And We Interrupt This Post.....

....to go camping and running for 3 days in Yoho National Park at the best campground of all - Takakkaw Falls! Happy trails!

Leslie

The B.U.T.T Epic - Day 2 and 3

Day 2 - Mount Shark to Mount Assiniboine via. Marvel Lake and Wonder Pass, 27km + 7km

Day 3 - Mount Assiniboine to Sunshine Meadows and out to Bourgeau Parking Lot, 30km

It's a beautiful day - the sky falls

You feel like it's a beautiful day

Don't let it get away!

U2

Ever been to Mount Assiniboine? You should GO. It really is spectacular.

A girl could spend days in there, holed up in her little cabin running around in the woods. In fact, I think I might do exactly that sometime in the future. There's a whole heckuva' lot of beautiful trails to explore in the area. I ran in to Mount Assiniboine for the first time 5 years ago, as my first official mountain trail run. Sure, I'd spent lots of time running around on the trails in the woods, but this was different. My eyes were wide open to the possibilities of running long distances on trail and I've been doing it ever since.

Here's the quick version of our 2 days:


We cruised in to Marvel Lake....

The lake and the single track were stunning.


We climbed up to Wonder Pass from Marvel Lake.

Bryon thought it was both wonderous and marvelous.

The gang got silly. And then we charged down the other side of the pass.

Mount Assiniboine greeted us at the bottom. For some reason I was craving a Dairy Queen soft serve ice cream when I saw it.

Mike was in his happy place. In fact, we were all in our happy place!

We went for tea and treats at the lodge and then we went for a 7km bonus loop before dinner.

We enjoyed a fun night staying at the Naiset Cabins, cooked up lots of food, mooched lots of food from other guests, socialized, enjoyed a nightcap of whisky which Bryon packed in and slept like the dead.

When we woke up and there was a deer out the front door, the sun was shining and it was a beautiful day.

We bid farewell to Mount Assiniboine and started running.

Lake Og was cool.

We kept cruising through Valley of the Rocks, climbed Citadel Pass and before we knew it we had hit Howard Douglas Lake and Col de Leslie. Yep, I've got my own pass.

It had pretty flowers on it.

Cruised out through Sunshine Meadows and almost stepped on these guys. Hit the Ski Out and ran a few kilometres before The Maintenance Guy For Sunshine gave us a lift. I was O.K with that.

It was a beautiful day!

The End.

The B.U.T.T Epic - Day 1

Day 1 - Kananaskis Trail to Smith Dorrien via. Galatea Lake, Guinns Pass, Buller Pass - 20km

I and I, In the sky

You make me feel like I can fly,

So high, elevation!

U2

On Monday morning, the Banff Ultimate Trail Trash Epic began with a group of 5 happy, excited trail runners. I was pretty thrilled with the group of friends that were joining me for this 5 day running adventure. Later in the week, we would have the bonus of other friends joining us to infuse some fresh legs and energy into the group.

It was fun to have Bryon along - as a first time visitor to the Canadian Rockies it was fun see the mountains through his eyes. He was a kid at a candy store. It was also great to get to know Angela, as we hadn't spent any time on the trails together before. As for Mike and Miles, well they are always my favorite people to spend time with on the trails!

Bryon

Angela

Mike

Miles



Team B.U.T.T with The ASS: Mount Assiniboine and Lake Magog

Day 1 was to be our shortest day, with only 16km but we decided to do a bonus loop to Galatea Lakes. That added another 4km. The lakes have a high alpine feel to them with the rugged, rocky grey rocks and cliffs that surround these pretty turquoise lakes. What a nice surprise, as I had never been there before.

Galatea Lakes = Pretty

From there, we retraced our footsteps to the Guinn's Pass junction and started our climb upward. On this section of trail we got treated to an incredible show of wildflowers. I had hoped that the B.U.T.T would be well timed to see the wild flowers in all of their glory and our timing could not have been better. The Flower Show was in full effect and we got 5 days of prime flower viewing!

