Lack of Ha Ling Peak & Lake Minnewanka

Despite the terrible reviews saying the campsite was noisy etc, I had a pretty good night’s sleep. There was an icicle about a foot long forming from the water input on the camper though, so must have been a pretty chilly night. After sorting all our washing etc from yesterday we set off looking forward to a pretty tough hike just outside Canmore called the Ha Ling peak. 

Arriving at the trailhead car park we notice a fair amount of tape and signs to the left where we had imagined the start of the path to be, and alas, the path was closed. Two days before a cougar had been actively stalking a group with a dog who had to use bear spray (a souped up version of pepper spray) to rid themselves of it. We therefore took a different path down Goat Creek. It was entirely uneventful, and quite frankly a bit dull, apart from passing a very large pile of animal dung which Amelia assumed to be from a grizzly bear so spent the rest of the hike worrying about being horrifically attacked. In the case of a bear attack the genuine guidance is to let it attack you for 2 minutes, if it doesn’t get bored and leave you are then to fight back. I would assume after being mauled by a bear for 2 minutes one may not be in the best position to fight back but what do I know. We have since purchased a bear bell and bear spray so are fully equipped to deal with scary bears if the need requires it. 

Moving on from there we headed to Lake Minnewanka, another surprisingly large lake. Not quite as beautiful as the others we’ve visited yet but well worth the trip. We did a bit of a walk round but were pretty tired from the previous days exertions, and needed to get back to the camper by dark as it was a pretty creepy wooded area we were walking through (even I admitted it was a bit freaky). 

There was no space for us at the Two Jacks Lake campsite right next to Minnewanka. Somewhat surprisingly the first time that’s happened on this trip. So we headed to the Tunnel Mountain campsite, apparently named because they thought they’d have to tunnel through the mountain to get the railroad working, but instead just went around it. A fascinating piece of trivia Amelia just mentioned. We finally managed to light our first fire and Amelia experienced the delights of toasted marshmallows for the first time. We were promised elk would be roaming through the campsite but that never materialised, hopefully they’re early risers and will greet us tomorrow morning.