{"id":614,"date":"2009-07-17T18:04:39","date_gmt":"2009-07-18T02:04:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ehcanadatravel.com\/blog\/?p=614"},"modified":"2009-07-17T19:39:50","modified_gmt":"2009-07-18T03:39:50","slug":"rockman-and-moi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ehcanadatravel.com\/blog\/2009\/07\/17\/rockman-and-moi\/","title":{"rendered":"Rockman and Moi"},"content":{"rendered":"

On the road today heading back to Canmore, Alberta. Not that we need to research Canmore any further as we already have – but it will act, more as,\u00a0 a\u00a0 base camp for researching Banff.. which is my next adventure destination.\u00a0 The reason being is that camping in Banff\u00a0 is for rich people. I am rich in life but that does not work for payment in these modern times.\u00a0 Banff has the most expensive camping yet on our cross country trip.\u00a0 I could get a hotel room for the price of camping in most cities. So.. Canmore is more my style.\u00a0 Laid back, friendly and with some exceptional scenery.. wink wink.<\/p>\n

Bro, on the other hand, is off to Jasper, Alberta to do his thing and get down and dirty researching.<\/p>\n

So this morning I rolled into Canmore and scored a campsite quickly as it is Friday. One of two left, thank God. I can only attribute my good fortune to the fact I woke up early in a pool of sweat from the hot morning sun, forcing me to pack up and go real early. I left Lake Louise this morning at 7 AM.. still no shower and feeling a bit stinky. When I finished setting up base camp in Canmore the first thing on my agenda was a shower.. how good did that feel you ask? Real Goooood!\u00a0 But enough smelly talk – lets talk about something great like yesterday`s\u00a0 fantastic adventure – makes for better blogging.<\/p>\n

Yesterday, I\u00a0 planned an incredible adventure to explore.\u00a0 The hike is referred to as the Larch Valley and Sentinel Pass Trails.\u00a0 It was going to be a two for one hike for this lad.\u00a0 The 12 kilometre hiking trail enjoys an elevation gain of about 1035 metres leading to one of the highest accessed peaks in the park. Anyone who knows me knows I am a mountain summit junkie. It was an experience I will never forget.<\/p>\n

The entire trail was uphill.\u00a0 The first part of the trail consisted of 8-10 switchbacks exploring through forests, side stepping exposed tree roots and boulders. The switchbacks led me up and up and up until the trees parted and I landed in a lush valley surrounded by glaciers – the Wenkchemna and Horseshoe Glaciers.\u00a0 The valley was Larch Valley.\u00a0 There were fields of wildflowers, 360 degree views of the Canadian Rockies, glacier-fed ponds and creeks, a slight cool breeze, massive boulders left behind by the ice age and some level ground hiking. Good thing as sweat was dripping from everywhere.\u00a0 It was nice to give the legs a well deserved rest.\u00a0 But it was short lived.. as in the distance you could see the trail climbing up the side of the mountain to a\u00a0 peak.\u00a0 That, I pointed like Babe Ruth, is my destination.<\/p>\n

\"At<\/a>

At the base about to go up to the summit<\/p><\/div>\n

The sight of the peak was an adrenaline rush. I was excited.\u00a0 Without me even knowing,\u00a0 my pace quickened.\u00a0 My legs felt like iron not rubber.\u00a0 My smile broadened.\u00a0 I was eager to get to the top.<\/p>\n

At the base of the mountain was a large glacier pond. It was a major gathering spot for many hikers.\u00a0 It was here at the pond where many people decided to end their hike after looking at the trail ahead. I think many of the tourists just about had enough with switchbacks.\u00a0 The climb ahead was daunting for many.\u00a0 For myself it was heaven on wheels.<\/p>\n

The first part of the climb consisted of navigating switchbacks over a large rock slide.\u00a0 Boulders, loose shale and patches of snow cracking under my feet with every step.\u00a0 It seemed like every move someone made above me was creating a mini landslide of rocks and shale in front of me and behind me.\u00a0 6 or 7 hikers were coming down from the peak and I was the only one going up.. hmmmm.<\/p>\n

After the slippery rock slope there was the head wall – not the real name but one I used as it reminded me of a hike in Jasper with a similar straight up trail my Bro took me on a while back.\u00a0 The trail looked like a drunk Zorro carved a “Z“ into the mountain – many times over.\u00a0 This portion of the trail looked exhilarating from the base.\u00a0 The air was cooler. The winds picked up. I felt like I was on top of the world. I like this Sentinel Pass Trail allot.<\/p>\n

\"Summit<\/a>

Summit of Sentinel Pass in Lake Louise, Alberta<\/p><\/div>\n

At the top of the pass, I was level with the mountain peaks around me. Temple Mountain next door and two glaciers out my front window. I was speechless. On one side of the ridge were hoodoos and vertical cliffs carved by snow, ice and wind.\u00a0 It was straight down. On the other side – the route I just finished crawling up – the people below looked like ants searching for food\u00a0 and the glaciers looked like I could reach out and touch them.\u00a0 There were only 4 of us on the ridge at this time.\u00a0 All in silence. All in awe. The hardy and the few.<\/p>\n

Being moi, I wanted to take my adventure to the limit so I hiked to the highest point on the ridge.\u00a0 Instead of stopping, I continued my hike, higher and higher, until I could go no further. The wind, the chill did not stop me.\u00a0 The massive cliff drop did.\u00a0 But,\u00a0 to my surprise a friend was waiting for me.\u00a0 At the cliff edge a previous hiker erected a rock sculpture.\u00a0 My new friend! (main photo above)<\/p>\n

Together – rockman and I sat at an elevation of 2651 metres on the edge of a cliff – not a word was spoken – the scenery did all the talking.\u00a0 My feet dangling over the edge and a grin so big it hurt. I began my dinner. Simple – just a sandwich, banana and gatoraid. But ohhh.. so good after the hike. I took some more pictures and relished the moment as long as I could.\u00a0 The saddest part of the day was leaving the cliff edge and my new friend rockman.\u00a0 The time to leave\u00a0 came way too quick.\u00a0 My fault I started too late as I hiked to Consolation Lakes in the morning. I will miss Sentinal Pass. I will be back to see rockman again!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On the road today heading back to Canmore, Alberta. Not that we need to research Canmore any further as we already have – but it will act, more as,\u00a0 a\u00a0 base camp for researching Banff.. which is my next adventure destination.\u00a0 The reason being is that camping in Banff\u00a0 is for rich people. I am […]<\/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":[9,14,17,18],"class_list":["post-614","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alberta-adventures","tag-alberta","tag-lake-louise","tag-hiking-trails","tag-banff-national-park"],"aioseo_notices":[],"geo":null,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ehcanadatravel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614","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=614"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.ehcanadatravel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":622,"href":"https:\/\/www.ehcanadatravel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614\/revisions\/622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ehcanadatravel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ehcanadatravel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ehcanadatravel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}