The EPIC EEOR

Also known as East End of Rundle. The other end of the sharp monster towering over Banff. This is the rear end of that range peering over Canmore. The much lesser daunting of the two and a bit more friendly to hike.

Looking outside whilst having my morning coffee I was actually seeing all blue skies (which btw hasn't happened in a while unless it was -30 degrees), so anticipating the second Paula emerges downstairs, hoping that she too had seen the weather outside. Obviously we were N'sync (haha) and decided to pack a sandwich and GO!

Literally 10 minutes drive from downtown Canmore (or 5 minutes from our house) heading up Spray Lakes road (this is a steep dirt road so take caution), once reaching the reservoir at the top to the right hiding in the shrubs underneath the power lines the trail for EEOR begins. Do not be silly like me the first time I did this hike 2 years ago, where I was with friends and thought that we were at the trail, but as it turned out were 200m down the road from the actual entrance and at the base of a 200ft cliff.

EEOR starts out with a BANG. Literally. a some hundred metres up the trail there is a sign warning for unexploded bombs - and recommending you to stay on trail.

Following the path to the left weaving in around trees for a while before coming face-to-face with sheer rock. There are a few small routes that weave up and around or just around, just pic what is comfortable as they all reach the same point at the top. There was also a Grizzly walking this trail in Summer 2018 as seen here - path of least resistance, which is fair because this hike is steep enough as it is. I don't blame the heifer for taking the easier route. I would. I do.

This hike follows the Ridgeline up until the top of the tree line. There is a fair amount of trail finding but some lovely soul has Kindly marked out obvious routes with blue squares and also ribbons. There are a few spots if you go off trail will lead you to a very sheer down drop over-looking the reservoir. So take care and watch the steps and it is a rather sharp steep fall down. It also of course contains the classic Canadian switch backs intermittently interrupted by rock slabs and snow patches.

The Ridgeline for most of the bottom half

The trail is steadily heading up. Along the ridge there are a few "flat" spots which give the calves a bit of a break. But most importantly don't forget to turn around to ogle at the amazing views of Goat Peak, Sulfur Range and Ha-Ling Peak. This time as its early season the mountains are still covered in snow so I find them so much more beautiful. The other time I have slugged up this mountain was mid summer with no snow, so a different experience for me - also slightly hotter. To no surprise however Paula and myself complained about how steep it was- even as we love hiking and its not our first for the season. Slowly the trees disperse and thin and the scree creeps in. Now this is fun, going downhill. Going uphill however is a grind and usually when a scramble is involved( the name says it all) you literally do one step and go back 2. Thankfully this scree was nicely packed down as it is such a popular spot, the only thing Paula and I had to was fight one step at a time.

Paula on the scree with the true EEOR summit behind.

Not long after delving into scree the slope rears into a meadow. Really random grass meadow mostly the way up a mountain? Still puzzles me to this day to be honest. The slope of the hike softens out and this is where we decided to branch off. We swiftly came to a joint decision that we would only go to the peak (not summit) as neither of us were feeling overly confident in our abilities this early in the season to trudge up the scramble and be wind blasted. Just reaching the peak and cliff edge was windy enough. When people tell you to prepare for a hike and take all necessary equipment- you listen. I have slowly come to realize this. Yes, it may be sunny and warm down in town but guess what. That mountain top is sure as hell going to be a lot windier and usually colder too. Sometimes in "summer" I'll take a hoody, long sleeve AND a wind breaker, because you never know.

From the meadow up to the summit is in my opinion harder than the rest of the hike. You are fully exposed to all elements and it is all loose rock (as well as steep). Maybe next time when I've warmed up to the scrambles I will finally reach the summit. But until then I am more than content to follow a faint trail weaving around the still standing snow patches up to the cliffs edge.

Paula just before the peak that we stopped and ate at, with Ha-ling and Miners Peak in the background

Perched cliff edge overlooking my new home Canmore, wind blasting, sun pounding, eating a sandwich, I was truly happy. Not because I was eating. But because I was FINALLY out hiking and in the sun (not snow). Ofcourse we had to go perch out butts on the rocks on the cliffs edge (only afterwards realizing how steep it was below us), and lying on our stomachs trying to dig up the courage to look over the edge without plummeting to the base. This was the most picturesque sandwich eating spot I've ever had.

The view on this hike is world seen due to the classic peak shaped Ha-Ling in the background of every photo taken facing south. Who can resist that.

(Fun fact: Ha-Ling was previously called Chinaman's peak but changed for obvious reasons, and the reservoir is called White man's gap).

The moment I realized how high I was.

From that peak you could definitely scramble up to the true summit, in which it literally will be a scramble. It would only take maximum an hour- depending if your legs want to go or not. But for me personally I was happy with the accomplishment of getting to where we did and the views and thrill was enough.

Considering we took our sweet time taking photos every few metres (not kidding we both have around 120 of them almost with the same views), as well as snacks, scenic pee's and a lengthy lunch at the top, we only took 3 1/2 hours return to that edge. So I can imagine had we gone to the summit it would have taken around 5 hours return.

For those wanting a close enough hike to Canmore that has requires some sweat and swearing, this would be prime. It has a grind but not so much that I would consider it difficult or hard. I have done it in runners before, so it is definitely do-able. But needs to be done with caution as there is a lot of loose rock and slippery rocks in the top half. (Please note that one woman passed away after slipping and falling on EEOR in the summer of 2018). I don't say that to deter anyone, but to just make sure when hiking precautions are taken and ego doesn't take over.

Just because the photo at the top was gram worthy, doesn't mean it should overlook safety and mindfulness.