....or how a well planned week-end turns in something even better. 

The plan was to have a very busy weekend. Saturday we woke up at 3 am to drive all the way to Lethbridge (about 2 hours) where Florin supposed to participate in the “Lost Soul” Ultra Marathon Run (53k). Once in Lethbrige we have learned that the race has been cancelled due to the heavy rain during the night. Since this is a trail run, the trail turned in a mushy-muddy way, impossible to run! So, here we are Saturday morning at 6 am in the most “romantic” place to watch the sunrise and to have the coffee: Lethbrige. We drove back to Calgary and at 9:30 am, the normal time to wake up for a decent weekend breakfast, we were already back in bed tired of 4 hours drive. Sunday is originally reserved for a community event but after the “eventful” Saturday, we decided to twist it. The weather is perfect, so let’s go hiking. 

We choose a long easy trail: Mount Bourgeau Trail starts from the Lake Bourgeau parking lot, on the West Canada 1 Highway; just 2.9 kilometers passed the Sunshine Ski Area Exit.  The trail is a very popular hike to the lake; about 7.4 km of easy, very clear trail most of it through the forest, altitude gain about 750m. I strongly recommend doing this hike with a pleasant hike companion; otherwise, it might turn into something quite boring, as the lookout points are quite rare until you reach the lake.  Or if you decide to go alone, this will be a good time organize your thoughts.  

 But once at the lake, the 2 hours hike through the woods was well rewarded by the view. The sky was clear, the weather just perfect.   At the lake, we realized that we forgot to change the batteries in the camera and the old ones are running low, so we really had to choose and pick was is worth a shoot. Ok, if we can’t keep the view stored in digital pixels then we better enjoy the day and store the feelings on our own “heart-drive”. From here on, the next 750 m altitude gain to the top was quite a fun, enjoyable hike with many pictures to be taken.

2 hours later we are on the top (2930 m) and at this point the last bit of energy in our camera‘s batteries are gone! And what a view, 360◦ of infinite blue sky  on top of row after row of mountains capped with snow ! Luckily, we meet some very friendly individuals who shared their batteries with us, just for few pictures from the top.  We can see from here Banff Town, Sunshine Ski Area, Mount Assiniboine, and so many other mountains that we hiked (all pictures in the picture's section).

The descent was easy and quiet, thinking about a new working week about to start in few hours. However, 1500 m altitude descent takes its toll on my knees. The hike can be done easily in 7-8 hours, there are no exposed areas and it is a dog friendly trail.  The views and the “texture” of the area remind me about the Fagarasi Mountain back at home (Romania).  Definitely, we will be back to Mount Bourgeau, next time with full power batteries for the camera.

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