Yamnuska 2006

On May 22, Victoria Day in Canada, the Wolff's along with several other families went up Mt. Yamnuska (well, part way anyway). It took Erin some convincing, but 2 mintues before it was time to leave she decided to come along.

We arrived at the trail head a bit later than most, then Erin had to feed Hannah -- so the group (made up of about 6-8 families from Tuscany) went on without us. Graice and Matt went ahead with Wendy Shipley, and after not too long Gracie was connected with Madison Shipley, Kaytlyn Fibke and Julia Gedlaman. Grace was enjoying herself so much, that Erin and I didn't walk one step of the hike with her -- she went ahead with the kids and we met up with her at the top. I'm so pleased that she would do this by herself.

Matt on the otherhand fell and cut his knee within the first few mintues of the hike (he's not able to focus on the trail, and he triped on every other root and rock). Fortunately Wendy had a band-aide, and I put Matt on my shoulders and hiked him to the top.

As we pulled into the parking lot, Erin asked if I had packed the baby carrier -- which I had cleaned off and prepared earlier in the morning. Nope, I did not. So with that, Erin and I took turns holding Hannah in our arms, and walking her up the mountain. (Thanks to Derek Kearl and Mike Gedlaman who both took brief stints holding Hannah also.) For the most part, Hannah slept both on the way up and on the way down.

The group stoped for a rest and snack at a rocky outcropping midway between the trail head and the tree line. The outcropping overlooks the Nakoda lodge and Heart Lake, and forms a bit of a ledge that you can stand on for a great photo.



Gracie didn't like being close to the edge, so by the time we all got positioned to take a photo, she bolted back up to safer ground.



We didn't have anything to put Hannah in while we rested, so Julie Kearl let us user her jacket and we put Hannah on that.



We rested and visited for about 45 minutes, then packed up and started back for the car. The hike down is always harder than the hike up. It doesn't take as much strength, but it takes far more concentration. Erin carried Hannah most of the way down, and I had Matt on my shoulders. The steep parts were particularly tricky. Erin took a bit of a spill and cut her hand and knee -- this scared her more than hurt her. Fortunately when she fell, I was carying Hanna, and she was only holding Matt's hand.


At one point, on the steepest part of all, I took Hannah and Matt, so Erin could focus 100% on getting herself down safely. We felt a real sense of accomplishment when we got back to the parking lot -- especially after having carried both Matt and Hannah up and down.

On the ride home we stoped for a heard of big horn sheep, who were scaling down the side of a very steep, sheer rock face. There must have been thrity sheep in all, and we waited, stoped on the hiway for at least two or three minutes while these sheep came down the side of the mountain and crossed the road. The kids loved it!


After the hike, Julie and Derek Kearl invited everyone over to thier place for a bar-b-que. They've go a great place for a gathering of that size -- there must have been 75-80 people all together. We had a great time, and didn't get back to the house until the kids bedtime -- which, for many parents, is the best part of the day.