To The Mountains I Go: Mount Lady Macdonald

Day hike
Distance: 3.5km (Up)
Height gain: 853m
High point: 2225m
Time: 4.5 hours
Difficulty: Hard

Access:
Get into Canmore then take the Bow Valley Trail (Hwy 1A). Turn onto Benchlands Trail and follow it across Trans-Canada Highway and up the hill. There will be a small parking lot to the left before a small bridge right next to the gravel road. Walk up along the river and find a path to your left before you get to close to a large fence. There will be a sign at a fork and just follow the trail up!

My experience:
The night before I got to sleep late and I just wanted to sleep in the next morning. I was originally going to hike The Fortress but it was further away and longer so I decided to go to Mount Lady Macdonald! Everyone else had plans other than Robert so only he came with me. When we getting there we got a little lost because Canmore has grown a lot! It was kinda funny because we parked the parking lot we where supposed to be at and asked some of the hikers where we were supposed to be. They informed us that we were in the right spot! Thank you nice people! In all of my hikes I have not met a grumpy person. Everyone on the mountains are always so nice and ask how we are doing. I guess that's what the woods do to you, they make you a better person. Anyways we walked along and the flood of 2013 did some damage here because there is still construction making the river overflow wider and safer. You continue down the gravel road beside the river. You will know if you go to far because there is a massive fence in the way. If you just look to your left into the trees as you walk you will find the sign that will guide you which way to go!

I fell and got rocks all on my knee and it started to bleed a bit, but that wasn't gonna stop me from hiking today! The way up was hard. It was almost straight up. It was like doing stairs that are uneven and different sizes for 3 hours. Robert started to breath heavy in the first little bit and he usually doesn't get that tired that fast. We kept on going and got to see the wonderful view. A man with a big backpack came up behind us, and I asked him why he was carrying a backpack the size of his body up this steep mountain. All he said is that his wings are in there. Wings? He told us that people launch off on the heli pad with their hang guilders. We didnt get to see him launch, but he is the first person I have met that actually is a hang guilder. Soon after we met this guy Robert twisted his ankle and it was affecting his knees, so we went down. It was a hard descent, my thighs were getting sore which never really happens to me. We got down the mountain seeing small trees growing on top of rocks, cute chipmunks, and many dogs. The birds were also out singing, and I saw the first butterfly of the season. This was a good hike, but a hard hike.