The last day of the trip is always the worst.

 

It’s not the worst in the sense that the day isn’t as fun or anything. It’s the worst in the sense that it’s time to pack up and go home and end the adventure.

On our last day, we got up early and packed our bags, ready to head out. We took a quick pit stop in Banff to visit Johnson Canyon and do one last hike!

  
Johnson Canyon is beautiful. It’s not a long hike, nor is it a strenuous one. If you travel past the upper falls, the hike to Ink Pots is a little harder, but we ran out of time to go that far.

The lower falls is my favorite. You cross a bridge and then go through a tunnel to get there. It’s a little wet though, but well worth it!

  
The upper falls is pretty neat too; it’s quite large and you don’t get quite as wet! The rock wall next to it is amazing – with little streams running down all over it, it’s become smooth and shiny. 

  
Most of the hike is uphill, and a few days into the trio my boyfriend ran into some knee problems. Not hard going up, but going down was not fun for him! I on the other hand was fine 😉 (which is downright amazing because I’m defs out of shape).

  
After Johnson Canyon, we stopped in the town of Banff for some Cows ice cream. We’ve been to Banff dozens of times, and he always says he’ll take me but we never end up there. It was well worth the wait though!!

 

The rest of the drive home is pretty uneventful. That’s the worst part of leaving the mountains: all of the beautiful scenery is in the rear view mirror…

Does a bear sh*t in the woods?

  
Why yes, yes it does, and that’s how we started our hike to Dog Lake. Always on the look out for bears! 

  
Whoever named Dog Lake is the world’s biggest disappointment. There are no dogs and the lake isn’t shaped like a dog, which would be the dream for dog-obsessed me. I spent the day teasing my boyfriend about our future black lab and how perfect a dog would be for our adventures!

But other than the disappointment of no dogs, the lake is pretty beautiful. On day five of our vacation, we decided to do a hike out to the lake. It’s a pretty uneventful hike, just through trees and the forest area. Eventually you reach a nice little beach that gives a great view of the mountains. Very Canadian looking!
  
We saw some fresh bear poop though, so we were on high alert again so that we wouldn’t run into it. 

  
Honestly, not much to say about Dog Lake. It’s a relatively easy hike, to a relatively nice lake. I’d do it again if I had the opportunity and the weather was nice! There’s 2 small suspension bridges for crossing over the rivers, with rocky but nice beaches. A good place to stop for lunch or to spend the day!

Only one more day of posting about my vacation and I’ll have to go back to roaming Edmonton 🙂 I’ve got plans to float down the North Saskatchewan River with my friends so I’ll have to fill you all in on that adventure!

And in the blink of an eye, a week goes by!

  
Oh my oh my, this week has gone by fast! I’ve been gone for a whole week here and it’s only felt like a day! I’ve been re-doing my bedroom, which has taken waaaaay longer than I expected.

  

I still need to tell you all about my vacation in British Columbia! So the fourth day of our adventure took us to Canyon Creek (which I believe is in Kootenay National Park).

  
The Parks Canada website mentioned that the first bit of the hike is very steep, but not to be deterred by it. After getting there, I have to say that was the steepest hill I’ve ever climbed. I’d say that parts were to close to a 60° angle. Very intense, I’m glad I brought decent hiking shoes! 

The whole hike is constantly uphill, some areas not as bad as others, but none of them are as bad as the beginning. If you’re willing to do all of the uphill work (don’t skip leg day bro), then you’ll be rewarded with amazing views of the canyon. 

  
I hate uphill hikes with an absolute passion, but this one was definitely worth it! There’s no guard rails though, so be careful near the edge! It’s a looooooong way down! It’s also apparently a popular biking trail, so be vigilant or you might get run over like I did!

Didn’t see much wildlife on this hike, although we were warned about bears being sighted in the area very very recently. We did see a little snake who was pretending to be a stick, and a crow that was pretending to be a black bear. The way it peaked itself over an edge looked like the snout of a black bear, so needless to say we freaked out and I had a minor heart attack.

We made it to the first viewpoint, which was absolutely amazing. The second viewpoint is very very far down the path. When we googled it, we found out that the second viewpoint (which isn’t labeled) is just before the trail breaks down into a narrow trail. Apparently that isn’t correct, and you need to follow the narrow trail further, as it will open up more back to the normal trail. We almost made it the whole way though!

