To The Mountains I Go: Ribbon Creek

Day Hike
Distance: 8.1 km to Falls one way
Elevation gain: 350m
Time: 6 hours
Difficulty: Easy

Access:
Trans Canada going to Canmore. Take Kananaskis Trail (highway 40). Take a right when you see the sign that says many things but at the bottom it says Ribbon Creek ->. Its the same turn off for Kananaskis Village. Take first left and drive up the parking lot. and there is a trail map to the right near the creek.

Experience:
Before we even started the hike I was guessing that the trail was gonna be closed because last week's hike was closed because of the flood last year, and these creeks are really close to each other. We got there and I was right! The trail was closed and at the start it was completely washed out. So we took a detour. On the trail map there is a link trail to Ribbon creek so we decided to go on it. We followed the trail named Terence Trail to the Link trail which had police tape up blocking the path, but being the rebels that we are we went forward. The trail was pretty destroyed and rough, but it is currently being repaired. We passed a little scooper thing, it scoops dirt, I forget what the actual name for those things are. Anyways we kept going no matter the path because I was determined to see a waterfall!

We followed the orange ribbons so we knew where we going, and then all of a sudden some bikers pass us and we ask them if they could get to the falls. They said that the people haven't repaired it that far yet so no. We decided to go a bit further and ate some food right beside a couple waterfalls. It was really relaxing to just listen to the sound of the rushing water beside us. The rock we sat on was really smooth so it was very comfortable.

We decided that if we couldn't see the big waterfall that we would head back before it got to late. One the way back it sprinkled on us a bit, but it was refreshing because it cooled us down. I noticed that there was a lot of butterflies! They we in swarms in some places! I wasn't having the best day because I was really tired and just angry at stuff, and the rain and butterflies just kept on reminding me that God loves me. It made me get over my grumpiness faster because every time I started getting frustrated there was a little swarm of butterflies to make me feel better.

We got back in a really good time because it was downhill for the last 3km and we had our bikes, so we just cruised down in no time. This hike is one of my favorites and I definitely want to go back when the trail is open again.