Drum Creek Falls

We spent a lovely time yesterday discovering another beautiful waterfall in the Crowsnest Pass. The trail to Drum Creek Falls takes you through some mining ruins. If you love natural beauty mixed with some adventure, we highly recommend this unique hike!

For the Canada Day holiday, we decided to do some more adventuring in the Crowsnest Pass. We scrambled over the rocks at the Frank Slide and had lunch at the delightful Cherry on Top bakery and Koffie Shop in Blairmore. We hiked around Emerald Lake and had supper at the Rum Runner in Coleman. Concluding the day, we wandered through the Leitch Colleries as the sun was going down behind the mountains.

The highlight of the day was definitely the afternoon spent hiking at Drum Creek Falls. It is a shorter hike, just 1.8km in total. This delightful trail took us through the ruins of the old Hillcrest Mines. The ruins were super cool to explore as they are totally abandoned and the forest is growing up, around, and in them. Once you walk through the ruins, the trail takes you down a STEEP hillside to the creek. There are lots of switchbacks, but a kind soul has put up a rope section to help you down the worst parts. When you get down to the creek, you walk alongside it to make your way up the canyon. The gorgeous waterfall at the end is definitely worth the effort.

The following blog post was a huge help in finding and navigating the trail: Drum Creek Falls

All in all, it was another great day! We discovered another waterfall and can highly recommend this beautiful hike.

Allison Creek Falls

We love exploring our own back yard and spending a warm Saturday afternoon in September discovering a new waterfall was perfect. We’d heard of the Allison Creek Falls and had seen photos of friends who had been. It sounded like a great time. After a very busy summer, we finally had the opportunity to go and had a fun afternoon checking it out for ourselves.

Allison Creek Falls are in the Crowsnest Pass, specifically the Chinook Provincial Recreation Area. There was construction at the Chinook Lake Recreation Area and the road to that part was closed. We parked at the lower parking lot and at the fork after the parking area, we turned to the right. This takes you up a gravel road. The trailhead to Allison Creek Falls starts before you get to Chinook Lake and is marked and not hard to find. The trail itself is fairly new, but well laid out. It is a delightful and pretty walk through the woods and along the creek. Beautiful, newly constructed bridges take you across the creek in four different places. The gorgeous tiered waterfall at the end was a great reward for not that much effort. The hike is fairly easy and good for all skill levels.

Snowshoeing Adventure

Snowshoeing has always intrigued us. After walking past the Costco snowshoe offer for several years, we decided to gift each other a pair for Christmas. We both had a day off of work and decided to try them out. What a fun, relaxing way to get out and enjoy the winter beauty!

We are fortunate to live in such close proximity to the mountains which are just over an hour away. We decided that there would be our initial snowshoe adventure. We visited Beauvais Lake as well as Chinook Lake and enjoyed both immensely. Both had great trails and were not at all busy, making for a perfect retreat from life’s busyness. On the drive home we took the opportunity to catch the full moon rising above the Burmis Tree in the Crowsnest. A perfect end to a great day!

Winter Adventure in Southern Alberta – Star Creek Falls

Winter is a also special time to explore in Southern Alberta!

A few weeks ago we spent the afternoon hiking the Star Creek Falls in Coleman Alberta. Though not well marked, it is such a stunningly beautiful area. It was a pleasant drive towards the mountains (about an hour west of us) and we had a wonderful afternoon exploring the canyon and hiking right up to the frozen falls.

“Memories made in the mountains stay in our hearts forever”.