Prairie Mountain (2020)

Summit Elevation (m): 2010
Trip Date: Thursday December 31, 2020
Running Summit Count (for 2020): 74
Elevation Gain (m): 700
Round Trip Time (hrs): 1.5-4
Total Trip Distance (km): 6.5
Quick ‘n Dirty Rating: Class 2 – you fall, you sprain something
Difficulty Notes: Easy hiking on a good trail. The hordes of other people and dogs might be the crux.
Technical Rating: TL3; YDS (Hiking)
Map: Google Maps

I wrote back in 2007 that I had some friends who did Prairie Mountain as their weekly training hike or run. Well, 13 years later and I’m now one of these annoying people! After moving to SW Calgary this past summer, I am now one of the regulars on this easy mountain trail. I meet the same folks time and again and have run into more friends here than anywhere else in the Rockies. And why not? It’s about 45 minutes west of my house, boasts 650m of height gain and only takes around 1.25 to 1.5 hours round trip in decent conditions. If nothing else it’s a great way to spend a morning or evening workout while getting some elevation gain on the legs and staying fit for skiing / climbing / hiking / scrambling activities.

I’ve decided that I’m going to try to average one ascent of Prairie Mountain per week for the year 2020 just to keep things interesting. This is made less onerous by the fact that I’ve also taken an interest in doing “double” or even the odd “triple” headers of the peak, making it a bit more of a workout at around 1300 or 1900 m height gain and 13 or 18.5 km distance. I figure it might be interesting (for me) to keep track of some stats, photos and how I was feeling each outing so I’m going to have a running blog on this page where each time I do the peak I’ll add the days thoughts etc. Yeah, it’s a bit boring but since this is my site I get to do whatever dumb stuff I want on it.  

After hiking Prairie at least a dozen times in December 2019 I realized that there’s six distinct sections to the trail. It helps to keep track of these sections as it keeps me focused on where I am and what still lies ahead. The sections are roughly as follows;

1. The bottom section ascends very steeply from the parked vehicles along hwy 66. This section is often either muddy, icy or both since it gets lots of sun. There is an alternate “section 1” that’s a wee bit less steep and starts a bit further down hwy 66 from where my GPS track starts. Sometimes I descend that way before starting up my 2nd lap to keep things interesting. This section is pretty short and levels out at the top before joining section 2.
2. This section is also known as the “flat section”. It’s usually a nice break after bumping your heart rate through the roof on the first section when you leave your car without any warm up. It’s a nice break on the knees when going back down too. This is one of the longer sections.
3. Section 3 is where the workout really starts. This section is where the ridge widens and ascends steeply through matchstick forest. Here you break the halfway point in both distance and elevation and ends with a short horizontal traverse which feels way better than it should before ascending back onto a narrower part of the ridge ridge – section 4.
4. I like this part of the ascent. The trail remains steep but views start opening up and there’s some variation from boring forest. Too soon this section ends back in forest for section 5.
5. Section 5 is fairly short but also very steep through light forest just like section 3. Eventually it finishes with a last steep gasp to end on the summit ridge and start of section 6.
6. Probably the favorite section for most folks. Still somewhat steep in short sections, this long section to the summit boasts good views as it slowly breaks tree line. You never know what you’ll find along this section from wiener roasts to Christmas decorations! This section can be extremely windy and very cold in Winter so take precautions and know what you’re getting into. I’ve seen winds over 125 kph at the summit.

So there you have it. Prairie Mountain in all its unimpressive glory. I’m sure I’ll catch you out there some day. I’m the guy that looks like I’m always about to keel over but you’ll probably see me more than once as I repeat laps. If I look particularly gassed and / or grumpy it’s probably my 2nd or 3rd ascent for the day and I’m wondering why I do these things for fun.

Sunday, January 05 2020 (x 2)

A solo double header in some wicked winds at the top. The weather was decent at around -5 or so. I wore runners and got away with a t-shirt and sweater once I started heating up. The sweater wasn’t quite enough for section 6 – both times I stopped to put on my shell jacket for the summit trudge. Lots of people and dogs on the trail. Was surprised to see people with small kids sliding down the steep section 1. I really hope this doesn’t become a theme because people will lose control and slide into trees here if they aren’t careful. Total return time for both laps was 3 hours 15 minutes.

