Gelene

“Hey do you know if I can get in?” I asked one of my brothers.

“Like? To come here? You’re not supposed to.” he replied.

I was aiming for Vancouver because hiking there is so much more dynamic and I really want to spend more time with my brothers but BC wasn’t accepting people.

“I know… and I totally understand where they’re coming from. But these lockdowns are starting to take a toll on my mental health. Guess I’ll go to Calgary.” I said

My brother who disagrees with me traveling for leisure (but also understanding my reason while acknowledging that I understand where he’s coming from as well) goes on a rant about counterproductive measures that don’t make sense.

I listened. He brought up some very good points.

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I booked things starting with the AirBnB.

This trip was very last minute and I wanted to be more equipped. It was rather finicky because so many things I needed weren’t going to ship in time but since I wouldn’t be able to bring bear mace in the plane anyway, I decided to just get that when I arrive.

“Do you have bear mace in the house, left by other guests by any chance?
The reason that I ask is because I will be purchasing one when I get there but I will have to leave it in the unit as it’s not allowed in flights.” I asked the landlord.

“Sorry, no guest left one here.” he replied.

“OK. Well I guess I’ll be the first one to leave one. I’ll ask you where to put it when I’m about to go. Then maybe you can put it as included in the rental for hikers. lol”

“Okay. If it’s not used, I would like to pay it. Thanks for your suggestion!”

“If it’s not used” echoed in my head… like who the fuck goes out there anticipating they’re going to use their emergency/safety devices?

It prompted me to watch a bunch of wildlife encounter videos, which freaked me out… but it’s better to know.

I got a pair of walking sticks too. I wasn’t sure which one to get because… well, you know how it is, “This one has adjustable flip-lock for convenience. This one has a cork handle for less slipping. The handle on this one can convert into a microphone for some reason. This one has a button for launching one of Elon Musk’s spaceship etc etc.” 😵

I figure I should start out with a basic one which you need to twist to adjust the height. Having said that, I learned that I might want the flip-adjust better. The terrains out here are nowhere near as rugged as BC’s so I only had to adjust a couple times within the same trail. But if you hike out in trails where you have to climb, crawl etc, you’d want easily adjustable ones.

I don’t regret it though. My mom lightly hikes so I’ll probably just give it to her when the time comes.

All of the gaiters that I had my eye on weren’t going to ship in time so I got a so-so one. I got a bigger one thinking that it might be safer to do so because I can just tighten it… nope. There wasn’t enough velcro space for me to pull it so it was a little baggy. During my hikes, I kept needing to adjust. It got hooked on to my crampons at one point. Super annoying… but I got them spiked, heavy-duty crampons now!

It worked great! I loved it! 😊

My shoes were alright. I got them a couple years ago when I intended to climb La Malinche but the booking agent I was talking to was only doing it with pairs and my friend backed out. I’ve only been able to use these shoes on summer/fall/spring Ontario hikes. Again, for Banff/Alberta, it was good enough as the terrains aren’t quite like the ones in BC (more rugged and diverse).

The main challenge in Calgary/surrounding parks is the ascent, really… and my cardio has been garbage as of late. I used to do elliptical or stairmasters in the gym multiples times/week, regularly.

Last year, when I went to Cambodia, I went up 3-5 temples in a day for 3 consecutive days, under very hot and humid weather, with no problems. I can definitely feel the deterioration. It sucks. When things open back up, I’m definitely gonna suck… try not to take it against yourself either if you do. It’s hard for everyone.

I tried running but I have back problems and that causes some impact so no dice. The cardio I’ve been doing lately have just been stationery exercises which is better than nothing but nowhere near as good (sidenote: Darebee.com – free resource for at-home workouts).

Having said that, I was recently educated on optimal cool down to increase stamina (ey! If you’re reading this, you know who you are! Thanks for sharing! Much appreciated! 😊)… apparently we lose and absorb heat the most on three parts of our bodies: face, palms, soles of our feet… and it made me look back on my non-waterproof gloves winter hikes where, on average, I was able to ascend 600m within less than 2 hours with only about 3 breaks.

