Lady Mac near Canmore, Prairie near Bragg Creek – Alberta Rocky Mountain hiking is looking good this spring – even with recent snowfalls!
Overlooking the Bow Valley from Lady Mac (photo: M.Kopp)
Tips from those who’ve been there:
Check for ticks after every hike, especially on dry, south-facing, bighorn sheep-favoured slopes – bloodsucking season is upon us!
Wear hiking boots, use ice grips and carry hiking poles – the bloody knuckles and bruised behind (her words, not mine) of another hiker coming down off Prairie Mountain in shorts and running shoes says it all!
When the parcel arrived on my doorstep – light, flat, and on the small side – I thought it was a pair of socks. Does Columbia make socks? That was my second thought. They do, but who knew you could fit a whole coat in a sock-sized parcel? I was thrilled, ecstatic, jumping for joy… until I tried it on.
The airy fabric of the windbreaker floated over my shoulders, the lightly elasticized cuffs hugged the wrist without pressure, but the sizing was on the slim side. Sadly, I have hips. My daughter was thrilled, ecstatic, jumping for joy. “Besides,” she pleaded, “ you already have a running coat and I don’t.”
I wasn’t ready to give it up. The promise of this windbreaker was its ultra-lightweight pack-ability. It would be ideal for our upcoming spring trip paddling Utah’s Green River and cycling a little slick rock. It would work perfectly for early season training runs (as I write, the grey skies outside are puking freezing rain). It would work well for the winds that have been known to howl from time to time on the east side of the Rockies.
“It would perfect for short hikes,” my seasonally, park-employed daughter wheedled. “I could use it for trail runs getting ready for the half.”
I caved… but not without demanding that she model and let me know how it works on a trail run!
Hiking Kananaskis with a couple of mountain hounds! (Photo credit: B Kopp)
I love the outdoors; always have. It doesn’t matter if I’m strolling a frozen riverbank spotting early spring migrants or hiking a desert canyon – I’m into being outside. I also love the information and technology that either allows me to get outside with greater ease or provides insight into the world outdoors. Sharing this passion through social media is an easy conversation. Columbia Sportswear took notice and asked if I’d like some of their gear. I said no.
Just joking! I came home yesterday after a weekend away to find a package on the front porch. Inside it was a Columbia Trail Drier Windbreaker and a note that, among other things, said: “We dig your posts about the outdoors and wanted to help you get outside and enjoy them more.”
Okay, maybe it is blatant flattery and they are just hoping that I’ll tweet or blog about the product as a gear tester. Good (even bad) reviews help spread the product name. It’s free – and personalized – marketing for them. Participation in this is, of course, voluntary and without compensation other than the gear, but – and here’s the catch – I like their gear. It’s stuff I would and do buy on my own.
Will I spread the word through social media about this product? I already am – in case you haven’t noticed! And I will continue to do so – in my own way and on my own schedule – because it suits me. Would I do this for every company? No.
I received an email last week asking if I’d like to write a travel-related post for a different company’s blog. I asked if it was a paying proposition. They said no, but would I be interested in goods or services in kind. I looked at their products and said thanks, but no thanks. It’s not that their product is bad – in fact, just the opposite – but it isn’t something that I would be spending money on. Their product is not my passion.
Writing for free is a hot topic these days. Dissenters will say that I should hold out to be paid for writing anything – even for a product that I personally like. I say that most times they are right…
Teaching a writing workshop in an alpine hut – without wireless, laptop, or so much as a Writer’s Market guide had my mind buzzing with ideas. Alpine Club of Canada (ACC) Jasper-Hinton Section Representative Wayne Campbell facilitated the four-day getaway by asking two friends to become writer and artist in residence. I would do “something” on writing; Rory MacDonald would lead the watercolor and sketching sessions.
But, as I soon discovered, whatever I had planned in the way of writing sessions would have to fit into the reality of a long weekend at ACC’s Stanley Mitchell Hut in Yoho National Park.
The fun is about to begin! (Photo: M.Kopp)
The catch?
The sessions had to work around day hiking up to Kiwetinok Lake, scrambling up to the Mt. Kerr Col, summiting to stand beside the mighty cairn on the peak itself, and sauntering through meadows and passing cascades – ranging from tiny to towering – to reach Isolated Peak Col and the Whaleback.
Lunch at Kiwetinok Lake (Photo: B. Kopp)
Writing and drawing would take a backseat to boat building for the 8 pm SM Yacht Club Regatta. Lessons couldn’t be held between the hours of around 5 to 7 pm due to cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, and Italian, Indian and Mediterranean-inspired cuisine.
Haute couture... I mean cuisine... in the backcountry! (Photo: M.Kopp)
Botanical identification was a priority – as was map-reading, general chatting, impromptu baseball game cheering, yoga stretching, hut cleaning, campground strolling, creek dipping, ground squirrel watching, and alpen glow observing. Oh yeah – and sleeping!
