Camping Alone
“Good for you” a group of hikers said to me as I was making my way through the trail. I at first said thanks, but as I walked away I felt kinda weird about it. Why is it so weird for people do things alone. Men go hiking and camping all the time alone, why is it so different for a women to do it? I bumped into some solo women hikers who told me the trail was amazing and that I was going to have a blast and I really appreciated the quick stop to chat.
As I headed up the trail and I saw less and less people as I got further back. I started to feel better, because I was having less interactions with groups about how I should be scared for being out so far alone. I started to really enjoy the views, how hard the trail was and the quiet time to myself.
I have never been out back this way. For context, I started at the Upper Kananaskis Lakes parking lot. I looked up my maps before I left the house, but my phone seemed to not save the maps so I went in with a fuzzy memory on what was to come. My first stop was the Turbine Canyon Campsite, which I was surprised with how many people were back there. It started to rain heavily when I got there so I quickly set up my tent, went out to grab water and started to prep my food.
At these campsites its common to have a community area to cook all your food at, which is far enough away from all the tents. I set up my spot at the picnic table, covered in water but the rain was starting to let up. I was soon joined by an older gentleman who asked me what trail I was doing. I told him that I found this on AllTrails and didn’t know that there were others! He was on the GDT, The Great Divide Trail. A trail I learned about a few years ago that seemed like a great project for later on in my life. Now, I had no idea a portion of the trail went through here. I haven’t looked into it too much clearly. But for some reason, I have it in my head one day i’m going to Fast pack the whole trail in one go. I think it’s a great dream, but I do want to do the trail in sections before I attempt something like this. If its still in my cards down the road. We chatted a while while we ate our dinners and then it was off to bed for me.
The next day after breakfast, I started the trek to the next campground, which is apparently quite popular for people to do! There are many spots at Three Isles, it’s not too far from the parking lot and it has stunning views. PS. If you want to see the full thing VIA Video Check it out here!
It was raining again and it rained right up until I got to the campground. Regardless of all the wet, it was still so pretty. Fog and mist created this fairy tail like landscape where magical things happen.
On the last day, I assumed, walking out would be a little less scenic and more business (hiking out of there.) I was definitely wrong. The views just kept getting better and the flowers were popping up everywhere. I will definitely be back and I will keep dreaming about the vibrant colors of mountains, rolling hills and streams of water.
