15.1 km/792 meters
Leaving our city lives behind we (I’m referring to the partner here) headed to the Canadian Rockies. About a 4-hour drive south from the Edmonton area we set up shop at the Peter Lougheed Provincial campground. We have an older 25-foot Puma bumper pull and it has served us well over the years. I’ll drop a picture sometime. We reserved a great site, as they most are. And, no internet! Nice to get the break from time-to-time.
Our first hike we thought would be to explore the Forks Campground in Kananaskis nearby Peter Lougheed Park or Elk Campground. With bear warnings and berry season well upon us Alberta Fish and Wildlife was keeping busy and we made sure to take the bear spray with each of us. Luckily, it was not needed. Trouble seemed to be with the black bears (big surprise) however grizzly spottings were reported too. We crossed on the trails one obviously not fresh evidence of bear scat and another deer droppings and thought to myself if we need to stay on the trail, why do they (the animals) get to wander onto the trail? lol.
We left as we usually do at the later 1/2 of the morning and hit the trail with overcast skies. It did not look like it would rain but with mountain weather you never know. Regardless, we were prepared with packaged foods, hiking poles, waterproof hiking boots (Salomon and Scarpa) and several layers of clothing. And, Molly our miniature Labradoddle on-leash of course.
We had a bit of a climb ahead of us; albeit gradual with this hike and I always find the first two-kilometres taxing. Pushing on, we got well past the first two k’s and the trail disappeared behind us. Winding at times it was a gentle slop with only a couple of switchbacks to speak of.
Here is a picture of the trail from Google Maps taken off my watch and at the completion of our walk after arriving at Forks.
Although we were the only peeps present there was plenty of evidence others had recently left. The area was clean; great, although tarps were left over a picnic area and it was obvious the fire pit had been recently extinguished.
We grabbed a seat at one of the [metal] picnic table nearest to the river and quickly got some clothes off that were needing o be dried. It was quiet, all you could hear was the rushing of water nearby. Nice.
After enjoying our lunch, we spent some time resting, getting hydrated and returned to make our trek back to the trailhead the same way we came.
Along the trail in and out we passed approximately 1/2 dozen peeps. And, the occasional dog.