Saturday, January 11 2020 (x 2)

A double header with Wietse. The weather forecast was very strange for today. SpotWX showed -8 at the summit with very light winds but every other forecast showed -15 with dropping temperatures for Kananaskis. I overdressed due to the dire wx and wore long underwear, warm pants and even my winter boots. Within 10 minutes of doing our first lap I knew I was going to be way too hot. I need to treat this outing as a run rather than a hike and dress as I would for running. Oh well. Wietse set a pretty fast pace as we started in the dark via headlamps and passed a party of 4 on ascent. There was an inversion as the air felt warmer about 100 vertical meters above the road. I sweated and swore my way up behind a racing Dutchman and touched the summit flag for the first ascent in 57 minutes from the road. We enjoyed a nice sunrise on descent.

The second lap promised to be more difficult. I was feeling a bit off today for some reason, probably a cold or perhaps my overdressing for the conditions. I also had to pee since leaving the car but the speedy Dutchman had no time for such trivial nonsense! Surprisingly our second lap wasn’t much slower. We touched the summit in 59 minutes which really surprised me considering how crappy I was feeling. A great morning out with a 3 hour, 15 minute time for both laps. 

Saturday, January 18 2020 (x 2)

The last week has been bitterly cold in YYC. All of Alberta was under a cold warning for at least 3 days with wind chills into the -40’s and even -50’s! I surprised myself by doing a rowing workout on Saturday morning and then deciding I was desperate enough for some fresh air to head west for a bit. I noticed on SpotWX that the temperatures were rising in K country and there was no wind so that played a part in my decision. Sure enough! I started once again in way too much clothing with big winter boots and by the time I was grunting up section 3 I was sweating and swearing at my inability to dress properly for this silly little bump! To be fair, it was still -16 at the road… The summit was beautiful and on my second pass was around -5 at the coldest without a breath of wind.

Very few people were out today and many of them were doing multiple laps. I’m pretty sure one guy I met was doing 3 or more. I didn’t even record the time for once – I just wanted a nice stress free hike in the hills and this turned out to be just what I needed.

Sunday, January 19 2020 (x2)

Today rounded off 4 ascents of Prairie Mountain in just over 24 hours for me. I felt today too! Wietse put on his headphones and left me in the dust for the first ascent. The weather was dramatically warmer than the day before and despite wearing runners and much less clothing I was still overdressed and sweating profusely both times. The snow was a bit sticky with temps around -2 in the sunshine but none of the dozens of folks on the mountain were complaining! The 2nd ascent felt a bit better for some reason and I enjoyed the late afternoon lighting on descent.

Wednesday, January 22 2020

An evening ascent with Wietse who charged up ahead of me and did a 50 minute ascent (no running!). I couldn’t match his pace and was a few minutes behind him. We were the last people off the mountain as darkness settled in over the Rockies. We only needed our headlamps for descent. A few more weeks and it should be light enough after work to do this more often. The trail was very muddy at the bottom and icy throughout. The snow is rapidly disappearing in the warm temperatures – probably at least half the snow from a few weeks ago is gone already.

Saturday, January 25 2020 (x3)

Yeah, yeah. I know we should have been off skiing something today! That was the plan until I rolled over in bed at 06:00 and did a quick last minute check of the avy ratings for Kananaskis. Alas, they’d updated more severe overnight and were now going to be “considerable” in the alpine. I don’t mess with avalanches and have a pretty firm no ski policy for anything over a “moderate” rating. I know this is a bit of a lame policy, but it’s kept me out of danger so far and I’m not in the mood to get buried any time soon so that’s that. After texting alternatives back and forth we settled on yet another workout day. This time we did 3 laps. It felt OK but I am getting tired of this peak after doing 12 ascents in the first 25 days of 2020. Hopefully I can get on the skis next weekend…

We got buzzed by a small plane our 2nd time at the summit. It flew a couple of low laps around the mountain between Prairie and Moose, very low to the trees. Not sure why? I’m sure glad I wasn’t in there! Oh yeah, there were 8 vehicles already at the parking spot 1 hour before sunrise! When we left there must have been 50. Also, the trail is getting super muddy / icy. I would not want to be on it without icers right now.

