Lillian Lake (Kananaskis)

I wanted to have a good hike this weekend especially because I had not done any the week before so I decided to do Mt. Kidd in Kananaskis. One reason was that it's close to the city. I don't have to pay much for the gas, plus there's no admission fee to the park. I have spent too much in the past 3 months. So I drove to Highway 40 and checked with Barrier Lake Information Center. The gentleman over there was helpful and even gave me books and maps to take photo of but insisted that they do not provide information for scrambling. 

You see Mt. Kidd. right after you hit the trail in less than 10 min. It has two popular scrambling summits which I haven't done both! 

So I drove to Galatea Creek which is after Kananaskis Village and parked in the huge parking lot of it. there were a few car so the area is popular but maybe not as much as the other hiking locations in the area. I started walking down the trail at 10:45 AM and after a few minutes what you see is a bridge and Mt. Kidd is in front of you. The trail is mostly washed off but pink ribbons help you find your way. Even if you pay no attention to the ribbons, you simply follow the creek which a nice one. The good thing about the hike is there's not many people on the trail. According to the information I have I had to find my way to the mountain after I crossed over the 7th bridge but i decided to let it go. It was a damn cloudy and gloomy day and I was tired. Besides my hiking shoes are kind of worn out now and they're not comfortable so I decided to just follow the trail to see where it goes. The trail is so nice, peaceful and quiet. Even when you part your way from the creek it's beautiful with lots of wildflower and different types of vegetation. It's so dense at spots that I don't think any bear can get even close to you without breaking branches and making lots of noise but I had my bear spray on me.

Asters were available almost everywhere on the trail and popular within the bee community

I finally reached Lillian Lake after 3 hours. It's a small lake which apparently people go for fishing but there were only a small group of three ready to go back at the time. 

I waled around and took a few photos. Then decided to get in higher elevation to see if I can get a shot of the whole lake but was too tired and thirsty to do that. Besides there was actually were visible trail to the surrounding mountains so I decided to head back to the parking lot. 

Going back was the same except that I was surprisingly tired and my throat was parched and unlike most of the hikes I didn't want to try steam water. 

I would say the only good thing about this trip is the quietness of the trail. if you want to go to Mt. Kidd you apparently have to take a hill up after the 7th bridge but it's got nothing more here unless you liking fishing. 

(Photo, top: Lillian Lake with the clouds which were coming down. The entire day was cloudy but no rain)