Today Sam and I woke up in my tent late after sleeping in, around 9:45. We quickly made breakfast, prepared lunch for our hike and broke camp before the required check out of 11:00. We departed at 10:50 and made our way towards our intended hike of Windtower Mountain in Spray Lakes Provincial Park. Sam wanted to head North on Highway 40 towards Highway 1 and make our way through Canmore as suggested by Google Maps but I suggested heading South towards where Highway 742 (Smith Dorien) connects to Highway 40 and make our way North from there. It might take a bit longer but it would be different scenery we would enjoy. She agreed and luckily for us, right at the intersection of the two highways we spotted a mama grizzly with two cubs! Quite the treat.
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| Mama grizzy and cubs crossing Smith Dorien at Highway 40 intersection |
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After that we made our way uneventfully up to the trailhead and after a quick gear check hit the trail at 12:00. The first hour up to Wind Pass was mostly uneventful however Sam wasn't feeling great so we took a few breaks. The views looking back towards Spray Lake were beautiful and we could see why the hike earned its reputation as one of the best in the park.
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| View looking back towards Spray Lake from the initial hike up to Wind Pass |
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Reaching the pass around 13:00 I wasn't sure if Sam wanted to continue to the summit of Windtower Mountain however she felt better after resting and eating and we plowed on. First we had a stranger take our picture though.
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| Sam and I (and some strangers) at Wind Pass looking west - Photo: some random guy |
We left for the summit at 13:15 and I estimated 1.5 hours to the top, I was very right and we got there at 14:45. The hike up to the summit was beautiful, we traversed up and to the Southwest and gained the ridge with gorgeous views of Spray Lake the entire time. The last ~1 kilometre was the typical scree log in the alpine but it wasn't terribly steep so it wasn't torture. At the top there was sheer drops to the east and south and it was quite thrilling. We took a few pictures and had some more food before heading down as it was quite cold. On the way down we spoke of such various topics as Air BNB, communism, alien etc. (the usual fare) and reached my truck with a much quicker time at 16:30. We headed in to Canmore and had a quick dinner at McD's before Sam had to return to Cranbrook for work on Monday. The next few pictures are on the way down and at the top and were all taken by Sam.
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| Headed down the scree - Photo: Samanta Zbinden |
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| Gorgeous Panorama at the summit looking north - Photo: Samanta Zbinden |
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| My summit picture - Photo: Samanta Zbinden |
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