Biking Highwood Pass x 2

This weekends Canadian adventure was something a little different, biking Highway 40, Canada's highest paved road. Highway 40 is closed every winter to allow a free migration route for the various critters, this weekend marked the last weekend before it was reopened to cars. While it is not a long ride, just 38 km, the trip to the pass is an over 500 m gain. On Saturday Aleisha and I headed out and set a rather leisurely pace. The scenery was amazing and we even managed to spot a Black bear and cub.
For some reason I decided that once wasn't enough, so on Sunday I did the trip again but this time with Karl (not my bro but a friend from work). The pace was a little quicker but the ride was just as good. On the way up we spotted a Grizzly on the side of the road, thankfully he was happily munching on Dandelions and didn't pay much attention to us.

The slow climb

Aleisha enjoying biking

The Mountain Bike rack on the pass

The trip down was the best part

Karl and myself at the pass

Yamnuska

On Saturday we had our first true Canadian hike and it was a good one. A lot of the peaks still have snow on them so we are limited to the front range for a few more weeks. On the plus side the front range is a short 30 min drive from our front door. Saturdays peak was Yamnuska, which translates to Wall of Stone, when you see it the name seems fitting. The hike was a bit of a scramble in sections with a few interesting points and the ~800m gain was a little tiring. The trip down was a little quicker as we descended down a massive scree slope. Unfortunately one of the group took a pretty big fall after gaining too much speed down the scree, luckily there were no broken bones, just wounded pride.

Yamnuska 2240m, thats 12m higher than Mount Kosciusko and without the chairlift.

Looking over the edge of the main wall.

Aleisha and the view from the 3/4 point.

In Canada this is called scrambling, its so much more exciting than walking down a fire trail in the Blue Mountains.