Which trail to choose?

[+3isamagic#]

We will be traveling to Canmore at the end of July and all of us love geocaching. We will be there for a week and plan to see the main tourist kind of stuff. We want to set aside a few days at least devoted to geocaching. The problem is choosing the trail. There seem to be about a billion options. We are looking for day hikes, no scrambles, well marked trail, good for beginners/tourists with teens. We will have a car and are willing to drive to hike a good trail. Any advice??? I see there are some on the CT Trail...but I can't find any info on what that is and how difficult/long it is. Thank you!

[+T.D.M.22]

There is a trail an Heart Mountain, not hard. I've done this trail when I was 7 or 8. Start with GC10JHA and continue up the trail to GC10QT4t You can get 5 caches and I believe you can also loop around getting some more caches if you want a bit more terrain. I am trying to get some people to go up and do this one myself. OH, and for any of the caches read the whole description, and some logs. There is at least one cache in Canmore where you can get within 500 feet by following the trails. Only thing is the trail ends at a rockface, so you may be 500 feet away but you would also have to climb 200 feet. Just a warning...

[+mwellman]

Don't forget about Cold Cache, http://coord.info/GCR06W .

 

One of our favourite DNFS. What an amazing place! Some of the way up is on the Canada Trail and the rest is an old road. And great views of the valley.

[+Viajero Perdido]

How much elevation gain would you like in one day?

How much distance are you comfortable hiking in one day?

Do you prefer quality caches or quantity caches?

 

Off the top of my head, Yam Boulders is highly favorited, and there are other caches nearby to make it a fun half day or so. Do Love Grotto and the caches beyond. Do Cold Cache.

 

Cheers from Canmore.

[+Red90]

There is a trail an Heart Mountain, not hard.

 

He mean Heart Creek, not Heart Mountain. Heart Mountain is NOT "not hard".....

[+Viajero Perdido]

"Hard" depends on who's doing the talking, doesn't it?

 

If the OP would come back and answer my three questions, we could give personalized advice.

[7rxc]

Given today's situation in Canmore, I'd suggest that one would look for above water level.

Probably the storms and flooding will affect a few of the local trails and perhaps even caches.

 

Wishing Canmore and other areas well! Looks like a few more hours will tell the tale in this area.

 

Edit: that few hours really did some serious work here in Elkford and the rest of the Elk Valley, we were lucky mostly, others not so much. Still wishing all be well and safe (and dry if you can).

Doug 7rxc

Edited June 22, 2013 by 7rxc

[+3isamagic#]

So sorry! Original poster couldn't find post again....but I am back. Thanks so much for your posts. I don't know about elevation gain. We are at sea level here and I am a little worried about how hard it will be to breathe in high elevation. Comfortable with about 10 miles or less in a day. I think we have the quality caches covered...those are easy to search with favs....looking for quantity on this day.

 

Been watching the flood news....glad to see the roads are open again....

[7rxc]

So sorry! Original poster couldn't find post again....but I am back. Thanks so much for your posts. I don't know about elevation gain. We are at sea level here and I am a little worried about how hard it will be to breathe in high elevation. Comfortable with about 10 miles or less in a day. I think we have the quality caches covered...those are easy to search with favs....looking for quantity on this day.

 

Been watching the flood news....glad to see the roads are open again....

 

Glad you found your way back, I always use my public profile as a reference point when memory fails (often)

On there look at the bit about Forum Posts by this User... Much easier to find lost items / topics.

 

As for breathing, well one can end up short of breath at altitude, but below 10,000 feet, it is going to be exertion talking, not the altitude in most cases. A bigger problem with elevation changes is the legs.

I'm a bit under fit these days, but on my second try at a local mountain this week, I made it up quite a way carrying a 50 lb pack... I still have some conditioning to go it seems since there is quite a way to go.

But hike and rest (I call it picture taking etc.) in small sections works for me. I do walk normal up and down trails often and far, but high trails do take some patience. Locally, I found on Friday that some of the trail I was on had had some erosion caused by runoff (assumed), since there were no creeks or streams, I'm guessing that it was simply running off in large amounts. Lots of downed trees (same reason) on the trail and bypassing them took a while. Minimum effort going up, but once I turned back I was improving things for the next visit. Still a a long way to go with that trail. We are a bit southeast of Canmore, but in BC. Find Kananaskis Country and go south. Hope I didn't put you off, but if you don't work out over that way, things are clearing up in BC routes.

 

Oh, if your legs are not used to high walks, carry a little more weight than you intend to normally and try short minor hills, or even short lengths of stairs. I find that helps especially when you don't carry it. Don't use that to extremes though. Only reason I took 50 lbs up this one was the lack of water on the route and I carried gear and 6 litres of water which weighs a bit.

 

Doug 7rxc

Edited June 30, 2013 by 7rxc

[+Viajero Perdido]

Quantity, okay...

 

If you look at the map, you can see what are clearly some walking power trails. This section can be done in a loop; I think it took me 4 or 5 hours to find roughly two dozen caches. Not much variety here, and scenery is forest and logged-out areas with educational plaques. Zoom out for much more.

 

Grotto Canyon is a stunning half-day hike with a handful of caches.