Canada Day: Moose Mountain Adventure in Pics!

On Sunday, Crystal texted me to see what I was up to...I had just finished Rundles Revenge, it had been a VERY long day and was in a bit of a pout...I was on my way to bed ... talk to you tomorrow. Turns out she was hatching a plan for Canada Day. "Want to climb a mountain," she asked. Ummm, I am not so sure about that, given my Sunday race. I responded, "Lemme think about it". She poked me a bit - cajoled me (as if I needed her to twist my arm). I said YES! Lets get out there. A hike will be great...I need to watch my ankle, but yeh let's go!

So off we drove  - me from Calgary, Crystal from Red Deer to meet up in West Bragg Creek parking lot. To do some of/part of/all of Moose Mountain. We will take it easy and enjoy the miles and celebrate Canada Day on Moose Mountain. YASSSS!!!

We start out nice and easy...its a climb, but nice track. And for the first several kilometres, there is no one around us. The logging roads are not near as popular - yet they are pretty damn awesome! Apparently most folks drive more than halfway up the mountain to start to make it an easier trek. HA! not us!!! (Cause we RAWK).

It is a cooler day - glad we both brought jackets...we spend the first 10km putting on and taking off jackets at different times. We stop to take some awesome pics - so glad Crystal brought her flag!

As we got closer to the Summit we saw more peeps, and took some more awesome photos. It was a real amazing way to celebrate. And everyone was so happy. We shared the flag with several folks who also snapped some photos. And man...it was getting windy the further up we got!

 When we summited Moose Mountain we were both starving!

We ate our Gorp Bars (which are huge and on my longest run I have never eaten a whole one) - and then some... all of our snacks...INHALED! Seriously I have trouble eating ONE Gorp Bar - We inhaled 3 between the two of us. They are super yummy if you are wanting to try a new energy bar!But then Moose Mountain IS a return distance of 30km - with a 2200 metre elevation gain. So we should be hungry. Thankfully what goes up, must come down. But first some awesome shots!

There was a lotta joy up on the Mountain! It was GLORIOUS up there!

We were getting very cold, so it was time to head down and start the trek back.

These pics do not show all the rocks that are up on the higher part of the mountain...but we had some fun transversing down, to be sure. It was nice to hit the meadow again and we were stoked when we knew we were "getting close"

 And then this dude scared the crap out of us!

And when we were done we soaked in a nearby creek while eating THE BEST sandwiches.

Perhaps they might not have been the best ever...but we were so hungry we chowed down while soaking our feet and feeling rather AWESOME! Then went for a coffee (and ate a couple cookies) before each heading home. SOOO wrth the drive. Can't wait to get out there again!

Thank you Crystal for one of the BEST Canada Day celebrations I have had in AGES!! 

And in the end, I was so tired I fell asleep by 10 and missed all the awesome fireworks!! 

Check out Crystal's recap of our adventure HERE!