I just returned from the mountains. Love the mountains. I missed my daily blog ritual the two days before we left for Alberta and did not blog while away. I now need to re-establish my rituals. Easy to blog about being thankful for backpacking though.

We spent four days (three nights) at Elbow Lake in the Peter Lougheed park (Kananaskis). The hike is a 1.3KM hike from the parking area to the camp sites, so it is a short hike to test your backpacking gear. Even though it is short, it is quite steep. This is the second time we have camped there.

There were a number of other campers there this year, whereas last year, we had the place pretty much to ourselves. No worries though, as backpackers tend to be in the respectful demographic of campers. Talked to some very interesting people.We settled in on a Thursday and got our homestead set up and went for a short walk around the lake. On Friday, we hiked up to Rae Glacier and back. Nice hike and lots of variety in the terrain and trail. That night we hiked down to the truck and back and retrieved a small lumbar Arcteryx pack for day hiking, and a bottle of red wine. 🙂 . On Saturday, we decided to hike to Rae Lake and it was another very enjoyable hike. We hiked around 25km throughout the course of this trip and really enjoyed exploring the area. We are now ready to review and revise our hiking pack lists to be even more streamlined for future backpacking trips. This area gets a high recommend from us for anyone looking to get into backpacking and test their gear in a beautiful setting.

Until our next trip…

Climb the mountains and get their good tidings.  Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees.  The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.  ~ John Muir