Makes sense… you’re all heat underneath but your palms and your face are exposed to the cold… so, in a sense, winter hikes are actually better… the only drawback for me is my asthma and eczema as Calgary’s is really low on humidity (got scaly eczema spots on my hands within the first day. Last time it was on the side of my head. My nose bled a couple times too. I hate being sensitive to these things). The advantage to low humidity though is that hiking in -17°C/1.4°F is super doable… I still can’t believe I did that… but it’s actually quite fun.

I would do it again.

Powderface East Ridge (H̶i̶k̶i̶n̶g̶ Fail)

I booked a flight that was scheduled to arrive in Calgary at around 9am. I didn’t want to waste any time. I wanted to go hiking. Pronto.

So, I got off and picked up the car rental, which I was adamant on an AWD this time even though the owner was like, “There’s no snow. Chill.” lol. I was told by a couple clients that there are spots in the mountains that are always snowing and I was under the impression that the roads will be one of them but I found out it wasn’t the case. After which, I went straight to Canadian Tire (bear mace, holster, belt for the holster even though I hate wearing belts), checked in the AirBnB, got the Flare satellite add-on rental (it syncs with your phone via bluetooth and you have unlimited text messaging + you can easily message your location in the case of emergencies), went straight to the trail.

By the time I got there it was already around 3pm-ish. The latter half of the road, on the way to the trail, was closed though there were a lot of people around.

I specifically chose “Heavily trafficked” trails since given the pandemic, “heavily” trafficked trails are moderately trafficked, “Moderately trafficked” trails are lightly trafficked, and lightly trafficked trails have almost no one around. I love being alone in nature but since all these lockdowns, we’ve had more wildlife has been thriving, which is great and I love it, but not when you’re hiking alone and you come across predators.

But I got so excited that I forgot to eat so I was essentially on a protein bar diet that day… and I also forgot to unpack my frickin’ bear mace… and you can’t outrun nor Krav Maga that shit so I backed out.

I was pretty annoyed at the situation… and myself… but… how can I stay mad at me when I came here ☺️

Sundance Canyon Trail (Hiking)

I decided to do an easy trail the next day with intentions on doing a moderate or a harder one afterwards.

This was mostly flat and paved, which was kind of disappointing to trek but the views were still pretty spectacular.

Having said that, there actually came a more interesting part towards the end — it had a higher elevation with combinations of rocks, soil, snow, and water that I had to get around which are some of my favourites.

Devil’s Thumb via Lake Agnes Trail (H̶i̶k̶i̶n̶g̶ Fail)

I intended on doing 2 trails/day: an easy one then a hard or moderate one or two moderate ones… which I realized, later on, was a little too ambitious.

I may have actually been able to complete this trail one the same day if it weren’t for the excessive-chlorine-filled tap water I filled my containers with. It eventually gave me a headache halfway which prompted me to turn back.
“I can go tomorrow,” I thought.
I’m not as anal as my first trip. Back then I was very, “I’m going to the top come hell or high water fuck everyone and everything.” lol
I still aimed to get to the peaks but, this time around, I valued smelling the roses just as much 🥰

I still went back the next day as I had promised myself…

I didn’t actually end finishing the trail either. The trail to Lake Agnes is its own and we have the option to keep going all the way to the top. Right around the mark where the washroom is, I couldn’t find the rest of the trail.

I actually came across a couple – around the washroom mark – who was trying to do the same thing but they couldn’t find the trail either. They told me that they tried going North but it doesn’t look like the trail. They were right but the other way around had nothing on it: it was all snow and/or melting ice from the lake.

The couple decided to check out what’s right by the lake once more (where the trail is supposed to be) and I decided to head North and see if I can find some sort of path in the bushes or something (I honestly don’t know what I was thinking nor even expecting but hey man if it’s a dead end one way, then we gotta look at alternatives and make it work).

