Upper Kananaskis Lake Trail

卡萨布兰卡

Our first dabble with Kananaskis was dated back 16 years ago when we were still lads and lasses. We were gravitated to the Kananaskis Resort because the 28th G8 summit was held there in June 2002. The participants such as George W. Bush, Tony Blair and their peers were long gone, fading swiftly from memory into history. The only exception is Vladimir Putin who is still playing active and dominant roles in the world’s political arenas, outlasting his opponents’ political lives by a great margin!

我们第一次来Kananaskis来玩，可谓是蜻蜓点水，浅尝辄止！那是16年前，我们还年轻！由于事先没有计划好，对景点不理解，我们只是被2002年六月在此召开的八国峰会而吸引。当时参加峰会的小布什，托尼布莱尔等都早己退出了政治舞台，只有普京一枝独秀，依然在俄国及世界政治舞台发挥不可忽视的作用，不管人们喜欢与否。

If my memory doesn’t betray me, it was a cloudy day with sporadic drizzles. The Sun was very shy, just stealing a glance at us from time to time. With such unwelcoming and inhospitable weather, compounded by our limited allocated time and lack of research and preparation, we could hardly get our feet wet with Kananaskis. It was thus unfairly relegated to limbo.

记忆中那天是阴天。时不时下着毛毛雨。太阳偶尔短暂地露一下羞涩的脸。差天气，缺乏事先研究与计划，加上时间紧迫，我们基本只是到此一游，没有留下深刻印象。从此，我们把它打入记忆的冷宫，总是优先选择班芙和贾斯珀两个国家公园。

In recent years, when we have chances talking about holiday or weekend destinations, Kananaskis seems to be a buzzword. In particular, we were inspired by the feat of a couple in our running group. They departed from home early in the morning, getting to Kananaskis at about 9:00am after driving about 500km, completing an arduous hike with stunning scenery, and getting back home at night. That helps shatter my inveterate propensity for choosing Banff and Jasper over Kananaskis.

近些年，与朋友和同事聊起周末及节假日期间的外出旅游目的地，Kananaskis 被很多人提到并推荐。尤其是老饿家两口子，他们早上从家出发，开车五百公里，欣赏完Kananaskis的美景后，连夜赶回家。这种的“早发白帝彩云间，暮至江陵一日还”的壮举，令人惊叹不已！这都有助于打破存在于脑中根深蒂固的刻板印象。

On Sep 4, 2020, we made a decision to have an impromptu travel, just pack and go. The very destination is Kananaskis. We booked a hotel room just a few minutes before midnight. We decided to hike the Upper Kananaskis Lake trail. It is a trail along the lake shore, totalling about 15km with an elevation gain in the vicinity of about 450m, which is not challenging to my wife and me but manageable by two youngsters.

九月四号晚，我们临时决定来个说走就走的旅行。只是带好换洗衣服，洗涮用品！目的地是Kananaskis. 我们决定沿着Upper Kananaskis Lake 走一圈。它全长约15公里，累计爬升约450米。这条路对老婆和我来讲，小菜一碟，但考虑到小朋友，觉得他们足可以对付。

We left our dwelling a few minutes prior to 8:00am. It took us five hours to get to our destination, one hour more than what was predicted by Google map, due in large part to road construction and poor traffic conditions passing the Winsport Center of Calgary. The cars writhed like a long snake on high way 1. To our bewilderment, we saw no evidence of car accidents or constructions etc that could be used to explain and justify the stalling.

我们是五号早八点前几分钟离开住所。五小时后到达目的地。比谷歌预计的慢一小时，因为修路和无法解释的交通阻塞。一路上并没有看到车祸什么的，但高速公路上，车如长龙，只是以十到二十公里的速度蠕动, 有时甚至完全仃止蠕动。

The weather is impeccable, sunny and warm. The light breeze from the lake gently caresses our faces, refreshing and invigorating. Many people flocked to the lake. Some of them set up a tent, enjoying the beautiful lake, delicious food and great weather. Many of them hiked the lake shore trail like what we did. The only thing that reminds us of the global pandemic is the masks worn by some of the tourists. A great majority of them wore no masks at all.

天气好得无万挑剔。湖面吹來的清风，轻抚脸庞，给人清新与活力，一扫长途奔波的劳顿。湖边车水人龙，或支起帐篷，亨受天气，山光水色，和美食；或沿湖跋涉！只有不多的人戴着的口罩提醒大家，我们仍在新冠大流行之中。

COVID-19 is still racking our nerves. We follow the recommended practices closely by keeping social distance as much as possible, wearing masks, and using sanitizer often. We refrain from asking other people to help us take family pictures. May the pandemic can be kept under control the soonest the possible, so life can return back to its normalcy!