I hadn't been to Guinn's Pass before and had forgotten just how beautiful and immense the mountains are in that area. The mountains there are frickin' huge! Does that sound silly? But they are. Big grey behemoths.

In the photo below, Buller Pass is the little snowy patch in the middle. It was cool because you could see exactly where we were going. And when we got there we could see exactly where we had been! I love that.

The cruise out from Buller Pass to the Smith-Dorrien was sweet: nice runnable winding single track all the way out. A little storm chased us off the mountain and when we got to the car it was turning drizzly, grey and windy. Keith was there to greet us with a box full of post-run treats to enjoy a little tail-gate Party. For such a short day, this day was hard work with 3 substantial climbs. We soaked our legs and drove into Canmore where Miles cooked us up a BBQ to wind up Day 1. Nice.

The B.U.T.T = F.U.N

It's a simple equation. Take a week off work, gather some trail running friends and hit the trails for 5 days of running the incredible trails of my very own backyard.

We just finished up Day 5 of the B.U.T.T and in a nutshell, good friends, good trails, good times. And if I didn't already love the trails of my backyard before, I am even more smitten. Each of the 5 days of running were quint-essential Canadian Rockies scenery: a kaleidoscope of snow, ice, rock, forest and wild flowers. All the back drop to the star attraction: the biggest, baddest jagged rocky mountains you've ever laid your eyes on. Yep, I love my backyard. And now I love it even more.

Thanks to Keith for coordinating, cooking and shuttling a bunch of smelly runners. And a special thanks to all the friends for joining me on my adventure!

More photos, stories and trail reports of all 5 days coming soon.

The B.U.T.T Epic

The B.U.T.T Begins

A few years back, I thought it would be cool to piece together a long point to point run, on all of my favorite trails in the Banff area. I mentioned it to Keith and he suggested I recruit a few friends and he would help me coordinate it. Well.

Starting tomorrow, the Banff-Ultimate-Trail-Trash Epic aka. The B.U.T.T is getting under way and I am EXCITED!! I have recruited 6 friends to join me and tomorrow we will start our big run in Kananaskis Country and run on single track trails through Banff National Park, Mount Assiniboine Provincial Park and Kootenay National Park.

The distance will be around 175 kilometres, we will cross over 10 mountain passes and sleep one night in the backcountry. Yahooo! I'm also super excited to see friends Meghan and Bryon who are travelling to Banff for the first time.

It is going to be a solid challenge, but I suspect the scenery is going to keep us motivated, inspired and moving forward. Bryon, Mike, Miles, Angela, Darren and myself will be running and a big thanks to Keith and Meghan who will help us along the way.

Our run will be 5 days long and each day is progressively longer and tougher. If we are still standing by Friday, our last day will feature the entire 55km length of The Rockwall trail in Kootenay National Park. Wish us luck! It's going to be great.

This weekend, Danni came to visit from Montana and while I was supposed to take it easy - how could I resist spending a day on the trail with Danni? We wanted to show her something really special, so we spent the day in the Skoki area. Danni was stoked. Keith was sharing the love and I was just along for the ride. What a great day! We took it easy and enjoyed the perfect summer day.

Have a great week and Happy Trails!

3 Days in Paradise - A Trail Running Road Trip

I have a confession to make: I tend to fly by the seat of my pants.

Sometimes it backfires on me, but most of the time it all just works out. Organisation is overrated!This weekend, I took a spontaneous road trip to Jasper and it turned out to be The Best Weekend Ever. I had the need to spend a little time on the trail by myself communing with nature. Just me and the mountains. A little one-on-one time.

The road to Jasper is one of the most beautiful drives in the world. The Icefields Parkway is a highway that stretches 230km from Lake Louise to Jasper and twists and turns past glacier capped mountains, turquoise lakes and milky blue glacier fed rivers. It makes your jaw drop and your head spin as you are trying to concentrate on driving the road, but you can't. You are overwhelmed with awe and disbelief and other random emotions that can only be caused by such beautiful rugged mountain scenery. All of this and you haven't even left the car.

