I told Traci I was craving another hike…

so we went!

We just headed the 1/2 hour to Kananaskis Country past Bragg Creek and figured a nice little 5k loop on the Diamond T Loop would be good. It was! We spent more time hiking and less time sitting as there wasn’t much in the way of scenery, so before we knew it the 5k was up. It was pretty hilly with a few long ups, but boy we are glad we did the trek counter clockwise as the downhill off the mountain was relentless and doing it the other way may have killed us.

I wore my Vibrams today and regret it a bit as I had a couple painful steps onto sharp rocks on the steep downs. I have been having a great time in my Merrell Barefoot Trail Gloves up to now but they were still soaked from the river walking I did yesterday, so I figured I’d try the Vibrams. I knew it would be fine unless we go into any rocky sections and for the most part it was ok. There were just a few areas that were touch and go. There was one rock I stepped on at one point that almost took me out… eeee youch..

Lesson learned: dry the Merrells overnight.

Expanding on that, the Merrell’s have been amazing as trail hikers. I go sockless and I have enjoyed every step in them. I am confident in the grip (especially downhill!) and when they do get wet there are no issues with my foot slipping in them or anything. I can take on any terrain, footing and surface. They are even stylish at the grocery store!

On the way out we stopped for a Lime Margarita (non alcoholic) Frappe for the boy. He enjoys them. Can you tell?

We can’t keep him interested in anything, anywhere for more than 20 minutes at a time, but when we hike, he is good for… well… as long as we hike. He just loves it! we pack granola snack, fruit chews, beef jerky, rice crispie treats, water and trailmix. We hike to the top of something, then we sit and have a snack! He enjoys the rest. He says he gets pooped out, then when we finish the snack and he is ready to go, he declares himself ‘Pooped up’ and is ready to go again. The other cool thing he does for us is sing the alphabet song on steep ups. That gives us all the energy we need to make it to the top!

He loves the scenery, he loves the flowers, the trees, the water, everything. It’s something we can do as a family, and do it for MANY more years. We figure there is some overnight back country camping trips in our future too!

Here are some highlights of the hike today.

From the summit… That’s the road back to reality…

Helicopter pad for the forestry rangers. Chopper came and went about 5 times while we were hiking…

Here he is demonstrating ‘Pooped out’. It took 2 packs of fruit chews to get him ‘Pooped up!’

The sights and smells of all the wildflowers are incredible!

Oh yeah, yesterday we were in the final 100 meters or so back to the car and were walking along the river when I looked out toward the water, and over on a log there were sitting a couple people. One you could tell was a guy, and sitting next to him was what I though was a younger guy or boy with his shirt off. I thought it was kind of weird when the guy reached over and grabbed at, what would be his chest area. The person without the shirt turned a bit and sure enough I got a peek at some boobies. It was a naked woman, and the dude was playing with her boobs. I said to Traci, ‘That Chick’s naked!’. She looks over and kinda gasps, and just then they must have heard our bear bells and she covered up with a shirt.

That’s it! bye!