Kananaskis & Nordegg 

Hello friends! Guilty. It’s been a while since I blogged. But you know how it is in the summer.  Who has time to sit in front of a computer? Plenty of time for that in the cold winter months. This past weekend I was pulled in two directions – Kananaskis and Nordegg. Amanda and I drove down on Saturday morning to check out some of the Powderface trail. I have never been there so I welcomed the guide. It was raining when we left so we crossed our fingers that it clear up by the end of our two-hour drive. 

Luck was on our side – it wasn’t raining when we started out. But as you can see from the photos, it was very wet and muddy. My feet were soaking wet for the entire run. (Look at the bottom right photo.) We had a blast though. It was a super slow run/hike but it was so nice to be out of the city. 

NORDEGG – COLISEUM MOUNTAIN

On Sunday I headed to Nordegg with a handful of people from our Eat Like You Give A Damn Vegan Red Deer 2.o group. While we didn’t have a big group, we sure had a lot of fun. We didn’t let the weather put a damper on our day in the mountains. Yes it sucked but when the fog lifted, it was a beauty of a day. 

There were a few silly moments like this one. Don’t worry JP is alive and kicking. This was a dramatic staged pose for his parents. 

I like this picture. Look at all the crazy fog behind us. We couldn’t see the summit until we reached it. Thankfully it cleared up on our way down so everyone was able to see how far we had travelled. Our little group was quite impressive. I didn’t hear any complaining about the switchbacks or the elevation gain. (Although I’m fairly certain a yoga instructor was shooting daggers at me with her eyes.)

Foggy, right? This reminds me out of a scene of some horror movie. At times it was eerie quiet and all you could hear was the rustling of the leaves blowing in the wind. We spotted a young buck early on the hike and that was it for wildlife. No bears. No cougars. All good. 

Overall it was a great day – despite a few hiccups. I met some awesome new people and I put 18K on Garmin. I would love to explore this area more in the future. I have to get ready for my two-week trip to Ottawa. I can’t wait to see old friends and old haunts. 

EAT LIKE YOU GIVE A DAMN (Vegan Red Deer 2.0)

Unfortunately it was bloody cold on the summit. We quickly ate and did not linger. We wanted out of the wind. The gang made some awesome vegan dishes! One woman made this awesome chickpea salad, which I replicated for my work potluck on Tuesday. So so good. Most people on the hike were not vegans. How cool is that? It’s about spreading the vegan message, one dish at a time, and starting conversations. I was more than happy to answer questions (and there were several) about my vegan lifestyle. 

All in all, it was a great weekend. I need to put Nordegg on my “to do” list more often. 

(More pictures are available on Eat Like You Give A Daman Vegan Red Deer 2.0. Join us!)