I found out later that the trail I took was its own, called the “Little Beehive Trail.” The rest of the trail was just covered in snow. I still could’ve gone but it would’ve been significantly cumbersome to continue… and well, again, I’m not really complaining… and I came across a group of British and Irish hikers who I chatted and kinda hung out with. They found an awesome spot and started drinking.
“You’re quite brave doing this on your own,” the Brit said.
“Eh. It’s supposedly a heavily trafficked trail and I’m not completely alone. Plus I have bear mace.” I replied.
“Yeah, we saw bear paw prints on our way here.”
“You sure it’s bears, not dogs?”
“Yeah. The telltale was the claws,” he replied.
“Oh. Well that sucks… but I have bear mace.”
“Yeah we have one too… but he (points to one of his friends) left it in the car. Can you believe it? I’ll leave him as a friend. Or maybe throw him out to the bear if it comes,” he jokes.
“Yeah, that’s not a bad idea.”
Good folk.

They continued on their way. I took my time as I also wanted to test out the walking sticks, which I realized, were most useful for the descent on this trail.

Going a on a steep downhill using the walking sticks are actually pretty amazing for strengthening your grip and forearm muscles. As a tattoo artist, I could really use those muscles so I took full advantage. I got one of those grip strength trainer things but this is way more fun.

Sulphur Mountain (Hiking)

I took the gondola to this mountain last time but I found that there’s a hiking trail so I decided to hike it this time.

It was Saturday at this point, which was my 4th day. The night before, I was thinking about making this a rest day and maybe hiking it on Sunday very early morning then make it on time for my flight.
But I woke up that morning with a desire in my heart to go albeit my legs feeling kind of limp, “I’ll just be slow and take my time. Should be OK.”

Ah… well, going up should only take about 2 hours whereas it took me 3. I was super slow. I just kinda let people pass by me (it’s not a competition) and I realized that I had been focusing more on quantity instead of quality.
The quality of this hike was low for me because I didn’t have enough rest, on top of my deteriorated cardio.

I don’t regret coming here… but I regret not resting. If I had been better rested with fuller recovery, I would’ve been able to do the 2 hours… now I know.

In any case, it was pretty unreal seeing the gondolas come up and down while you trek the mountain yourself.

The view on top was amazing.

My legs were screaming by the time I got up. “Fuck this. I want a burger,” and the quickest way to that burger was the gondola… gondola on the way down it is.

The next day, I intended on doing 2 very short, very easy hikes… but guess who locked her keys in the car rental and had to call service, which took 3 hours to arrive?

I was already telling myself that I really need to rest the next day but I was being stubborn… it’s funny ’cause when things don’t usually go as planned, I tend to go on episodes of ranting and get pissy before I finally come into acceptance (stages of grief)… but somehow, as soon as I closed the trunk and realized that I had left my keys in there (was organizing/prepping equipment), I accepted the situation right away… most likely because, deep-down, I knew that I should be resting.

I just kinda chilled out while I waited. Once the service arrived, I decided to look for things to eat in Calgary. I was starving.

For those of you that know me – terribly sorry as I will be at it again (friends have been very, “OMG here she goes again about her keto or low carb 🙄” lol)… but yes, I went back to keto because I haven’t been as active and, quite frankly, I haven’t been eating much as of late because I haven’t been needing that much fuel.

I found an amazing cafe that sells keto desserts 😋

Leanbacks by Wisk (Food)

I loved what he said about process. In the beginning of course we root for the end goal or sometimes we discover something by accident with the process only being secondary but refinement of the objectives can only be attained when we become more mindful.

We obviously have to keep caring about the bottom line but if it’s longstanding and the process is not maturing or half-assed… you’re essentially not letting whatever-you’re-doing evolve.. the process is where the art, heart, life begin to nurture and enhance the end goal.

“This is amazing! Please open up a branch in Toronto!”

He sighed, “Would love to but Toronto’s a mess right now.”

“Yeah, I hear ya.” (Covid)

They’re located at 1314B 9 Ave SE, Calgary in case you wanna check them out… I encourage you to check them out even if you’re not in the whole low carb/keto thing. Their stuff is delicious.

After which, I ate a proper meal because I do desserts before that, apparently. I got a car wash, returned the car and flew back home.

I’ll be back… to be continued…