Hiking: Burstall Pass

John's friend Colin called us on Friday and asked if we wanted to join him for a short hike on the weekend. We knew we wanted to get back into hiking at some point and this seemed like a great opportunity to get started. So we went to MEC the next day and picked up a backpack to carry Meredith in and tried it out at Nose Hill Park that afternoon.

We had planned on doing the Chester Lake hike in Kananaskis (10 km round trip) but when we got there we found out it was closed due to bear activity in the area. So we went across the road and attempted Burstall Pass (16 km round trip). It was much farther than I wanted to go considering it was the kids' first hike and considering I've pretty much done no exercise in the past 6 months. We ended up not making it all the way to the pass and instead had lunch in a pretty meadow in the valley.

The girls did great. Charlotte slept almost the entire time and Meredith was very animated. She kept telling John "no fall Daddy!" after the first time he slipped on the trail, and she kept the wild animals away with her renditions of Old MacDonald's Farm. We're planning on going again when John's sister comes later this week and hopefully a few more times before the summer ends.
...

Mom and Charlotte crossing a stream on the outwash plain

Merrie in her backpack

Having lunch in the meadow

Merrie was all about the trail mix

Charlotte and Mom

Sleepy head :)