My first destination was Mount Robson Provincial Park one hour west of Jasper and a place that I had never been. I have been wanting to run the Berg Lake Trail for years. It's been teasing me. Just put Berg Lake in Google Images and see what happens. I dare you!

It's that image that has been lingering in my brain since I started trail running. After work on Thursday, I drove non-stop to the trail head after work on Thursday and arrived midnight where I crashed in the back of my car. I slept in my running clothes and pre-packed my gear for the next day so I could just get up and go. I even packed a mini-thermos of coffee. It was scary, I almost felt organised! In the morning I awoke in a different world. A moister, greener world of humidity, ferns, cedars and mosquitoes so different from the mountains in Banff. When I arrived on the shore of Kinney Lake only 5km into my run, the calm day greeted me. I held my breath and got out my camera. It was a perfect mountain morning with the promise of a great day to come.

I love you, Kinney Lake!

The trail climbs up Valley of Thousand Falls and the scenery and excitement build and culminate when you first set eyes on Robson Glacier and Mist Glacier. When Berg Lake finally revealed itself, I was stupefied.

Why hello, Berg Lake.

The incredible North Face of Robson, a giant among giants is immeasurably supreme. Mount Robson is the highest mountain in the Canadian Rockies at 3954 metres (12,972 feet). It has two glaciers visible glaciers that plunge of its' face into the depths of Berg Lake. This remarkable image of ice meeting water is the essence of the areas' incredible scenic charm.

It was a 45km day in total, with a bonus loop to get up above the lake for some superb views. The side trip to Toboggan Falls and Hargreaves Glacier was the icing on the cake. Sweet.

Climbing out of the Valley

The Berg Lake Marathon - Sole Participant (and subsequent winner!)

First glimpse - Berg Glacier

Mount Robson

Mount Robson and Mist Glacier


Moraine at Hargreaves Glacier

Hargreaves Glacier

I love you, Berg Lake!

It was such a special day and I was feeling so good that I wanted more, more, MORE! On the drive back to Jasper all giddy and happy I decided that I would do something big the next day as well. Why not? I was stoked for another run.

So I decided to run the Skyline Trail. It's been a few years since I last ran it and it is a very different, but just as special place as the Berg Lake trail. What makes the Skyline special is that for almost two-thirds of its 45km length, the Skyline Trail travels at or above treeline. Rambling through expansive meadows, crossing high passes and traversing ridgecrests of the Maligne Range, it provides panoramic views of the Athabaska and Maligne valleys.

On the drive to the trailhead at Maligne Lake, Medicine Lake was looking extra special on this early morning.

I love you, Medicine Lake!

The Skyline Tail was pure high alpine trail running bliss. See the trail? The Z-shaped snow formation waaaaay off in the distance is The Notch, the high alpine pass that you takes you up and over this amazing ridge run.

At the end of Day 2 of running, I enjoyed a few beers and a pizza. I thought I earned it. I was pretty proud of me. Thanks to my friend Jeff of Jasper for taking good care of me!

Day 3, after too much coffee in the AM with Jeff, I hit the Icefields Parkway for the drive back home. There was one other run I've been wanting to do - the Wilcox Pass trail. It's pretty popular, because it offers up views of the Athabaska Glacier. The views were fantastic - but the pass itself was very cool. It was probably one of the longest and widest passes that I have been through. A beautiful high alpine U-shaped valley, about 3 kilometres in length. And I had the whole place to myself. I ran the 12km trail point-to-point trail in under 2 hours and then I found myself wandering if I shouldn't just turn around and run it back the other direction. It was kind of funny. I didn't quite know what to do with myself after this short run. I was like, Is That It? Now what? Fortunately, logic prevailed and I hitched a ride back to my car. Happy. Content. And tired. 3 Days in Paradise.

Athabaska Glacier