B is for Birthday Hiking

What a great day!  Last year I decided that I would hike on my birthday each year.  Today was an adventure!  I longed for something off the beaten path, and this slog delivered.

We chose Invincible Lake and Mount Nomad as our objective.  Driving out to Kananaskis was beautiful - low cloud/fog all along the river, somewhat green fields with hay bales, blue sky and snow-topped mountains in the distance.  Snow - and lots of it!  This stretch alone would have made for a fantastic photography outing.

There are two routes up the ridge that eventually allow one to reach Invincible Lake.  Armed with Gillean's description from the new book, we chose the easier one up old logging roads.  'Easy' is all relative here.  No, we didn't have to step over logs up to our chest, but the pine regrowth was so dense in parts that you'd just push yourself through.  After a few of these 'pine tree car washes', I was soaked.  I could grab my pants and wring them out.  The threat of hypothermia crossed my mind as it was just +2ºC.  Getting into the open and a bit of wind would not be good.  I put on another layer, and miraculously had dried by the time we reached the top.  I did, however, feel chills and sweat on my face, even though I wasn't feeling warm.  I slowed down and felt light-headed.  And just as I was about to ask the group to stop for 5 minutes to have a snack, I see them taking packs off, presumably for lunch.  I dropped my pack, inflated my thermarest, intending to dig into my lunch.  That's when I smelled fire.  Like thick smoke.  Surely one wouldn't smell anything from the campgrounds up there.  Then R. turned around with a mini piece of cake and candle in it.  MH gave me a gift bag that had a real full can of Coke (bliss on a mountain!) and carrots.  I still think R. must have mentioned something to her.  Surely noone would think of that strange combination as a gift, but it's what I have at the office for breakfast quite regularly, and it's what I had on the drive out today.  And there were girly drinks... and chocolate.  RH brought home-made stuffed mushrooms.  What a pick-me-up!  I got my energy back and was ready to tackle more.  We also noticed that RH's backpack was so big because it contained beach towels - for Invincible Lake!

We gained the top of the ridge and looked down at Invincible Lake.  It looked so black, so bleak.  I heard comments from others suggesting they'd be happy looking at it, not needing a snow slog to touch it. For the first time, I felt quite content not reaching the destination.  We took a vote, and as everything is open and visible up there, three went to the lake (no was for Nomad) and five of us continued upwards to a minor outlier at the very south end of Mount Black Prince.  We took photos, then returned to the col to wait for the lake group.  We yelled out, getting a kick out of the echos.  All of a sudden, we hear the same, but from the top of Mount Nomad!  Huh?  We see movement up there.  S., a newbie to the club, but a woman who has done every scramble in AK's book, had convinced R. to give her 20 minutes to head up the mountain.  She had a quick pace, touching the summit cairn, walking the entire ridge, then descending.  We watched it all from the other ridge like an action movie.  How can one bag a mountain in so little time???  K., another newbie and experienced scrambler was amazed as well.  She, however, was quite content sitting on that slope with us and digging out her one ounce bottle of whiskey.  It got passed around for everyone to have a sniff.  As the group of three got back from the lake, the last teaspoon was offered to S. as a reward, who savoured every drop of it.  Everyone was happy; everyone made their objective, whether it was the unplanned outlier, the lake, or Mount Nomad.  We just didn't get the beach we were looking for.

The descent was easy compared to the slog coming up.  Much of the snow had melted and pushed down the fireweed.  Our only obstacle was a moose in the middle of the narrow, overgrown trail.  She didn't move for the longest time.  Then the hike was topped off with brownies, and I took a leisurely drive up the Smith Dorrien to Canmore where I had Black Forest cake.  Beautiful scenery out there at this time of year, and great time for wildlife viewing - saw a second moose and probably could have seen more at the Mount E. Lodge meadows.

Maybe it's the age getting to me, but I am tired after a very rewarding day.  Off to bed.

 Coming own from the little 'outlier'

Lyautey Glacier

 

Invincible Creek