{"id":547,"date":"2009-07-06T12:20:56","date_gmt":"2009-07-06T20:20:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ehcanadatravel.com\/blog\/?p=547"},"modified":"2009-07-09T19:09:23","modified_gmt":"2009-07-10T03:09:23","slug":"peaking-on-ha-ling-trail-in-canmore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ehcanadatravel.com\/blog\/2009\/07\/06\/peaking-on-ha-ling-trail-in-canmore\/","title":{"rendered":"Peaking on Ha Ling Trail in Canmore"},"content":{"rendered":"

Peaking in Canmore! What a day yesterday was. My best hike so far in 2009!<\/p>\n

First I had to get up early and move my base camp (travel pod) to Spray Lake in the north end of Kananaskis Country. I also wanted to tackle two more popular trails for our upcoming AlbertaEH.com website on the same day. Lots to do means an early start.<\/p>\n

I figured I would hike and research the Prince`s Lake Trail on the way to the new campground.\u00a0 So there I was at 8:30 in the morning parked at the trailhead,\u00a0 clouds misted overhead, eager to get going.\u00a0 The trail was a 4 .5 kilometre loop hike leading to a couple of remote alpine lake. Today I had time to hike to the main lake only.<\/p>\n

The trail started out cruising along an easy enough route until the big hill. Many trails in Kananaskis involve hiking a mountain which means going up.\u00a0 this one was about a kilometre uphill.\u00a0 The hill climb did me good on this morning.\u00a0 I found it invigorating and a great way to wake me up.. since I did miss my morning coffee.<\/p>\n

After the hill the rest of the route was easy going. I met no one on the trail. When no one is on the trail I tend to sing.. lucky me singing without a shower. I am usually out of tune so wildlife sightings tend to be rare as I scare them off.<\/p>\n

Once at the lake, the camera started clicking. The entrance to the lake was surrounded by huge avalanche boulders, moved by glaciers. All around the trail was rock and plenty of loose rock.\u00a0 Spained ankle country I am sure.<\/p>\n

Across the lake was a huge\u00a0 towering beast of a mountain with the centre\u00a0 bowl showing signs of a past avalanche.\u00a0 The scenery was spectacular. Good spot for an apple and a reflective moment.<\/p>\n

The highlight of the day was my next hike – the Ha Ling Trail leading up to a mountain peak.\u00a0 I was humming and hawing if I should do this hike today as the weather for the next couple days may not be good for mountain peak exploring. Plus I just hiked 6 kilometres.<\/p>\n

I was set up for the challenge.\u00a0 I had found a good campsite on the shore of the lake so I had a recuperating home base for later.. he he he.\u00a0 I was set up for three or four days. I took on the hill!<\/p>\n

The Ha Ling Trail is a 5.5 kilometre hike straight up and straight down. No flat areas. It is a\u00a0 LEG BURNER!!<\/p>\n

\"Hiking<\/a>

Hiking to the peak on the rockwall<\/p><\/div>\n

The trail starts off and ends with switchbacks all the way up from the parking lot to the tree line. This part of the trail is mostly single track and in the shade of trees hidden from the sun. This is a huge plus, as I was already sweating buckets.. could you imagine if the hike was in the sun. Spoke to soon.<\/p>\n

Once at the tree line the views open up and the exposure to the sun and wind becomes a reality.\u00a0 From here the hike crosses shale rocks, loose boulders and follows along a narrow ridge path.\u00a0 You can see the peak and mountain ridge in the distance.. it looked so close, but people were so small, so far away.<\/p>\n

It is still a ways to the peak during the last quarter of the hike which is hiking on loose rocks and around boulders.\u00a0 Ahhh..yes, but once at the peak.. the world is your oyster.\u00a0 The whole valley opens up. One side of the ridge provided views of valleys and lakes\u00a0 and on the other side of the ridge was Canmore and a very big drop off.\u00a0 Straight down. What a rush!!<\/p>\n

\"Clouds<\/a>

Clouds dancing on Miners Mountain<\/p><\/div>\n

I walked the ridge of the mountain range to Miners Mountain enjoying the views on both sides.\u00a0 Then I walked back to the peak where everyone seemed to gather.<\/p>\n

At times I was standing in the clouds.\u00a0 At other times the clouds were dancing below me and blue sky was above.\u00a0 The wind was fierce, blowing, howling like a wolf by my ears. It was natures way of saying hello and welcome.<\/p>\n

Along the hike you meet many people as the pace of hiking varies greatly for each person.\u00a0 The hike is no easy journey. Be well prepared on this hike as temperatures and conditions change when on the peak. Lucky for me.. I have done this before and I was probably the warmest on the mountain – well prepared.<\/p>\n

During my hike back, the rain started pounding and the rocks became slippery.\u00a0 Had to slow my pace down because I am not keen on ankle sprains. Once in the parking lot, I was happy with my time of 3.5 hours.\u00a0 My legs felt pretty good, but obvoiusly tired.<\/p>\n

Bring on the next adventure I say!<\/p>\n

Be well, Be active<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Peaking in Canmore! What a day yesterday was. My best hike so far in 2009! First I had to get up early and move my base camp (travel pod) to Spray Lake in the north end of Kananaskis Country. I also wanted to tackle two more popular trails for our upcoming AlbertaEH.com website on the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alberta-adventures"],"aioseo_notices":[],"geo":null,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ehcanadatravel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ehcanadatravel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ehcanadatravel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ehcanadatravel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ehcanadatravel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=547"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.ehcanadatravel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":553,"href":"https:\/\/www.ehcanadatravel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547\/revisions\/553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ehcanadatravel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ehcanadatravel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ehcanadatravel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}