K Country

On the way there

It has been years and years since Marlin and I went to Kananaskis.  The last time we were there was before we were married (which was more than 6 years ago).  Back then we did a backpack trip... this time we stayed in a trailer.  Times have changed!  :)

View from the campground

But the amazing scenery has not.  The campground was awesome but it was the third one we checked out.  The first one was nice, but wasn't on the lake.  The second one literally had hoards of children running around.  But the third one, was juuuuust right.  Apparently we were channeling Goldilocks.  :)  We didn't get a lakefront site, but we were just across the road and behind our site was something even better.

Wild Strawberries!!!!  They were unbelievably tasty.  Although they took a while to pick due to their size.

The first day we started a hike up Mt. Indefatigable.  We didn't get as far as we had thought we would.  Man, it was steep!!!

The trail started along Upper Kananaskis Lake.

And it quickly went up, up, up.  This was about 40 minutes in at our 100th rest stop.  :)  It is also of Upper Kananaskis Lake.

Even the chipmunks enjoyed the view.

As did Lacey.  She freaked us out by constantly trying to peer over the edge.  This was literally a straight drop down.  I was hoping and preying she wouldn't spot a critter down there.

Coulee wore her boots to protect her feet from all the scree.  This is what the second half of the trail looked like.  I'm not sure if you can tell how steep it was, but trust me, it was steep.

The view of Lower Kananaskis Lake

It was hot, exposed and have I mentioned steep?  After about 2 hours, we decided the views wouldn't get that much better than what we'd already seen and we should just cry "Uncle" and head back down.  I'm glad we did.  Our thighs were pretty shaky by the time we got back down.

The next day we decided to head up to Rawson Lake. The guide book promised a hike through the forest, and that sounded pretty darn good to us. It turns out, it was perfect.  Nicely wooded trail, lots of shade, no shale and plenty of water at the base, on the way up and at the top for the dogs.

This hike also started at Upper Kananaskis Lake just from a different spot.

Coulee had learned from the day before to seek out shade wherever you could find it!

The waterfall at Sarrail Creek (I think!)

Marlin's first two casts produced two fish.  Then he snagged his lure on a log, broke his line and his luck went downhill without any other fish to show for his efforts.  Rawson Lake is catch and release only, so no fish for dinner for us.

Me just playing around with the reflection in Marlin's shades.  I couldn't manage to get the scenery without also including me.

Lacey was a "tad" bit excited by the local squirrel population.

Rawson Lake

We had a great time.  The girls were great - very calm and relaxed (unless there were squirrels in the area).  We decided to come home a day early because the weather wasn't supposed to be that great today.  We didn't want to get soaked, and then pack up so we tried to beat the rain - and we did.  It may not have even fallen, but that is OK.  We'll just have more time to relax at home now.

I'm not sure why we waited so long to go back to K Country.  We won't be waiting quite as long next time!  We were already talking about next year.  :)