Sunday, January 26 2020 (Prairie Creek)

Yeah, this happened. I ended up back on Prairie just one day after doing 3 laps with Wietse. Hanneke and I wanted to get out for some fresh air but didn’t want to drive too far. We originally planned to go xcountry skiing at WBC, but were put off by the cold overnight temps and the probability of icy tracks. I very reluctantly agreed to Prairie but warned that I might be a little bored. 

In the end I surprised myself with a gorgeous day out thanks to taking an alternate return route. Doing the Prairie Mountain Loop via Prairie Creek proved to be a much nicer hike than simply going up and down the same path from hwy 66 which is quickly becoming very icy, not to mention very busy. The loop trail was clearly marked and was packed enough to hike down in our icers. It was much longer than I expected (not a bad thing) and was also hillier, providing some uphill sections on the way back.

The biggest bonus of returning this way was the scenery along Prairie Creek which was much better than either of us expected. The birds were chirping in the warm winter sun and the creek was bubbling cheerfully way below us in spots.

This option is highly recommended for folks looking for a nice change of scenery or a slightly more engaging workout than the simply “up and down” on Prairie. Other options include going past Link Hill to the Powderface Ridge trail and back out to the road which would make for another nice winter hike.

Thursday, January 30 2020

A quick after work “blow off steam” hike. Nothing to note except the trail is getting pretty dried off and icy lower down. Could use either a refresh of snow or a really strong Chinook.

I’m hoping that this is my most active month of 2020 as far as Prairie Mountain goes. With 14 ascents and a total of around 9100 meters of height gain and 95 kilometers of distance on this one peak I like to think it’s kept me somewhat in shape but I’m hoping the rest of 2020 can provide me just a few more options for variety.

Sunday, February 02 2020 (x 2)

A twofer with Wietse on a warm and windy Sunday afternoon. The mountain had a nice refresh of 5cm of snow, covering most of the mud and ice. I managed to do the two laps in 2:50 which I thought was a respectable pace considering the snow drifts near the summit and the fact that I wasn’t feeling 100%.

Friday, February 07 2020

A quick evening ascent with Hann after work. Beautiful late afternoon with very little wind and temps around -4. Just enough snow on route to cover the really icy bits.

Sunday, February 09 2020

A loop up the regular route and out via Prairie Creek. Was supposed to go skiing in Banff but with the forecast changing to clouds and a windchill of -20 in the morning I said “no f’ing thx” and did a pleasant loop in the front ranges instead. The sun even came out on the return, improving my SAD mood somewhat… Is it SPRING yet?!

Wednesday, February 19 2020

Wow! 10 days since my last Prairie Mountain! No wonder the mountain felt so new. :rolleyes: An after work outing. I met tons of headlamps coming up on my descent. The stars were out and the night was silent, cold and dark on my walk back to the truck. 

Thursday, February 20 2020

Another after work jaunt. This time I made it up and down without the headlamp. In another week or so I won’t even have to duck out of work 15 minutes early to make this happen. Once again, I met a TON of trail runners just heading up as I walked back to the truck. I found some keys on the trail and left them with the vehicle that unlocked when I pressed the button. I’m sure the owners will be happy to come back and find them there! (Also, my 20th ascent of Prairie in 2020 was on the 20th of the 2nd month.)

Sunday, February 23 2020 (x 2)

With family staying over, this was a morning twofer. Weather was better in the front ranges than in Calgary for the 2nd morning in a row with more sun and warmer temps. Due to a 22 km xcountry ski in West Bragg the day before, my legs were more pumped than usual and I almost didn’t bother with the 2nd lap. It felt good to push it but I was very happy to be down the 2nd time. Not every day is one filled with motivation!

Tuesday, February 25 2020

I was so tired and sick on this one that I didn’t think I’d make the drive, never mind the ascent! But a funny thing happened. About halfway up my lungs cleared and I started feeling more energy. By the time I was down I was feeling much better. Funny how that happens.

Wednesday, February 26 2020

Inching to the halfway point for the yearly goal. And it’s not March yet. Oops… I’m trying to lose some winter fat over the next few weeks so expect a lot of after work Prairie workouts.

Thursday, February 27 2020

I’m sensing a theme here. Another windy-but-warm evening ascent. Every Thursday I bump into about 400 trail runners just starting their ascent as I finish mine…

Saturday, February 29 2020 (Prairie Creek)

A refreshing morning hike up Prairie and back down along the creek. With family in town it had to be a short one today. Officially half way done my goal for the year before March!

