation gain. The view was well worth the effort though, as it overlooked Canmore and the surrounding mountains. Returning to the car, we spotted a sign that said no alcohol in the parking lot, so obviously we had to have a beer with lunch. We’re rebels, what can we say? After, we made our way into Banff where we soaked in Upper Hot Springs. It was ridiculously crowded, but felt good to get in some hot water after the last week of hiking… not to mention, it had been several days since we had last showered. On our way back to Spray Lakes West, which, by the way, was not at all worth the drive just for a spot to sleep, we got some cake (it was Thursday).

View from Ha Ling. 

Tuck on top of the Ha Ling. With no fear of heights he insisted on hanging out on the edge of the cliff.

View from Ha Ling.

Andy hydrating in a super cool way.

A little background: the reason we were camping outside of Banff was because all of the campgrounds in Banff were closed due to wolves in the area. We hoped to see some, but so far no dice. Also Cake Thursday originated from the fact that we had pie at our wedding and one of my favorite foods is cake, so we agreed it only appropriate that during the first year of marriage I should get cake anytime I wanted it, which apparently is on Thursdays.