Training Log Archive: carbon

Carthew-Alderson

We woke up to pouring rain and a pretty gloomy morning. It was hard to leave the warmth of the sleeping bags, but we still braved the weather and headed out to the outfitter store where we had a scheduled shuttle to catch. Mike and I were the only hikers for the day. A few others had cancelled earlier in the morning due to the weather. The shuttle took us up to the beginning of the Carthew-Alderson trail by a beautiful lake that I no longer remember the name of. An hour of switchbacks in the rain took us up to Summit Lake where Moose are a common sight. We didn't see any but the clouds were becoming lighter and the rain stopped, which was nice. The fall colours were spectacular. Larches and many other trees were vibrating in yellows and golds and the clouds were hanging on the mountains like a spooky mist. It was really beautiful. We took lots of photos and enjoyed the quiet of the mountains. The trek continued up and over a mountain before starting to descend. This trek was much more scenic than Crypt Lake and it took us further into the wilderness. We didn't spot much wild life but enjoyed 4 lakes and a number of waterfalls along the way. Right about when we were about to sit down for a lunch break it started raining again so we had a "walking lunch" instead. The rain only lasted for a few minutes and we could enjoy the rest of the hike into town in the dry. It was awesome to be the only ones out there and the fact that it was a point-to-point hike made it more interesting than an in-and-out hike.

Crypt Lake

Had a great weekend in Waterton Park with Mike. We arrived late Friday night to the town campground. We had some trouble finding a spot for our tent in the dark but in the end we managed to find one of only two or three remaining spots. It's a popular destination even in the fall it appears.

At 10am we took the ferry across to the start of the Crypt Lake hike. There were about 40 people in total heading out for this hike. The morning was sunny and quite warm. We let a bunch of excited people go ahead and took up the rear to enjoy a slow hike with many photo stops, but we soon caught up to a number of people despite that. By the time we reached the steeper switchbacks we had passed all other hikers and were alone on the trail. This was a good thing because we reached the Lake about 15 minutes before anyone else and got to enjoy the peace and quiet before they arrived. A group of keeners arrived and one guy jumped in for a swim in the freezing cold water. I lent out my blister kit to a couple with pretty bad heels with the hopes that their hike down would be much more pleasant. During the hike down we took a bit of a detour to see the "Roaring Falls" (which were not all that roaring, but still nice) and arrived back down by the lake with 45 minutes to spare before the trip back. Two boats showed up to take us back and there was a bit of confusion as to how many people had gotten on the first boat and who were on the second. I mentioned to Mike that I didn't see the couple we had helped at the top. As we had taken off and the staff was doing a count I was just about to let them know that I thought that maybe some people were missing, when two people ran out on the dock with waving arms. The boat turned around and picked them up. Apparently this happens all the time on this hike and some people's opinion is that it is only a matter of time before someone is stuck spending the night out there. That is especially bad this time of year when so many Grizzlies are down low feeding.

This hike is supposed to be one of Canada's best hikes, but I would argue a bit against that. It was beautiful but I have seen many others that I would recommend before this one. The cave tunnel is an added bonus on the hike and the fact that you take a boat to the start of it is neat too, but it felt like a tourist hike with many inexperienced hikers who were, by the looks of it, perhaps hiking for their first time.

C • I agree about the better hi... 4

It's been nice with some time off lately. Hopefully that will get me hungry for the fall and winter training that I am slowly planning out. Does anyone know of a website that will help build training programs (pyramid or alike)?

I spin out towards Springbanks with a few good climbs. It was a beautiful evening with the silhouette of the mountains on a colourful sun-setting sky. My legs felt great but my head still hurts a bit.