Monday, March 02 2020

An after work quickie. Another very windy one.

Tuesday, March 03 2020

On a roll apparently. This time I was passed by two fit young people who were running bits of the trail. I tried to keep up and set a personal best time up. That was exhausting! Very windy again. Met lots of fat bikes on their way up as I descended in the dark.

Wednesday, March 04 2020

Another evening ascent. Another bloody windy one. 

Thursday, March 05 2020

Yet another VERY windy ascent after work. Now I don’t need a headlamp at all – even on descent. Ran into the Calgary trail runners again (of course). They won’t need headlamps soon. Starting to feel the effects of dieting on my pace – it’s hard to go quickly when you’re not refueling completely. I am also noticing that I can run down sections that used to hurt my knees no longer do.

Friday, March 06 2020 (Prairie Creek)

A mid afternoon hike of the loop. Very enjoyable with – you’ll never guess this – more wind! The weather is forecast to snow and get cold tonight and tomorrow. The trail could use more snow – it’s becoming quite the muckfest with all the icers and muck.

Sunday, March 08 2020 (x2, Prairie Creek)

A twofer with Wietse. It was -21 at the trailhead for round 1 but within 10 minutes of leaving the car we were down to base layers and light fleece thanks to the fierce Spring sun. We were meeting Dave Salahub and friends for a special ascent at 12:30 so we exited via Prairie Creek to make the timing work. It worked beautifully. What was this “special ascent” you ask? Dave had an obscure goal of summiting a peak on every day of the calendar year. It took him many years but with 2020 being a leap year he finally got Feb 29 a few weeks ago. March 8th was his last calendar date without a peak in his lifetime and we helped him change that on Sunday. Congrats to another meaningless goal accomplished Dave! The free beer and wings afterwards in Bragg Creek certainly helped turn out the masses for this special occasion, including Dave’s good friend Paul from Australia!

Monday, March 09 2020

Wow. I had ZERO desire for this peak today! The wind was stiff from the west – AGAIN. I was stiff for some reason. And I forgot my micro-spikes at home and had to turn around 10 minutes into my drive to go back and get them.

Of course I’m getting a bit bored with the mountain itself, but what most people don’t understand is that normally I do the same walks every single day anyway – so I’m used to covering the same terrain on a daily basis! I put around 6.3 million steps on my feet every year (~5,000 km) so you may not realize it but I am walking / running / hiking for 1-3 hours every single day, 7 days a week. The only difference with Prairie is that I’m now doing more elevation than I normally get in the city, and I’m blogging about every ascent this year as an interesting social experiment (with myself). I’m sick of Winter too. I need more Spring in my life. Warm sunshine, less ice and snow on my sidewalks and some good old Prairie Crocus on my front range hikes.

Starting this week I’m going to be doing some front range bumps that I have been putting off for times like this. There’s a surprising number of “named” summits that I haven’t done in the Elbow / Sheep areas and now’s the time to get after them.

Monday, March 16 2020 (x 2)

A gorgeous day in the midst of a global pandemic when I really needed to escape from the craziness that is our new reality for the foreseeable future. We’ve been told to work from home until the end of April. Thankfully I have a job that can be done remotely and I’m not foreseeing any job loss at this point but this is not the case for many others. After skiing the Dolomite Circuit on Sunday in perfect conditions, this was another day when I should have been skiing something big and remote. But I had to work so that was that. This was the first hike in 5 months where I wore a t-shirt from road to summit and back down again – on my 2nd lap. I really didn’t have the mental energy to do the 2nd lap but forced myself up again and ended up enjoying the gorgeous day with almost zero wind and views forever. The world might be ending but Prairie Mountain stands tall!

Tuesday, March 17 2020

A saint Patrick’s Day ascent! Even found a lucky coin along the trail! And the wind was from the east for the first time in 37 ascents this year. Also was much cooler than yesterday which wasn’t a horrible thing. The mountain is very busy with everyone staying “home” thanks to Covid-19.

Wednesday, March 18 2020

A late afternoon jaunt with Wietse. I was thankful to have company as my motivation level was at an all-time record low for some reason. I told Wietse I likely would have turned back after section 5 the way I was feeling. Oh well. We made it and didn’t even do that bad on time. We met a bunch of folks on descent (they were ascending). I expect that Prairie will continue to see lots of traffic through this remarkable pandemic outbreak – at least until they shut down travel altogether. I am really hoping that we can continue to enjoy fresh air throughout the Covid-19 outbreak but I’m not convinced this will be the case given what’s started to happen elsewhere with complete social lock downs occurring. Fingers crossed folks and stay safe out there!

