I left Red Deer at the crack of daylight to secure a campsite. I could barely keep my eyes open. Thanks to a certain friend I stayed up way too late on Friday.
But I was super excited to get out of the city so I didn’t mind being a little tired to start off my weekend. I missed the turnoff at my first choice in campgrounds but I lucked out at Three Sisters campground. One of the campers was evicted in the early hours so I snagged the site.
The skies were threatening to open up and I wanted to get my tent up before Tina arrived from Calgary. I think I set a new PR in my tent set up.
I wanted to shake off my 2.5 hour drive with a 10K run around the Canmore Nordic Centre. The skies were getting darker every minute. I thought .. it’s only rain. It won’t hurt me. I got in just about 7K before the thunder started rolling it. I was drenched by the time I made it back to the Nordic Centre.
My shoes were soaked. I figured out a makeshift way to dry them quickly. I only brought one pair of sneakers. Tina and I had plans for a hike that night so I needed dry shoes. Lucky for us the sun came out a few hours later. I sat in the Nordic Centre for about an hour to read while I waited it out.
Later in the day after a quick snack at Communitea Cafe, my new favourite place in Canmore, we headed to Grotto Creek Trail for a walk.
Thousands of years ago the canyon walls were carved by surging meltwater from receding glaciers. Amazing stuff. It’s about a 2K (4K return) easy walk to the waterfalls. We turned back after the waterfalls because it was getting dark.
We snapped lots of pictures and took in the beauty before us. There was a photo op at every turn. What a great way to start off the weekend!