Michael and I went to Canmore last weekend, and it was such a much-needed getaway. For most of this pandemic I’ve been feeling pretty alright. I’m a bit of a home-body anyways, and I have enough hobbies to keep myself occupied at home. But lately I’ve definitely been feeling a bit of cabin fever, so it was nice to get away to the mountains for a couple days!
We hit Tim Horton’s on our way out of the city, because if your road trip doesn’t start with Tim Horton’s, is it even really a road trip? Thankfully Baxter is really chill in the car, he usually just sleeps the whole time. I’m not going to lie, I was a bit worried we’d find out he gets car sick since this was the longest car ride he’ll have been on, but there were no issues!
We had time to kill before we could go to our Airbnb, so when we got to Canmore we just went for a short walk to stretch our legs. Baxter thoroughly enjoyed it, and even dipped his toes in the water for the first time!
We were a bit tired from our travel day – how does sitting in a car, especially as the passenger, tire us out so much? We weren’t feeling up for any hikes on day one, so we just took Baxter for another walk down a paved trail by our Airbnb. We kept seeing these little bunnies everywhere in Canmore! They look like ones you’d see in a pet store rather than out in the wild. Baxter saw one of them and sat down to observe for a minute – luckily he didn’t try to chase it.
On our second day in Canmore we decided to go for a hike to Troll Falls. When we got there, we were informed that there has been a bear spotted in the area recently, so we were given plenty of tips to keep ourselves safe during our hike. They also explained that there are three routes we can take, and they all meet up at one point, so whichever route we took would eventually lead us to Troll Falls. There was a middle path that was out in the wide open, the Troll Falls path, and the other path I believe would take you somewhere you could see eagles. The guide who was speaking to us recommended the eagle path, so we decided to embark on that one.
We quickly regretted it.
It was clear that nobody else we saw in the area chose to go down this path, and it felt incredibly eerie. Shortly after we started our hike, I remembered I had a couple granola bars in my backpack. I was so paranoid, I kept looking around expecting to see a bear stalking us, following the scent of my raspberry Nutri-Grains.
We didn’t venture too far into the trees before we decided that we wouldn’t be able to enjoy the hike if we were so on edge, so we decided to turn around and take the middle path that was out in the open. Once we joined up with the Troll Falls path, there were a lot more people around, and we felt more confident. We followed the path to the Upper Falls first, which was absolutely beautiful. There were some steep inclines to get up there, but it was so worth it.
When we got to the top, we saw families sitting around with full-blown picnic lunches, so I felt a bit foolish for being so worried about my granola bars.
We hung out at the top for a breather, taking pictures and rehydrating a bit too. On the way back down, we stopped at the actual Troll Falls, and took some photos there as well. We weren’t worried about bumping into a bear anymore, so we walked the Troll Falls route back to our car. It was so much nicer to walk through the forest, and the views were way better than when we walked down the wide open gravel path before.
I was so proud of Baxter, too! It was his first ever hike, and I wasn’t sure if he’d be able to do the whole thing. I thought that at the very least he’d want to take breaks and just sit for a minute, but I think he was too excited about all the new things to smell to want to stop!
We didn’t want to do another proper hike that day because I felt like it would be too much for Baxter. Instead, we went for an easy walk across Engine Bridge. The views were still absolutely breathtaking – I spent a lot of time in Canmore wondering if people who grew up there don’t think all this scenery is a big deal? If you grew up surrounded by it every day, is it something you just wouldn’t care about as much? I can’t imagine not being amazed by the views!
Engine Bridge crosses Bow River, which is so blue. We walked past a dam, and then down to a bit of shore where nobody else was. Baxter was testing the water by just getting his feet wet, but then when Michael walked in Baxter followed! I wasn’t expecting it at all, and I don’t think he was either – he was walking along the water’s edge and then suddenly just burst into a sprint into the water. Once he was up to his stomach in the water, he just kind of stood there and looked like he regretted it haha! We couldn’t stop laughing at his little chicken legs after he got out of the water.
That evening we got to bring Baxter to a patio for dinner for the first time. He had settled for a bit, but then a table across from us also had two dogs. One of them was just a puppy, too. Baxter spent a bit of time talking to them AKA barking at them, but generally was fine!
Before coming back home, Michael suggested we do a hike at Jura Creek. It turned out to be a bit more intense than we anticipated, though. There were some large rocks we had to climb, which was actually kind of fun. There’s also some shallow water that you could just walk through if you’re okay with getting your feet wet, but I made a little challenge to myself to avoid stepping in the water as much as possible, so I had to be strategic in stepping on smaller rocks to get across, which made it like a game. We got to the point where there was some deeper water, which we could climb logs to get across, and then more rocks to climb. Michael went ahead to check it out, and we decided it would probably be too much for Baxter – and he’s certainly too heavy for us to be carrying the whole way! So we decided to call it quits at that point. We still walked through some forest trails on our way back to the car to try and get the most of it. Hopefully we’ll manage to go back to Jura Creek and complete it when we’re better prepared!
I can’t wait to go back – hopefully sooner rather than later! Are there any hikes in or around Canmore that you’d recommend?
Until next time,
Nadine
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