I’ve noticed a substantial uptick in virtue signalling regarding backcountry adventures on social media. I’m not going to say too much other than don’t be an asshole and we should all be fine. IMHO you should not be doing objectives with a high chance of failure or injury anyway (this means you’re not ready to do the objectives you’re chasing) but especially now, we should all be extra careful to make our trips as safe as possible. I’ve done well over 1000 trips without a single rescue. Could I need one next weekend? Yup. But likely not. I could also crash my car on the way to the grocery store or light my house on fire with the fireplace or while cooking. There are many everyday things that could go wrong – it’s up to us to minimize risk while still keeping ourselves sane in this insane time. That’s MHO and nothing else. I reserve the right to change my mind at any time.  

Friday, March 20 2020

Apparently it’s the 2nd day of Spring in the northern hemisphere. Who knew? I always thought Spring started on the 21st. Just goes to show what I know right?! Well, I chose a warm afternoon to try something Dave Salahub’s been after me for a while to try. I actually met Dave as I walked towards the ascent ridge on Prairie and he told me that he’d just done the White Buddha traverse from Prairie Mountain. He mentioned something about “postholing” too but I wasn’t really paying that much attention. I remembered that bit later… Thanks to Covid-19, Prairie Mountain was about the busiest I’ve ever seen it! At least 40-50 vehicles parked at the trailhead. It was a lovely day though – and who wants to be cooped up at home on a day like today? I was swearing that I didn’t book the day off. It’s the 2nd perfect day this week that I missed a bigger trip to work. And working from home is nothing if not really, really boring. (First world problems, I know. )

Anyway, I enjoyed the hike up as much as possible on my 39th ascent of 2020 for this lowly peak. The flag and summit pole were missing which was odd. On descent I ran most of the way down to Prairie Creek before hiking another few kilometers back along it to the intersection with the so-called, “Prairie Creek Crag Trail” which crosses Prairie Creek before proceeding steeply up the north aspect of White Buddha. There was a ton of fresh snow today which brought Dave’s “postholing” comment to the fore. My feet were way too hot anyway. The terrain up the north side of White Buddha is very interesting and the trail follows a “handrail” of cliffs right to the summit of White Buddha. Last time I was up here was with Kaycie in May of 2014 when we overnight camped at the summit and tried to see a meteor shower.

I really enjoyed the different route and will definitely be back when it dries out a bit. There were a bunch of youngsters bouldering and climbing in the warm temperatures on the south side of the small mountain and I made sure to avoid getting too close as I passed on the muddy trail down to Powderface Creek. The hike back out was quick ‘n easy.

Sunday, March 22 2020 (Prairie Creek)

Investments always grow. Houses always appreciate. Health is guaranteed if you do the right things. Jobs only get better. High school jeans will always fit. Love lasts forever. A happy, healthy, lengthy retirement is there for all of us. Things only ever get better as long as we “do the right things”. Not to alarm all y’all but this is obviously NOT the case.

 

Because even a fucking virus is impermanent.

Monday, March 23 2020

The trailhead was way too busy for a Monday afternoon but once I was ascending the mountain things calmed down quite a bit. I think Calgarians aren’t the “sit at home” type… At least the flag is back – albeit on a much sturdier and shorter pole!

Tuesday March 24 2020

Wow! Most people are fair weather hikers apparently! Today there was 4 cars at the trailhead. Yep. Only 4. This was also the closest I’ve come yet this year to turning around half way up. Fresh snow, cloudy dull weather and a complete lack of motivation were all conspiring against me. I persevered however, and eventually made the summit in ankle to almost knee deep fresh snow with a half hearted track beaten into it. With Parks Canada closing access due to Covid-19 it’s likely only a matter of time before Alberta Parks does the same. I won’t get into my thoughts on this subject here.

Wednesday, March 25 2020

A late afternoon hike with Wietse, Brian and Dave. We all drove separately to the trailhead so I guess the pandemic scare is getting to us too. Probably a good thing – who knows? The hike was good anyway. Much warmer than expected and only around 10 other cars parked on the road.

