Ha Ling summit

On Monday, Garrett and I zipped into Canmore and did a popular hike up Ha Ling peak (better known as Chinaman's peak, but they renamed it so it would be more politically correct. However, no one knows what I'm talking about when I say "Ha Ling Peak"). The hike is listed as an easy scramble, since the first half of the hike is trail-bound, but once you get above the tree line you can scramble where ever over the shale.

On the drive up, we saw some shaggy mountain goats.The hike itself was about 800 meters in elevation gain. After about 400 meters, we were above the treeline. We stopped just below the treeline and before a bunch of snow and ate our lunch. This little birdie came to visit us while we ate.Garrett took some pictures of me as we rested on the trail.This is looking down the valley to the east.We continued hiking up (us, and about 40 other people too) to the peak, where we looked over a steep cliff onto the town of Canmore.Since I'm a little bit afraid of heights (ironic, hey, seeing as I climb mountains all the time), I refused to get any closer to the edge than this.Garrett was braver than I, but the picture I took doesn't do the view justice.A lady at the top took a picture of the two of us together.Once we reached the top, the weather finally started raining on us, as it had been threatening to do since we started our hike. We got pretty wet, since we were completely exposed up there.The way back down was more treacherous than the way up, since the rain had created a lot of mud that stuck in the grooves of our boots. I slipped several times and got pretty dirty. Once we were back in the car and driving back to Canmore, we stopped to take a picture of the mountain we'd just climbed. Here it is:We were waaaaayyyy up there!