Well, what I didn't mention is that right after I finished the race, Mr. Man and I hopped on a plane to Calgary, Alberta, Canada to spend some quality time visiting my family in the in Bow Valley.
While we, of course, spent a good portion of our week in the area being lazy and catching up with our loved ones at my family's home in Canmore, Alberta, Canada (near Banff national park), we also made a point to get outdoors and enjoy a few hikes in the area -- namely the Geoscience Foundation's epic 13-hour Burgess Shale hike to the Walcott Quarry.
See, several months prior, after hearing my parents rave about their time on the hike (there are fossils involved!), I convinced Mr. Man and a few of our friends to boldly sign up to accompany me on the mega day hike this past August.
Bless them all for dealing with my crazy ideas.
To prep for the Burgess Shale hike, a few days before our adventure, Mr. Man and I did a warm-up hike at Ha Ling near Canmore to get our lungs and legs acclimated to the higher altitude. To be honest, Ha Ling is a bit steeper than the Burgess Shale hike and sort of scared us into thinking we couldn't handle the longer hike to the Walcott Quarry. We were huffing and puffing the whole way!
Needless to say, the day of the actual long hike, we were both a bit nervous.
On the day of the hike, we woke up super early and headed to our meeting spot in Field, British Columbia (about 1.5 hours away from Canmore) to climb, climb, climb our way up to some fossils (you can read more about the hike details here)! Here's a few cell phone snaps of our journey:
It was a long, semi-steep hike and really, with a little training, I feel like anyone can do it with enough perseverance!
Although I brought my professional camera, I was so focused on the hike I didn't take too many photos, but here are a few I captured of the day:
Have you ever been on an amazingly epic hike before? Let me know in the comments below!
