Heart Mountain

MAC and I went off and tried Heart Mountain over the Stampede weekend. It was just off the highway, so fairly close to get to from the city.


Finding the trail head a little tough, but the weather was quite cooperative as you can see from the pictures.


Very technical hike compared to the previous ones so far this summer. It took us almost as long to get down.


Unfortunately, we missed a sign and didn't make it to the top, if we had enough time we would have gone back and climb the 8-foot high ledge required to reach the summit and then take the loop back down.

Safari

We are also doing a three-day safari before Kilimanjaro. Howard Hillman has good safari starter.

Day 1: LAKE MANYARA
Day 2: NGORONGORO CRATER
Day 3: TARANGIRE NATIONAL PARK

Looking at getting a pair of binoculars? Here's a good tutorial on what to look for. Thinking 10x40 at this time.

Galatea Hike

We decided to try Galatea Creek trail up to Lillian Lake over the Canada Day long weekend. After grabbing some McDonald's breakie, it just took us an hour before we were at the trail's head.

Weather was pretty good, but with a few grey clouds on the horizon (and bear sighting warnings), we head back down rather than trying to head up to Lower (and Upper) Galatea Lake.

Looks like we made the right call, as about half way down, it started to pour down. I was pretty much drenched already, so I didn't even bother putting on my shell. But the sun came back out as we were finishing up.

Pretty scenic trail which criss-crosses the creek at multiple points. Upper half of trail definitely a lot steeper, hopefully next time we will have the opportunity to check out Galatea Lakes.