Friday, March 27 2020

I guess this is my last hike up Prairie Mountain in a while! Good thing I only need 8 more ascents to reach my goal of 52. It could very well be later this year before I get back up this thing with all parks and recreation areas now closed for access. It’s probably high time this happened considering how busy the trail was again today. I was struck by an older lady on ascent who was busy telling everyone to “self isolate” as they passed by her. She seemed really concerned (and probably for good reason). She didn’t appreciate it when I pointed out to her that hiking with 100 other people on a narrow, constricted trail was the very opposite of “social isolation”! It’s funny how people think (or don’t think). How can you believe that while you’re self isolating properly, everyone else you’re running into isn’t?! And you’re hiking right beside them? It’s so hard to turn the lens on ourselves isn’t it?

Sunday April 05 2020 (x2)

After just over a week of confusion on what “closed” and / or “park” means, I was back on Prairie for a double header the day after a depressing week ending with a decidedly subpar birthday. I’m not planning to publish any of my “Covid hikes” until the worst of the pandemic is over so what I’m about to write is more for me to mull over than for anyone else to care about but here goes anyway. The issue about hiking right now seems so black and white at first glance. In the immortal words of Sam Jackson;

STAY THE F_CK AT HOME!

Easy right? Well… Maybe for some, or even most people this is the easiest and safest way for them to self-isolate and perform social distancing. But after practicing it and thinking on it for a few weeks this is not the best way for me to come through this thing with my health intact. If it becomes illegal for me to leave the house or my neighborhood than I will adjust or I will die – I won’t have a choice. But for now the government is letting me choose and I am choosing to stay at home and self isolate a bit further astray on occasion – when it makes sense and it’s safe to do so. There’s other things we’re being told besides to stay locked up inside our houses;

1. Exercise regularly
2. Go for walks and fresh air regularly
3. Take care of ourselves so that we can take care of our loved ones
4. Social distance from others – at least 2m or around 6 feet when we do go out

The first three items contrast with the “STAY HOME” order for me. You may not like my explanation. You may not agree with me. That’s all right. We’re allowed to disagree. Something being legal or illegal is much different than a “suggestion” or an implied ethic. There are countless studies showing that if we all just drove 30 km/h many lives would be saved in vehicle / pedestrian accidents each year. But yet, despite knowing this and being told we should “slow down”, we continue to drive 50 or 60 km/h except in school zones. Why? Because that’s the LAW. Even though we could argue that ethically we should all drive 30 km/h and save many lives, none of us do so unless we absolutely have to. I look at the “stay in your home” order much the same way. If it’s still legal for me to drive to some areas to partake in some safe and responsible hikes during this incredibly stressful time, then I’m going to do that. And I have personal reasons that go beyond the simplistic, moralistic soapbox platitudes that I’ve seen and heard many times already.

I’ve never hidden the fact that I struggle with some mental issues. I wouldn’t call it “anxiety” as that’s too simplistic, but for the sake of ease let’s call it that. My anxiety ramps up for three main reasons;

1. Not enough exercise
2. Not enough fresh air / boredom
3. Fear of change / unknown

These are fairly common triggers, I am certainly not unique. In order for me to keep my anxiety under control, I exercise and get fresh air every single day whenever possible. I hike / run /walk over 6.25 million steps a year – that’s over 5000 kilometres! This isn’t “normal” but it keeps me reasonably “normal”. I understand that I’ve been asked to stay the f_ck at home but I’ve also been asked to exercise, walk, take care of myself and social distance. If I’m going to keep my mental health through this pandemic, I’m going to have to mitigate the 3 biggest risks to it that I listed above. Saturday, April 4th was a cool day and I stayed home and walked around my neighborhood and local park (Fish Creek). In order to burn some calories and due to boredom from being home all week, I ended up walking around 20 km. This took hours of my time and I passed roughly 80-100 people during this period. Most of them were closer than 2 meters because there’s too much snow to pass wider than that on the pathways. I was clearly violating the 4th ask to social distance! Last night after talking with some friends and looking at maps I realized that a large chunk of the front ranges are not provincial parks or provincial recreation areas and therefore are perfectly legal to hike right now. Prairie Mountain, as part of a PLUZ, is still perfectly legal to park near and hike.