Stretching in the shadow of Mt. Kerr (Photo: M.Kopp)
The end result?
You’d be surprised. The writers in the group did some free-flow writing, descriptive word listing, set subject writing , editing, topic planning, showing (not telling) with words, and creating – with a short, finished articles to wrap up the three days. I even managed to find time for a little watercolour painting.
Now if only I could carry this productivity and creativity through to the rest of my life!
June monsoons hit with a vengeance last night – thunder, lightening, hail, and torrential rain for much of the evening – making me doubly glad I took time for a hike up Forgetmenot Ridge before the weather descended.
Normally running underground at this point, the Big Elbow was showing signs of spring rain and winter melt-off. (Photo Credit: B. Kopp)
Wind gusts of up to 100 km/h added to the ridgetop experience! (Photo Credit: M. Kopp)
As always, there were beautiful things to see! (Photo credit: M, Kopp)
Now that the weather has turned, it’s time to hole up in the office. With no major deadlines looming, I can update the blog, learn more about LinkedIn and other social media marketing tools for writers, catch up on the requisite writer’s bookwork, and send out a couple of new article queries. Making the most of each day – whatever it brings – is what makes being a freelance writer worthwhile.
What are you up to today?
“We would accomplish many more things if we did not think of them as impossible.” – Vince Lombardi
“We all find time to do what we really want to do.” – William Feather
Hiking season is here and even though unseasonably cool, damp weather and ridiculously low snow levels seems to be keeping many people off the trails, we found pockets of perfection in the Kananaskis Country foothills and creek bottoms this past weekend.
Wildflowers are blooming on Sibbald's Deer Ridge Trail
Jura Creek is an excellent 1/2-day hike in low water levels!
If I said I hiked to the summit of Tokyapebi ipa today, you might be puzzled. If I said Yates Mountain, you might still look at me strangely. If I said Barrier Lake Lookout in Kananaskis Country, Alberta, you’d probably be able to find it on a map. It crossed my mind today that clarity is key in communication.
Barrier Lookout Summit
Stoney names are familiar to Stoney tribe members west of Calgary; not so well-known outside this close-knit group. While historians and ranchers in western Alberta might know of Emily Yates and the Diamond Cross ranch she ran (now the site of the YMCA’s Camp Chief Hector) below today’s summit, most hikers commonly refer to this hike as Prairie View and Barrier Lookout. Know your audience and write accordingly, I thought to myself.
I also realised that I would like to let other hikers know that Prairie View trail from Barrier Dam (7.7 km, 500 m elevation gain) was almost dry in the lower sections, while mud and snow patches are still prevalent in the upper. The short 0.6 km (125 m elevation gain) section up to the lookout saw 0.5 m snow drifts. Packing gaiters and boot crampons are a good idea. Need to blog, tweet and share.
Snow lingering in high country.
Now you’d think with all this climbing up the trail, trekking through snow, and thinking about posts and tweets, that’d be enough. Not so! Queries were drafted, snippets of articles were re-evaluated, and future blogpost ideas were stored. Seems this writer’s mind is fuelled by foot power.
Where has time gone? This month has been nose to the grindstone with a big kid’s book project, a little non-fiction article for a kid’s science magazine, and a pile of queries for an upcoming travel adventure.
Panorama Ridge meadows. (Credit: B.Kopp) Last of the larch. (Credit: M.Kopp)
That being said, there’s alway time for a hike – or two! Fave of the month is Taylor Lake and the Panorama Ridge meadows. It’s a steady uphill climb, 6.4 km, from the parking lot to the lake and another 0.5 km to the start of the meadows. We strolled past the three tarns in the meadows and scrambled up a low ridge for a view over toward Lake Louise. Larches were pretty much done for the season, but this would the place to go for gold glory at the end of September – no crowds and freedom to roam.
“The miracle is not to fly in the air, or to walk on the water, but to walk on the earth.” – Chinese proverb
I played hooky from writing for a couple of days to head into the backcountry with my trail crew girl – and what a blast!
Too much fun! (Photo: M.Kopp)
We hiked and talked and climbed and talked and worked (okay… all I had to do was belay her while she cleaned the backcountry cabin chimney, but I did carry the rope, harness, caribiners and climbing shoes!).
After the chimney we strolled up to the camping area, I watched as she cleaned the outhouse, checked the bear bins for stashes of garbage left by lazy hikers, and removed a couple of random firepits. She wouldn’t let me lift a finger.
We sat up at the lake and enjoyed the glow of evening light before heading back to the cabin, where she filled out the cabin log and I started jotting down a few blog/article ideas. Two pages later, I was done.
