CODY SHIMIZU

A look into my life, a journal to look back on, a blog for others to see.

Its a little late but here it is.

Once again we decided to go on a hiking trip, and once again it was planned pretty last minute. Well, not as bad as last time. After not being able to find a campsite in any of the National Parks we decided to stay in Canmore at the Wapiti campground, they usually have a lot of first come first serve sites and it's nice and close to the town. At first we planned to stay for 2 nights, but I convinced Jonathan to stay for an extra night since we had nothing to do the day after anyways. This time since we were camping rather than staying in a hostel there was a bit more planning to do; especially for food to keep the costs low.

On July 8th we left Edmonton by 6AM bright and early so we could get to the campsite as soon as possible. We were in Canmore by 10AM where we quickly got ourselves a campsite then left to do the first hike of our trip. As recommended by my friend Sidney we decided to hike EEOR (East End of Rundle). This is the mountain that sits in the background of Canmore and although Ive been going there for years didnt even know you could hike to the summit. We were both excited and eager to start hiking. As soon as we hit the trails we started off at a blazing pace, both of as panting up the mountain side. After about 30min to our hike we realized how long and steep this hike was going to be. As isolated as we felt it was nice to come by an occasional hiker just to reassure us that we were going the right way. Since this was both our first time doing a hike this extreme (scrambling) where the pitch was insanely steep that if we weren't careful, we`d literally slide down the mountain side. It was tough and challenging but the feeling once you get to the summit was incredible! With EEOR it was cool as there was the “real” peak where it was the highest point of the EEOR then there was the false peak where you could get an incredible view into the valley; above Canmore. After writing our names in the summit log and taking our fair share of IG goals we started descending. Now the way down there is a technique called scree running where you use the loose rocks to slide/walk down the steep pitches. As we are making our way down the first scree section right below the summit, Jonathans leg cramps up. From there it was a painful (for Jonathan) drag down to the bottom. By the time we got back to the car my feet were incredibly sore and both of us were completely beat. After we set up camp we quickly made our way to the Upper Banff Hot Springs to relax and prepare ourselves for the next days hike.

The next morning we woke up bright and early again to try and beat the crowds at Lake Louise, as we were planning to hike up to the summit of Mount Saint Piran that sits above Lake Agnes. Although we were there by 9am the Lake Louise parking lot was already packed, and we were told to head to the over flow 5 km away. Fortunately we were able to find parking in a small parking lot 1km away from Lake Louise hidden away. It was my first time back in Lake Louise in years so it was a bit nostalgic walking past the hotel and the lake side. But holy crap the crowds are crazy!! It was absolutely insane, with the lake side was lined with people taking their IG goals. Note to self never come here during the summer, come early or come late, do either never summer. As we started hiking the big groomed trail out of Lake Louise towards Lake Agnes the crowd had thinned out a little but it was still quite busy, it wasnt until the turn off towards little beehive that it we were finally away from other people. The climb up to Mt St Piran wasnt as nearly as intense as EEOR, it was a lot more of a reasonable pitch, with a ridiculous amount of switchbacks to the summit. After a few hours we finally made it to the top and the view was once again, spectacular. We could look down towards Lake Louise and the mountains that consist of the Valley of the Six Glaciers looked absolutely beautiful with their snow capped tops. On the way down we decided to hike down the other side of Mt St Piran which would put us on the far end of Lake Agnes. The descent was insane it was a much more steep pitch with lots of big loose rocks. Although the distance was much less than the ascent, it probably took us longer on the descent. Afterwards we were planning on chilling out at the tea house on Lake Agnes but the number of people was just too much we decided to quickly make our way down back to the car. Once again we made our way to the Banff Upper Hot Springs to chill out.

I was probably most excited for today as we were going to do a sunrise hike up EEOR. We were up by 1:30Am both still asleep in our heads we made the short drive to the trailhead for EEOR, we were surprised to see another group of hikers at the trailhead, apparently they were going to hike all the way to Banff traversing the summit of Mount Rundle; crazy. We left the parking lot by 2am, the lower half of the climb was going to plan, following the trails that our headlamps cut out of the darkness. It was fun climbing in the dark, everything was still nice and cool, comfortable just climbing in a tshirt. As we were ¾ of the way up preparing for our last push to the summit, we met back up with the hikers from earlier, we could see their headlamps further down the mountain but with their blistering pace they caught up to us. And from there we could see which routes they were taking up the mountain. It was a different route than the one we had done a few days ago. The one before took us up the south face up a scree section, but the route we were following in the morning was one that went up the spine on the west side of the mountain, we could see Canmore the entire way up, although there was a pretty big drop on either side of the ridge, the ground consisted of solid rocks which were easy enough to hike/climb up. And before we knew it we were at the summit. Now all we had to do was wait. As we sit there we could see a deep red line appearing over the mountains…. And that was it, the clouds rolled in and we could see a thunder cloud approaching us quickly, so unfortunately decided to quickly make our way off the summit. At one point the wind picked up quite a bit and the rain started really coming down which got us worried but thankfully the thunder clouds left as quickly as it came. We made ourselves back to the campground and got into bed to catch a few more Zzzz… at 8Am. Once we were fully (kinda) rested we headed to Johnston Canyon to look for and Instafamous cave. Since seeing a photo of this place posted on Instagram a few months ago Ive been completely obsessed with finding this place. Once again Johnston Canyon was like Lake Louise filled with a shit ton of people, combined with the ridiculously narrow walkways made for an slow walk. When we finally found the location I was extremely excited, and quickly made my way down the muddy bank into the cave. The only problem was the there were also lots of other people out insta hunting so it was hard for me to get a proper clear shot of the Canyon. It really was beautiful tho, actually being there to see it with my own eyes was incredible, and the nice photos are like a bonus. After taking the photo, we were both too beat to continue exploring Johnston Canyon so we decided to head back to camp, tonight we were planning to cook our steak, it was going to be a feast. Or so we thought; all the sudden as we have our steak atop the fire it started hailing, like the mother of all hailstorms it was absolutely insane. After hiding under a tree for like 20min we decided to make a run for it to the car grabbing the steaks on the way. By the time we made it into the car, both of us were completely drenched and the plate with our steaks in them had a pool of rainwater in there with it. Also we realized once in the car that the only cutlery we had were two knives and one spoon. It was an interesting dinner to say the least. The one upside was that we were still able to make it to the Banff Hot Springs afterwards to wind down.

The next day was our last day, we were supposed to be climbing Mt Yamnuska which was another hike highly recommended by my co workers and coach, from what I was hearing it sounded like an incredible hike, but the clouds were incredibly low, and it has been raining and still was raining all day long, visually it looked incredible but unfortunately it wasnt the weather to be hiking. After a quick breakfast in Canmore we decided that since we were tired anyways we would go and hang out at Calgary for the day. We really didnt do much there, we walked around and explored the downtown area, after a quick lunch at Dumpling Lab, which was delicious by the way. We made our way back to Edmonton.

It was an awesome trip, getting to experience scrambling, and summiting the mountain for the first time.