100. Quaite Valley

 Distance: 13 km

Elevation: minor

On October 9, a beautiful windy, sunny Saturday, Herm and I set out to celebrate my 100th hike and the completion of my goal. Any hikes after this may be repeats and added as a), b) etc or if new they will be epilogue. This would be a 2 day hike.

We parked at Lac des Arcs  parking lot and headed off to explore Heart Creek Canyon Trail on the way to Quaite.

It started beneath Heart Mountain which we had climbed a few years previous.

Heart Creek Trail had been very damaged in the 2013 flood and was well restored with an easy trail, many bridges and interpretive signage.

The trail is only a few kilometres and we soon came to the impressive end.

We descended back to the trail paralleling the highway to continue on to the Quaite Valley Trail. It was beautiful walking through mostly bare trees on a dirt trail. Many trees had fallen over, some still on the trail, indicating strong winds in the past.

A large pond beside the trail varied the environment.

When we got to the Quaite Valley trail, we were pleasantly surprised to see how well it had been repaired after the flood. We hiked up to the campground where we traditionally eat our Thanksgiving Dinner. It was warm and sunny and we sat alone around the firepit and ate our lunch as we reminisced about all the Thanksgivings we had come here.

 Herm thoughtfully prepared some kindling wood and stored it in the bear bins to keep it dry for the next day.

Then we took a little snooze in the sun on the slope in front of the firepit.

Eventually we went back to the car and hoped for another lovely day on Sunday with the family.

Sunday morning we left Calgary at 10:30, knowing the sunny morning would become cold and wet later in the day.

It

It was bright and comfortable when we arrived. We started a fire and started frying tater tots and bacon wrapped dates. The kids played in the bear bins as they always do although Zeke wanted to watch rather than be stuffed in one and Naylis didn't want to get back in for the picture..

Then the wind started, it got colder, a few rain drops and then snow. We had time to eat a bit but then threw stuff into our bags and hurried back down the trail and out of the wind.

We set the food out again after we got home and finished with a yummy dessert and games afternoon.

We were glad we had gone out even though the event was cut short. We hope for another try next year.