Castle Mountain

Tuesday was the cold day, high about 47.  Wednesday we drove up to Castle Mountain, about 36 miles from here, and hiked the Castle Mountain lookout trail.  Took a little more than 2 hours up, and a little less going down, about 4 and a half hours roundtrip.  Was 2.3 miles one way and about a 1600 ft elevation gain.

Was about 55-60 as we climbed up the trail, and we got pretty hot going up.  Got to the lookout and it was about 52 and the wind was whipping across through the valley. My shirt under my pack was soaked and the wind was cold on my back.  We about froze up there with the strong winds.  I changed to my dry long sleeved shirt, and set my wet one out to dry.  We ate a quick lunch, took the videos, and were ready to go.  I added my wet shirt on top of my other one, and headed back down.

We've hiked this trail before, didn't remember any after-effects, but this time, both of us have had sore muscles, mainly our calves.  After sitting, can barely move.  Rested all day Thursday, took one short walk down to the river and to the open market in town.  Bought fresh corn and green beans.  Today we took a little longer walk, across the river and around Mountain Shadows housing area, back along the river, and home again.  Has been threatening rain, we could see it raining up near Banff, so Bill opted not to play golf, has been watching the tournament at St Andrews where the winds have played havoc with the tour.

videos taken at Castle Mountain lookout   http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=banffwego+castlemountain&aq=f 



viewpoint is near the top of the tree line

looking towards mountains that surround Lake Moraine, Lake Louise, and Paradise Valley