May 27, 2019 - Cornwall Creek, The Elbow, Kananaskis

With the girls on the way home from their Scotland trip, Ken and I were on our own.  We decided to do a little Bike-And-Hike in the Elbow area of Kananaskis.  Ken picked me up around 8:15 and we were on our way.  The day was sunny but still cool (~5 C).  We got to the trailhead at Little Elbow Campground around 9:15, and we were on our way on the bikes with Cedric leading the way.

Layered down already, 15 minutes in.

Our plan was to cross the suspension bridge over the Elbow River, and bike about 7 km along the gravel road to Cornwall Creek.  From here we hiked up the creek bed to the falls about 1km upstream.

Cornwall Creek Falls

Ken, horsing around beside the falls.

This would be an ideal place for a family picnic, or some solitary reflection.  We had brought or camp chairs, and decided this was the right place to eat our PB and J sandwiches.  When you hike so much with a person, you tend to sync up in certain ways - we did not discuss beforehand, but both ended up bringing the same type of sandwich.  Neither of us was surprised.
After our break we scrambled up above the falls and found the trail that leads to the back access for Banded Peak, and also the dead-end valley on Mount Cornwall.  It would have been smarter to head back down Cornwall Creek and then head up to the trail, but we managed anyway.  We followed this trail for another couple of kilometers, and decided to head back from there.  The trail was well defined and easy to that point, and there were some beautiful views.

When we got back to our bikes, it dawned on us that Cedric had already hiked/ran over 10 km (plus the extra 50% that dogs do, owing to the fact that they detest straight lines), and he still had another 7 km back to the trailhead.  We took it slow for that reason, and encouraged him to take his time and stay cool (it was 18 C when we got back to the van).

Cedric did not hesitate to hunker down in any puddle/stream/creek he could find!

We made it back to the trail head around 1:15, happy with our outing.  We have not done much Bike-And-Hike, and we realized that with the easy bike access here, there are a number of great day-hiking options in this area.  I suspect we will be checking this area out more in the near future (or at least I really hope we do).

Ken showing off his mad bike skills.

UPDATE - I found out last night that Cedric suffered some skinned pads as a result of our outing on Monday.  He has fully recovered, but we will definitely keep this in mind for future Bike-And-Hikes.