Braced for Success on Buller Pass
Trip Start
Jul 29, 2008
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Trip End
Aug 05, 2008
Canmore, Alberta, Canada
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Er, from the train anyway. The guy on the other side of the room should visit his doctor, or at the very least the washroom. Baahrrroooommm. The open window must be the only reason the room didn't smell. Or else the rose petals didn't agree with him. Turns out Adults have some odd flaws too. Nothing the trusty ear plugs couldn't hide anyway. First to bed and last up. Hooray. Ready for another day of hiking.
So, the trail I was looking for yesterday was Buller Pass. When I missed it, I looked for Karst trail. Then as I said, I just ended up wandering paths for hours. So be it. Today is a new day, and I now knew where to find the Buller Pass Trail.
Holy Popcorn Batman! How could I have failed to mention yesterday? The Kananaskis Trail south out of Canmore is in some serious rough shape. It was hard not to go sideways. I had to go slow, but even then it felt like I was driving through a popcorn maker. Pupupupupupuputttt. Any longer and I would have been a fluffy snack! Fortunately the gravel road got better after awhile. Good thing, since The trails I selected are 35 km of mostly gravel road away.
So I'm going to laze out and steal info from the brochure. Buller Pass is categorized as a Strenuous Day Hike, perfect for a guy with a knee injury. (Need I point out, only the info is stolen, all commentary is the genuine article) The elevation gain is 670m. Much of which I achieved. I had to bail on the last bit despite a valiant effort. the brochure informs you that the last Km, "switchbacks up an extremely steep, rocky slope." I know pretty bold taking a direct quote. If the publishers catch me, I will gladly adjust my content according to all requests wrapped around Golden coins. Coins forfeit if letter fails to incorporate polite terminology like please and thank you.
Oh yeah, the braced bit. So, for the last eight months or something, I have had a lot of trouble with my knee. When I share this info, I often get asked why I don't wear a brace. I...don't...know. So, today, on the assumption that not ALL these people could be retards (I know, so politically incorrect. It's a personal blog, suck it up) I decided to actually look into getting one today. Yesterdays hike left me a little sore, and I knew I was up for a bigger challenge today. The pharmacy dept at Shoppers Drug Mart was very helpful. They helped me find the size I needed, were very patient with my try on process, and even showed me braces specific to my needs. Turns out when I tried to describe the injury, he know what I was talking about. Good thing, 'cause the one I bought fit under my pants better and cost half as much as the one I was originally checking out. It was actually listed at $75 bucks or something, but he thought that sounded high, so did some investigating and it only came to $50. Nice!
Gotta tell you. Wish I bought one a Long time ago. So to all of you who's advice I just shrugged off. You were Right...and I was wrong.
The hike.
The hike was beautiful. I actually took pictures, so I'm gonna skip the whole description of what stuff looked like. Good news for those of you who've Never seen trees, Mountains, sky, dirt..etc. So anybody left? Good news for you. A little on the experience you ask? Very well. Hiking Solo is a little intimidating for me. I know you are supposed to make noise because it is Bear country after all. Plus, if you do stumble upon aggressive wildlife on your own, No outrun your companion advantage. Point goes to you fish who swim in schools.
I began singing up the trail. Not so easy as breath rapidly becomes a valuable commodity. (I had to keep stopping for more) It feels a little foolish, but less foolish than being mauled cause you were too proud to sing. So songs I knew, Songs I made up [about trees mostly] and random talking to myself kept things pretty clear. I have to admit I was actually more nervous about wild life on the way down. On the way up I encountered some other hikers, but the last hour or so, nobody. Plus I was ending this hike at around 5:40 pm. Nobody starts a six hour hike too late in the day. I suspect I had that trail to myself for quite a while! Ok, for me it was a 5 hr hike, but I already admitted I didn't finish. I tried really hard, honest. I even took like 200 steps at a time, then turned around to sit, see how far I came, and wonder why I was working so hard to reach even thinner air. Eventually I Had to stop. I HAD to. The last time I sat down to stare over the valley, my vision was doing kind of a back and forth between shimmering and darkening. I was pretty sure if I exhausted my self out cold, it would be a bumpy ride down. I was having a pretty good go up that ,"extremely steep, rocky slope." (Yeah I did it again, eat it.)
What was I talking about? Oh yeah the animals. So on the way down, I was becoming increasingly aware that I could not count on other hiking parties to scare off the beasts for me. Plus, it turns out the descent goes somewhat quicker, so the possibility of sneaking up is ever increased. Despite a drying throat, (why I am so scared to have leftover water?) I was especially vigilant in my noise making. The little bridge to the highway could not have looked more beautiful. I headed straight across to my truck where I had plenty of sun warmed water waiting. Delicious!
Ok one more thing, the valley near the top was beautiful. I don't know if that will come out in pictures, but it felt so separated from the rest of the world. Especially since I had it to myself. Well, almost to myself. On the lower greener part below the snow line, there was a smattering of mountain varmints chirping away at me. I'm pretty sure it was their most threatening chirp too, but ventured on, undaunted, much to their furry little chagrin.
