The upward climb

This was the "easier" part yesterday - a nice, uncluttered trail, even if it WAS going uphill, LOL. At a rough guess, this was perhaps half way along the trail, if that, to the Picklejar Lakes in Kananaskis. Parts of the trail went through forested areas and other parts traversed open grassy slopes, covered in wildflowers. I would have had to quit early on if it had been a hot day, but thankfully, it was fairly cool with a helpful breeze, but overcast. The rain started as we began our climb down to the highway, turning the trail into slippery mud - have I ever been so thankful to see our cars before, LOL??? No sign of a Grizzly Bear, though this is a popular area for them.

This trail starts from the Lantern Creek day use area on Highway 40, Kananaskis. It starts on the opposite (east) side of the highway slightly north of the day use area. I managed to get as far as the high lookout from where you got your first glimpse of the first Picklejar Lake, but there was no way I could have climbed down to the level of the lakes - and then back up the mountain side again, LOL. The trail from this point led across a rocky mountain side and down to lake level - and this can be dangerous. I believe we hiked about 9 km.