Day 9 – Calgary to Kananaski Country

Day 9 – Calgary to Kananaski Country

Billy has gone insane. I repeat, Billy has gone INSANE. We are currently…wait, no…I’ll just tell you the story from the start. Go back…to the BEGINNING!

Well, we woke up in the motel in Calgary this morning. We walked to a nearby McDonald’s to eat our breakfast of burgers, pancakes and cinnamon buns. Oh, and apple juice! (Don’t forget then lone healthy aspect of it all :D)

We had loaded up the Sprinter previously, so we just got in and we rolled out. On our way to that great hiking spot that the nice couple had told us about yesterday. It’s called Kananaski Country (try saying that 10 times really fast).

We drove by Winter Olympic Calgary, and decided to stop there for a while. It was where the 1988 Winter Olympics took place. We also got lots of pictures there. (We were all fighting for 1st place on the platform!)

We stopped many times along the way when we saw great scenery and/or saw a good hiking trail.
…We saw…frankly, many. How many? A lot.

We hiked two trails, and the third stop was just pretty much a stroll. Let me tell you, both trails were…absolutely beautiful.

Our first trail was at Bow Valley. It was a pretty steep trail by a river. We had a lecture on how to use the bear pepper spray. Good thing too. We saw many claw marks on trees, signifying that bears had been in the area before us. We didn’t encounter any, luckily enough (although some of us actually do want to see a bear). Down by the river, there was a tactical kayak course. It looked very challenging, what with the natural, as well as manmade rapids and eddies scattered across the river.

Right on top of the second of the trails, was a lookout point with a panoramic, 360 degree tilt-a-whirl of such magnificence. We had our lunch up there, right smack in the middle of all of those mountains we’d only ever heard about. Up close, let me tell you, you would be left speechless. Even now, the words seem just so hard to find. True beauty shouldn’t be rambled about with an unskilled tongue. So I’ll go on to describe our little promenade at our third stop.

It was of these ox-bow lakes, which are formed when a winding river (like the one we were situated by), shallows out, leaving a barrier of sand between the current course of the river and the newly formed ox-bow lake. These were actually a chain of ponds loosely connected. We walked alongside these bodies of water, crossing them to get to the other side. (Yup! Just like the chicken did! :D)

Jenn (me) actually did get hurt this time. Just a minor injury though; a small splinter from one of the bridges spanning the distance between the ponds. Those ponds had the clearest, shallowest waters in all of the lakes we’ve seen so far. (I don’t know, Lake Louise is supposed to be a beauty as well…) Some people were actually fishing! (We have no idea what for…the water was so clear, and all we saw were bugs and tiny minnows!)

Everywhere we went…it was just so…gorgeous!

We then continued on our drive. We wandered around mostly. That is how we discovered that choice photo spot. It was a closed ski resort…meaning DEAD END. We just u-turned, then got off and snapped a couple of pictures in the middle of the road. As we were leaving, we saw another car driving up the same long road up the hill. We laughed our heads off as we saw the huge trailer that it was pulling. And then laughed even harder as we watched the driver try to turn the vehicle around. xD

This is where the insanity of Billy comes into play. We drove up another road, and we found Kananaski Village. We explored the stores first…and then we walked around for a bit. That’s when we discovered that the entire thing was, in fact, a resort.

We walked all the way to the entrance of the actual accommodation, and we waited and took pictures. We thought that Billy was just going to check the pricing as a joke, or just for some information. And when he finally came out…he announced that we were going to take a few more pictures around here just so we can say that we stayed here. Then he said that we’d be heading back to the parked car to eat the leftover bread for lunch.

When we got to the parking lot, we sub-consciously got onboard the Sprinter, and we drove off…back towards the hotel. Billy parked the car right in front, with all the other expensive cars, and told us that we were to unload the bags. We stared in awe.

Then, as we stared, and gaped, and gasped fishy-style (actually, that was just me…), Billy laughed…then restarted the car…

We sighed in both relief and disappointment as Billy began to drive again.

So we really were surprised and confused through and through when Billy moved the Sprinter up closer to an entrance.

Right now, I’m sitting before my toughbook…staring out at the mountain we’re going hike up tomorrow…through the window…of a five star resort!

Such is the insanity of Billy, but I doubt anyone’s regretting that decision! The place is huge! With a clear view of the surrounding mountains.

Have you ever seen fields so green? Or a sky that blue? Clouds that fluffy and white? Or even clear lakes of that crystalline aquamarine? I wonder what that looks like from above those clouds.

We had a country steak style dinner in the resort’s restaurant. (Five star, baby! FIVE STAR!!!!)

After the delectable dinner, we went outside to take some pictures with the majestic mountains and the summer sky as our beautiful backdrop.

We may go to watch the stars later if the weather holds out. We’re going to hike up that mountain tomorrow, after the intense PT (physical training) we’ve been missing for a while. Finally, right?

We sleep in luxury tonight, though!

P.S. Hey East kids! Now I KNOW you guys are jealous! BWAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The scenery is SOOOO pretty! And the food is SOOOOOO good! And…And…And…BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!