Calgary

I’m very much a type A personality planner, but every now and then I love going on a spontaneously planned trip. Carolyn and I seem to have gotten in the habit of taking an impulsive Fall getaway every other year (which has included a half marathon in Vegas and an impromptu trip to see a cancelled Harry Styles concert in LA). This year we set our sights a little closer to home and decided to make a quick trip out to the Rocky Mountains.

We booked a flight to Calgary two weeks before the trip, which was honestly a little more expensive than we would have liked, but we got a really good deal on the car rental and hotels. Canada needs more competition in the airline industry and a few new companies have been popping up over the years. We flew Flair, so our base fare was pretty reasonable, but they really gouge you on baggage fees. To save money, we paid for one full size carry-on between us and each took a personal item. It was a bit of a struggle, but my 34L Gossamer Gear backpack is able to fit in the personal item sizer, so I’ll definitely be taking advantage of that in the future to save money!

We made it to Calgary and after an argument at the rental agency, picked up our rental car. The company tried to force us to rent an AWD SUV when they learned we were driving to Canmore. It’s a good practice to have winter tires or minimum mud and snow tires for winter driving, but they’re not strictly required on Highway 1 to Banff (but if you’re going beyond Lake Louise, you do need them). They were adamant we had to have AWD and we continually declined. It’s a tactic I’m sure they use (successfully) on a lot of tourists to make extra money. In this case, they were sold out of the economy car we had booked and were trying to force us to pay for the AWD SUV they were going to give us anyway (with mud and snow tires). So we ended up with it at no extra charge through sheer force of will. But I thought the whole charging strategy was really scummy and the agent was pretty rude when we weren’t co-operative, so I’m definitely calling out Enterprise!

After a quick sleep at the Super 8 airport hotel, we were up early to drive to Canmore. I have a few friends that live in Calgary and we planned to meet them at Lake Minnewanka for a hike. The weather forecast looked great and was primarily sun and clouds with no precipitation, but it was really overcast and it started raining just before we got to the parking lot. The rain quickly turned to a wet snow, which wasn’t super appealing. Our friends blamed us for bringing the poor weather from “raincouver”, but I think they were just exaggerating how it’s “always sunny in Calgary” – sounds like Alberta propaganda to me!

It wasn’t the best conditions by a long shot and the clouds were really low, obscuring the view, but we went on the hike anyway. It became less about the views and more about catching up with friends. Plus, I finally got to meet my internet friend, Kristine, for the first time and the trip somehow ended with her convincing me to go on another trip with her later this year!

The snow was definitely nicer than the rain, but it made for a cold hike! We were aiming to stop for lunch at a campground, but eventually we’d had enough of the wet, cold weather, and pulled into the woods for a lunch break. After that we turned around to return to the parking lot, tracking ~8km in total.

But we wouldn’t be deterred by a bit of wet weather! We drove to Canmore and stopped in a café for hot drinks and snacks, before heading to our hotel to take advantage of the hot tub! We had a nice soak before saying goodbye to our friends, who returned to Calgary. Me and Carolyn decided to go for a nice meal at Fergus & Bix, which was easily the highlight of the trip food-wise! We had to make the most of having access to Alberta’s famous beef, so I had the most delicious blue cheese burger and Carolyn had a steak salad.

While we mostly had hiking in mind when we booked this trip, both of us were in need of a good break, so we decided to take it easy on our second day. We slept in and then walked into town for brunch, before going for a walk along the Bow River. It was a gorgeous blue sky, sunny day, though quite crisp. We had a nice long walk and spent the afternoon shopping around town. I managed to show some self restraint in Café Books, which is a great little indie bookshop, but my resolve completely crumpled in Canmore Tea Co. I’m a pretty big tea enthusiast and try to get most of my teas from local shops. Canmore and Banff Tea Co are both great and have several teas that I absolutely love! So I stocked up on my favourites and then picked out a few new ones to try. Carolyn assisted me by holding all my purchases while loudly proclaiming how crazy I was for spending so much money on tea.

Before it got dark, we decided to go for a little drive around town to some shorter viewpoints. We walked out to the Three Sisters Viewpoint, which has a great view of the iconic trio that Canmore is known for (the little, middle, and big sister mountains). We continued our drive up Spray Lakes Road to take some photos of Rundle and Ha Ling Peak, before returning to town for dinner. We ended up eating supper at Tavern 1883, which was really tasty, but definitely more pub vibes. But nothing that couldn’t be remedied with another trip to the hotel hot tub!

