Gorgeous day hike above Barrier Lake

Wednesday was an absolutely beautiful day here in central Alberta, although they were calling for some strong winds in the mountains. We had been planning a ridge hike, but with the strong winds we changed our plans and instead hiked up the Prairie View Lookoff Trail to Yates Mountain and up to the Barrier Lake Fire Lookout.

We arrived at the trailhead at 10:00am

It was a 12.4 km (7.7 mile) roundtrip hike with a 638 meter (2,100') elevation gain.

Another interesting sunrise in Cochrane, Alberta.

The mountains as seen from my sister's apartment.

On the highway heading west.

This guy has a nice property.

Getting closer.

We would never tire of this scenery.

As seen from the Morley Indian Reserve.

Arrived at the trailhead at Barrier Lake.

The wind had already picked up.

First viewpoint... absolutely gorgeous!

Wow.

Me!

Ruth and Alison.

From the Prairie View Lookoff.

And, turning around to look the opposite way.

Alison and Ruth.

Me!

At Prairie View Lookoff.

What are they looking at?

This Canada Jay had landed on the top of a nearby tree.

Kevin and Ruth

We could see the Trans Canada highway that leads to Banff.

Zoomed in, the traffic is backed up. 

They were doing construction further west.

Scenery along the way.

Alison, enjoying the view.

Made it to the Fire Lookout.

There is a sign on the way up to the fire lookout that warns not to cross the barrier because it's the private home of the fire lookout. So we made it that far, and sat down and had some lunch.

Ruth, enjoying the view.

And, the view she was enjoying.

We were trying to find a way to the other side of the lookout station and we went back to the helicopter pad. The actual barrier was on the other side of the pad, so we went up there. The fire lookout guy saw us, and came outside and invited us past the barrier.

We spoke to him for ten minutes or so. Certainly an interesting career choice!

Funny, but as I was writing this blog post, I did some research about these guys, and came across this article written a year or so ago...

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/fire-lookout-wildfires-alberta-lookout-observer-1.6955504

The guy they are interviewing in the article is the guy we met! Now in his sixth season at this location.

The view from the other side of the fire lookout.

Zoomed in, there is a huge concrete factory down there.

Heading back down.

What a great hike. 

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