To The Mountains I Go: Ha Ling's Peak (Chinaman's Peak)

Day Hike
Distance: 1.6km (Up)
Height gain: 732m
High point: 2408m
Time: 3-4 hours
Difficulty: Hard

Access:
Go to Canmore and follow signs to Smith-Dorrien Spray Trail (Hwy 742). Then go up the hill and then park in the Goat Creek parking lot.

Story:
For this mountain there is a little story on how it got its name. Originally the mountain was called 'The Beehive' Then in 1896, Ha Ling, a Chinese cook working in the Oskaloosa Hotel in Canmore, was bet $50 he couldn't climb up and down the mountain in 10 hours. Starting at 7 on a Saturday morning with a small flag to place on the summit, he was back in time for lunch. No one believed he did it that fast because they couldn't see the flag. So on Sunday Ha Ling led a group of doubters to the top and next to the original flag proudly flapping in the wind set up a 12 foot high flag pole with a scarlet six foot square flag that could be seen with the naked eye from Canmore. They then decided to call the mountain Ha Ling's Peak, but it is more renown for the name Chinaman's Peak.

Experience:
From my experience, if I was to describe this hike in one word it would be Torture.

At first we were pumped to get going on my first hard hike of the season. As we climbed I was getting tired fast! After the first 30min I felt I was ready to go back down haha. It was kinda steep and it was snowy and wet. Nonetheless we took pictures and continued up the mountain. Once I got past the first bit I was feeling okay, and I didn't feel as out of breath. Anyways we trekked through the trees and saw some chipmunks yapping at each other just like Arthur and the pink squirrel from The Sword in the Stone by Disney. It was SOOO Cute! After that that's when we hit the snow which was deep, slippery, and cold and that's when it started to get really really really HARD! We came out of the tree line and stared at the challenge in front of us. Loose gravel and more slippery snow. Yay.

I was already tired but we were determined to get to the top. We slowly made our way up. My legs and ankles were dying and every time I looked back I could see how steep the way down was and if I slipped and fell the wrong way I would mostly likely die. At least that is what I thought at the time.

We were so high up! and we weren't even at the top yet! About 1/3 of the way up the steep loose gravel path I was taking 4 steps and resting for 30sec. I was barely moving. Mom was with me and it wasnt helping that she was saying she wanted to stop, or that she wanted not to go any higher BUT I pushed through her suggestions and walked like a snail up the gravel.

Once I was about 50 feet from the tippy top, which seemed so far away, I broke down because I could see over the edge and actually believed I was going to die. Seems irrational I know but that is what I believed. My mom stopped about then and I decided to make it to the top with Dad so I did!

Once I got up close to the edge I was freaking out a bit because I am quite afraid of heights. While I was up there I was questioning myself why am I going on hikes when I'm terrified of heights? I dont know why but I believe I can do hard things and being up high is very hard got my head to wrap around. I calmed myself and then I felt like I was a very important person to be so much higher than very body else haha. I could see everything around me, there was nothing blocking my view . It was so good!

After a few minutes I wanted to get down because every possible path I could take was either straight down hill or really steep. So we left and made our way down and it started to rain. Everything was just going down hill for me (pun intended).

Because we were so high up we could see the easy path down so we took it, but that path soon turned into a very difficult path because the snow started again and it was up to our waist! We trudged through it and because I was already SOOOOOO EXHAUSTED and the snow took soo much effort to walk through it I just couldnt hold it in anymore and I started crying because my legs, butt, and hands were frozen. Also I got stuck in the snow and my Dad had to come back and pull me out. It was really traumatic at the time for me.

We met up with my mom and headed down together, but the first half we were basically just sliding down in the snow on our butts. It was easier than walking and falling over every 2 steps we took. The downside is that it hurt our butts A LOT! My bum was stinging so bad and once I fell on a rock and I couldn't even feel it because my butt was so cold it was numb. I wish I got a photo of us sliding down the hill but I didn't even think of it at the time.

Once we got through the icy slushy snow we were fine and cruised down the rest of the mountain while passing a few groups of people which rarely happens when I hike with my mom. We made it down and my body was covered in pins and needles and my muscles felt like jello. We got in the van and went home.

I might never want to do that hike again but I'm glad I got to the top and didn't die afterall.

If I was to do it differently I would have brought a crazy carpet to slide down the mountain on :P