When first moving to Canada back in 2012, I remember asking a friend what hikes I could safety do without having to worry about possible bear encounters. In hindsight, that is a pretty naive question - there are bears here in Alberta, and whilst you are unlikely to see them every time you set foot on a mountain trail, there is still a possibility that you could see a bear any time, any where. Of course, I was a newbie back then, and two hikes were recommended due to being popular - Prairie Mountain and Moose Mountain. The former is a short but steep hike, the other - Moose Mountain - is longer and more drawn out. Since that day, I have ascended both mountains more than once, and whilst the possibility of a bear encounter is still there, I'm not quite as anxious about it as I used to be.
Living in Leduc, it's not quite as easy to do regular ascents of these two mountains like I used to do when living in Calgary, and nowadays, I have to plan ahead rather than just heading up there on a whim.
Back in August, one of my good friends was running the Iron Legs 50- miler, another race that I've done in the past. Whilst I wasn't racing it this year, I had put my name down to volunteer at the race on the Saturday evening, and we decided to make a weekend of it, reserving a camping spot for two nights at the Gooseberry Campground in Kananaskis. My shift wasn't due to start until later on the Saturday, so I had pretty much a full day for doing other things.
With being there with Andy and the dogs, I wanted to make sure they had stuff to do too, and I couldn't decide whether to hike Prairie Mountain with the girls whilst Andy stayed with Wilson, or whether to head up Moose on my own, leaving Andy with the three dogs. I always feel guilty when I don't go things with the family, even though I know Wilson is unable to hike mountains anymore. I'd made the decision to take Tillie and April up Prairie, but when the weather turned hot and sunny with temperatures close to 30 degrees, I knew that wouldn't be fair on the girls, especially when there's no water up there. And so it was that I ended up heading to Moose Mountain, with the intention of making it to the summit for the first time in about 10 years.
I've never been to the topmost Moose with any of the dogs, although I have made it to the switchbacks and the false summit with all of them. The route towards the top is terribly rocky, and given that our dogs aren't used to that kind of terrain on a regular basis, their paws aren't tough enough to handle it, and I'm sure they would end up sore, raw, and cut up from the rocks. Wilson used to do mountains with me all the time and we tried a couple of years ago to summit Moose, but thunderstorms were rolling in, and you definitely don't want to be up there in a storm!
Anyways, Andy drove me to the upper parking lot as I didn't have time to run the dirt road too - this would make the run around 15km rather than 30+, and there would be far less elevation. I was sad that I wasn't able to complete a hike with the pups, but I was so happy that after all this time, I was back on Moose where even after all this time, the trail felt very familiar to me.
I wasn't sure how long the run would take me, but I reckoned on no longer than 3 hours. Andy was going to walk the dogs for a short while along the dirt road, and then wait for me up there rather than heading back to the campground.
I was surprised at how quiet it was for a Saturday morning and was expecting things to be far busier than they were. Only a handful of cars on the parking lot meant we had little trouble parking, and then when hitting the trail, I had the first couple of miles to myself. Running along those trails brought back fond memories, not only of hikes with the pups in their younger years, but also from the two times I had myself raced the Iron Legs 50-miler. The rocky dip was still as steep and technical as I remembered, and having passed Moose Packers Junction, it was a pleasant and cool run through the forests as the trail gradually climbed.
I hadn't seen anybody for a good half hour or so, and I was enjoying the peace and quiet, the sounds of the birds singing and the squirrels chattering in the trees. All the tension of work and life in general started to ease, and I was loving every step. I overtook a few hikers shortly afterwards, and as I emerged from the trees and found myself above the tree line, the expansive meadow was awash with wildflowers, whilst the scree covered switchbacks loomed ahead, the real summit of Moose Mountain not yet quite visible from my current location.
It was quite breezy in the open, but it was still a warm day, although the sun was obscured by the smoke in the air. i hadn't really noticed how bad the smoke was, but from up here, the surrounding mountains were covered in a dull haze and whilst the views were still there, they weren't quite as dramatic as normal. I didn't mind. I was still in the mountains and was moving well, and I overtook a few more hikers as I made my way up the switchbacks. They weren't quite as steep nor long as I remembered and I made good progress before reach the plateau that took me to the false summit. I started to run here again, although it was quite rocky and I had to watch my step to avoid tripping over rocks or indeed my own feet. I could now see the lookout building on the real summit, and I knew that I would shortly make it to the top for the first time in a good few years.
That last 400m push to the real summit had my legs wobbling a little bit. It's not exactly on a cliff edge or anything silly, but it was so dry and dusty up there, some sections were just slippery with being so dry, and I found myself slipping a little bit, unable to grip with my shoes. Falling here would result in some cuts and bruises as it is terribly rocky, but I thankfully made it up without too many problems. I met a couple of people heading down, some of them moving very slowly and clearly frightened or apprehensive, but they were moving and not just frozen to the spot, so that was at least a good thing.
When I finally reached the summit of Moose Mountain, I had it all to myself. The views were splendid despite the smokey haze, and the breeze was cooling but not cold, which helped to cool me down after sweating on the climb up. I took a few photos, had something to eat, then started to make my way back down to Andy.
Heading down is always a little sketchy, and I was cautiously making my way back down those rocky, dusty, steep sections with tiny steps. As soon as I hit the switchbacks though, it was all systems go, and I felt so strong and happy as I made my way back down the mountainside. Far more people were not heading up, whether due to the race or not I don't know, and I was kind of glad I'd headed out when I did to avoid most of the crowds.
I was moving smoothly through the forest, tripping occasionally on unseen tree roots and rocks, but I was in my happy place and feeling a sense of achievement. At one point, I bumped into a couple of chaps heading up the trail and it was none other than Wayne Gaudet who I had ran with on the national team at the World 24 hour championships last year. He was with the chap who had broken tons of 70+ age group records at Survivorfest this year, and we had a good chat for at least 10 or 15 minutes.
Arriving back at Moose Packers, the race aid station was now set up and there were volunteers, crew and racers passing through. It was certainly far more busy and I had a small case of FOMO - I do love Iron Legs! But I pressed on, knowing that I wasn't too far from ending my run, and being able to spend the rest of the afternoon with Andy and the pups, before heading off to Paddys Flats to do my volunteer shift at the race.
It had been a wonderful couple of hours on Moose Mountain, and I was very happy to have been up there after such a long time. I felt bad that I hadn't done a hike with the pups, but it would have been much too far for Wilson, and the rocky terrain would have cut up Tillie and April's paws and I wasn't prepared to put them through that.
Instead, we spend the next couple of hours chilling out at the campground, having snuggles, and then having a paddle in the river. The dogs loved it, we loved it, and it finished off a perfect day.
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