On our final day, we pretty much just returned to Calgary to get a noon flight back to Vancouver. So overall, it was a very short trip and it seemed like we didn’t do a whole lot, but I really enjoyed just kicking back and spending some time with Carolyn. It was nice not having a big itinerary planned and we pretty much did whatever we felt like. I’ve been to Canmore many times, but it was Carolyn’s first time, so we did a lot of the classic touristy things. Our friends recommended a lot of other great hikes to us, but given that we’d never even seen a lot of the viewpoints before, we were happy to take it easy. I love spending time in the Rocky Mountains and this was the only trip I made there in 2024, so I’m glad we were able to fit in a little getaway!

After a somewhat disappointing start to the summer (where I wrecked my foot on the HBC Trail), I had a very eventful end of the season. My friends got married outside of Calgary at the end of August, so I decided to turn it into a 2 week holiday to the Rocky Mountains! I lived in Vancouver for 6 years before I finally visited the Rockies during Covid in 2020. Since then, I’ve been back every year and I love exploring around all the National Parks!

To start off the trip, I caught up with some friends living in Calgary and we went day hiking in Kananaskis. I haven’t spent much time in this area except for starting my Assiniboine hike at Mount Shark. The trail my friend Craig picked for the day was Tent Ridge, which actually starts very close to the Mount Shark trailhead, but is a very different kind of hike. It’s approximately a 2 hour drive from Calgary or a 1 hour drive from Canmore. You can get there in any kind of vehicle, but it is partially gravel road and quite dusty (but in good condition).

Tent Ridge is a fairly modest hike at only 10km total distance, but don’t underestimate it! Although we parked at the wrong trailhead and added an extra 2km to our hike (drive past the first turnoff for about 1km and there’s a lot). Throughout the trail there is ~850m in elevation gain and a fair bit of scrambling. If you’re afraid of heights, this is definitely not the hike for you. We encountered a few people on our way up that had decided to turn around because the scrambling was too intense for them.

Describing a hike as a “scramble” basically means that there are some exposed sections where you may need to do a bit of light climbing with your hands, or where the trail is not super obvious through some sections. I’m not really a big scrambler, but overall I felt good on Tent Ridge. There is one section early into the ascent where I had to use my hands to climb and that was probably the sketchiest section, after that it’s not too bad, except maybe for one spot along the ridge on the other side that is quite steep with some loose rock, so I did this part in a low crouch in case I had a slip. But personally, I found that the scrambling at Tent Ridge generally looked scarier than it was. The one climbing section looked a bit intimidating at first, but up close I felt safe the entire time.

The main thing to be aware of at Tent Ridge is the direction of your hike. My favourite part of this trail is that it’s a loop hike, so you’re always looking at new terrain, but it’s a lot easier to go clockwise. The climbing sections are all done uphill when you go clockwise, which is generally a lot safer, so if you decide to visit, definitely start in this direction. I also generally think that clockwise is the more scenic direction as well, because on the descent, you get to look out towards Spray Lakes reservoir, which is incredibly scenic and I would hate to have my back to it on the way up.

My group had 3 hikers and it took us ~5.5 hours to do the entire hike with breaks. We weren’t rushing, but we weren’t going that slow either. You do a decent amount of elevation gain in the trees at the start, and then the rest is done in 2 ascents along the ridge. The first ascent takes you up to a small emergency shelter and is the largest climb, after which you drop down through a pass for a smaller ascent up to the second peak. After that, it’s all ridge walking and pretty much the entire trail has phenomenal views.

We stopped a lot to take photos, so that definitely slowed us down. Craig takes some of the most beautiful pictures and all the shots of me that I share in this blog were taken by him. Our friend Alex was in much better shape than the two of us and always well ahead while we were ogling the landscape, so it’s a very enjoyable hike and I had the best time soaking in the views.

It can be a bit cold from the wind up on the ridge, so bring extra layers with you. I also really recommend trekking poles. It’s a steep descent when you come down and poles helped a lot with balancing. Just make sure to secure your poles to your pack when you need your hands for climbing as it’s a lot safer that way.

Overall it’s a pretty short trail report – the trail is in great shape – so I’ll let the photos speak for themselves. We concluded our hike with a stop in Cochrane on the way back for some delicious ice cream from MacKay’s Ice Cream, which we all highly recommend!!

The Road Goes Ever On

Canadian Outdoor Adventure and Travel Blog

A Weekend in Canmore

Hiking Tent Ridge