Today I drove down hwy 66 in grey cloud and cold weather (AGAIN). There were 2 cars parked at the gate. I met 5 people over the next 3.5 hours as I double lapped the mountain in perfect (winter) conditions. We passed well over 15 feet between us each time. No fuss. No muss. I got way more exercise than yesterday, fresh air and lots of social distance. The roads were clear and dry so the drive was safe. I consider this a “win-win-win” and if I can continue to do so legally, I plan to keep ascending Prairie and other front range bumps for exercise and fresh air until things start opening up again. I sure wouldn’t mind if spring would make a comeback – the never ending winter is becoming a real issue for many of us.

Monday April 06 2020

I warm(ish) day but still vastly colder than it should be. Once again, I met over 40 people on a local walk and only 3 on Prairie Mountain. I thought the wind would be killer but it wasn’t that horrid. TONS of snow on the trail – feels more like January than April in the foothills right now.

Tuesday April 07 2020

A brutal day to be perfectly honest. Physically and mentally NOT feeling it today! Was supposed to do a double lap – the 2nd one with Wietse but I just couldn’t do it for some reason. Oh well. Got up it once in grey and cool weather.

Wednesday April 08 2020

The very opposite of yesterday! A gorgeous early evening hike in beautiful, clear, windless weather. Honestly the best Prairie Mountain summit so far in 2020 for me. It was lovely to be up there all by myself after a pretty stressful day of work. I really enjoyed tonight.

Friday April 10 2020

I didn’t think I’d be getting out to the mountains today with a grim forecast of snow and rain. Wietse joined me (met at the trailhead) for a cool, rainy, snowy ascent that wasn’t as bad as it sounds. We thought about a double lap but with the weather getting worse we decided to count our blessings in getting one reasonable ascent in and head home to our families. I was feeling the previous days efforts today and our pace was not blistering but we chatted about life and the stresses of Covid on the way up which helped pass the time. Way busier than it should have been with the awful weather! People are obviously getting stir crazy already on the long weekend.

Saturday April 11 2020 (x 2)

If I didn’t think yesterday would happen, I really didn’t think today would! For some reason I just couldn’t be cooped up in the house on a long weekend and decided to take my chances with the weather. Despite hiking in a snow globe all day I was proud of myself for getting in a doubleheader today. Mental motivation was very, very low but I made it. I also realized on getting home that I made my original goal of 52 ascents of Prairie for 2020 with these two laps. So I guess I’m done with this silly little hill now right? Don’t count on it. Also realized that parking at the winter gates is still illegal (have to be 1km from a park) so am likely quitting Prairie for now and turning my attention to other areas.

Wednesday July 15 2020

Well, it’s been a while since I went up Prairie Mountain! Since April 11 I’ve managed to ascend around 61 unique summits – some larger and more pleasurable than others of course. So why did I find myself all alone on the dark windy summit of Prairie Mountain at midnight on Wednesday, July 15 2020? In a word? Neowise. Neowise was first discovered only on March 27 2020 and is a cosmic snowball officially named C/2020 F3. For much more information see this space.com article. Originally I did not feel like staying up so dang late, but when I realized this is a once in a 6800 year event and it’s rare to see comets to clearly I could no longer just sit this one out. I decided to try to see if I could photograph it from Prairie, even though most sites said it was only visible 10 degrees up from the horizon meaning it would be hidden behind Moose Mountain. But I had to try…

I left YYC around 20:30 and was one of only around 5 people on the mountain when I started up – everyone else was heading down of course. I got to the summit shortly after sunset but of course it was still way too light to see anything in the sky. I hunkered out of the stiff west breezes behind a small clump of trees near the summit for almost 2 hours before I finally got antsy and started just taking photos towards Moose Mountain. I had no solid idea of where to look for the comet, but did have a clue from a local photographer that it was “down and to the right of the bottom of the big dipper”. And sure enough! Around midnight the comet started showing up on photos – I still couldn’t see it with the naked eye. I spent the next 30 minutes photographing it with both a 45mm lens and my crappy telephoto lens. Both worked with varying degrees of success. At around zero dark thirty I got freaked out by a low flying light moving erratically above me and making no noise. It was like a low flying drone with strange light tentacles coming off the sides but it made no noise whatsoever! Jeez – just what I needed to see right above me all alone on a summit in pitch darkness! I decided when the aliens come out it’s time for Vern to get home to bed so I packed up and headed down. On the drive home I could clearly see Neowise in the sky to the north.

It’s gonna be tough to beat this summit experience on Prairie.

Friday December 11 2020

After telling myself that I WOULD NOT bother with any more Prairie Mountain’s this year, I found myself meeting up with Wietse for a quick up-and-down on a chilly Friday afternoon. Wietse was on his 2nd lap when I joined him. The day was cold and the trail was in early winter conditions – it could use a foot or two of snow to make it truly enjoyable again. It was a bit nostalgic to be back in winter conditions after months of other peaks and different focus. My ankle held up despite the rocks / ice / hard dirt on the trail so that was nice.

Sunday December 13 2020 (x2)

SERIOUSLY?! WTF?! I honestly thought I was done doing laps on Prairie for 2020 but with motivation to exercise at an all time low and a 55 day move goal streak on the line I allowed myself to be dragged outta my warm, comfortable bed at 05:50 on a cold (-17 degree) Sunday morning for a twofer with Wietse. Thanks to Covid restrictions we met at the trailhead at 06:50 after driving a snowy road through Kananaskis thanks to a few cms of fresh overnight. It was chilly and within 5 minutes were hiking up the steep trail by headlamp. Within 1 minute my headlamp died. Jeez. Thanks family for putting that DEAD “AA” battery back in the battery drawer for me to use… 😐 (I love my family very much – just not at 06:56 this morning.) I was feeling zero motivation but slowly my mojo came back and by the last section I was back in the zone, feeling pretty good about managing to roll out of bed and hike this early and this cold. Then we noticed a strange glow to the SE and our day got a whole lot better! An amazing sunrise above clouds filling the valleys beneath us gave us wings up section “6” to the summit.

The wonderful sunrise gave us just enough motivation to do a 2nd lap at which time the trail started becoming a bit busier despite the continued chill. On the drive home I reflected how lucky I was to live a 45 minute drive and another 45 minutes of hiking from views like those we’d had today. It might have been my 55th and 56th times up this little peak in 2020 but darn it if I’m not already looking forward to the next one for some reason now…

Wednesday December 16 2020 (x2)

Not much to say. A decent evening stroll.

Friday December 18 2020 (x2)

A double lap with Wietse. Feeling tired on the 2nd go but we made it. Very windy on the summit.

Sunday December 20 2020 (x2)

A double lap solo on a very busy Sunday afternoon. WAY too hot on my first lap and felt lethargic on my second. Passed by two runners in shorts – I need to learn to dress more like a runner and less like a hiker for these laps.

Monday December 21 2020 

An early morning single lap with Wietse to celebrate the start of Winter. Hoping to get enough snow to start my ski season sooner than later through the Christmas holidays.

Wednesday December 23 2020 (x2)

A tough double lap in up to knee deep fresh snow with snowshoes. I think this is the first time I’ve had to use snowshoes on Prairie. Packed in a pretty good trail.

Thursday December 24 2020 

Christmas eve hike with Hann up a very snowy trail. Beautiful day under blue skies.

Saturday December 26 2020 (x3)

It’s been a while since I last did a “threefer” on Prairie – almost a whole year actually. Thanks to a great Christmas dinner and new footwear courtesy of La Sportiva and RunUphill.ca (highly recommended for your ski and running needs btw) I felt like pushing things a bit today. I joined Wietse and Brian on Lap 1, Wietse on Lap 2 and myself for Lap 3. Light snow falling and clouds made for a moody vibe but it was heads down anyway. A nice simple exercise doing what I like best – spending time in thought in the mountains.

Sunday December 27 2020 (Prairie Creek Loop)

A nice hike with Hann. Windy at the summit and there is a section of the Prairie Creek trail that is off route now but hopefully someone with energy and snowshoes will route it properly soon.

Tuesday December 29 2020 (x2)

An afternoon / evening double lap. Beautiful lighting as a full(ish) moon rose over the flickering lights of YYC to the east. Nice to run into Bill Kerr on my first lap – it’s been a while since we chatted.

Thursday December 31 2020 (x2)

A final double lap to end 2020 and likely this running blog of Prairie Mountain hikes. The 2nd lap felt harder than it should have but I was likely feeling the effects of 1400m vertical skiing yesterday with Wietse. Ran into Dave and Roy on descent which was nice. 2020’s been quite the year – I’m looking forward tentatively to 2021.