  
We were hoping to see some goats, but no luck! Maybe next time 😉

I’m not surprised how fast this past week has gone, considering how quickly time went by the week we were on vacation. In the next few days here I’ll finish up posting about my trip! Thanks for being patient guys 🙂

So I Didn’t Get Eaten By a Bear

  
Bear-ly.

Haha get it? Puns.

But anyways, our third day of our vacation was a beautiful day, the rain stopped in Golden so we decided to visit Yoho National Park and find a good hike to do.

I’m paranoid as fuck. So I demanded that we own bear spray. The visitors center pointed us in the right direction, and suggested that we visit Wapta Falls. They also mentioned that a mama bear and her cubs were spotted not far from the area, hence my paranoid desperation for bear spray. Mama bears will rip your face off.

So off we went on our adventure! The parking lot is teeny tiny, so be prepared! Only about 7 cars will fit until they open up the road, and that’s if people don’t park badly, so go early. We wedged my little car into the parking lot the best I could and started out down the trail.

  
The trail starts as a service road, turning into a hiking path. After about the first 20 minutes of hiking, you come to a flat path horizontal to a steep incline. Can’t go up, can’t go down, can only go forward. 

After all of that, you’ll finally make it to the falls. If you don’t mind some steep downhill trails, you can go right to the rivers edge and look up towards Wapta Falls. Very pretty, I’m quite pleased that we didn’t miss out on it.

  
The boyfriend and I messed around on the rocky shore for a while, eating lunch, skipping rocks, and seeing who could keep their feet in the icy water the longest (spoiler: not me!). There was only one other family down there who left early so we had the whole place to ourselves. It’s a beautiful place, with an absolutely amazing view!

  
Something new I realized: alone is not always better. We decided to pack up and head out, discussing what we would do later in the evening. A strange noise caught my attention, it sounded like a creaky gate being opened and closed. Despite not knowing for even what a second what a cougar sounds like, that was my first thought. Need I remind you of my paranoia?

Weird sound = watch your back, you hyper-vigilant wanderer. As we hiked further down the trail, climbing over fallen trees, my heart had slowed down but my head hadn’t. Probably a good thing, because that’s when we heard strange noises. First, the strange creaky gate sounds. And then, all of the fallen trees on the slope above the path started breaking and crunching. Then we heard the worst sound ever: heavy, deep huffing – almost a growl. Immediately we knew it was a bear, so we stopped dead in our tracks. 

I’m an over-reactor. I tend to envision the worst and assume the worst of outcomes. I immediately saw visions of us high tailing it away from a pissed off mama bear and being eaten. I tearfully pulled the bear spray out of my boyfriend’s bag, and we started heading back towards the falls. Our plan was to wait it out and see if the bear would move, since we couldn’t avoid the path. One way in, one way out. 

We occupied ourselves with googling bear facts and what to do in case of a bear attack. I also learned how to hold bear spray, because apparently when I’m filled with adrenaline and preparing to be eaten alive, I’m more likely than not to be a dumb ass and point the can towards my own face.

I think I can genuinely say that the most glorious moment in my life was when we saw other hikers walking towards the falls. They hadn’t heard the bear or seen anything strange, so we were finally safe to head back. I’ve never talked so loudly about such mediocre things in my whole life until that walk back. We wanted the bear to know exactly where we were, while having a white-knuckle grip on the bear spray.

  
So that’s my anticlimactic story of a bear encounter… Any of you ever encountered a bear??

I Need a Compass.

  
Alright, so today was interesting to say the least. After sleeping in waaaaay too late, we spent the early afternoon exploring Golden.

  
It’s a pretty cute little town to visit. Small town living definitely isn’t my jam though, I think I would go crazy. I’m not necessarily a big city kind of girl, but Golden is tiny. And I like shopping. So this relationship would just never work. 

  
Not much to explore in town, so we thought we’d try a short hike. “Short hike” turned into “shit where are we and where’s the car???” We also got yelled at by a very chatty squirrel!

  
Our hike was at Cedar Lake, which is very beautiful. Lots of different trails you can take, but not many trail maps. After hiking in what we thought would be a circle, we ended up faaaaaaar from the car, and even further from the lake. We eventually wandered out on yo a service road and from there could use our phones to figure out where the hell we were.

  
And guess what! It’s bear season! We saw what might have been bear tracks on the service road we ended up on. Tomorrow I get to be an official hiker and buy some bear spray and a compass haha 🙂 

  
The website for Golden lists the difficulty of the hike, and the difficulty of the drive to get to the hike. This one was listed as easy for both, which is good for someone like me with a car that practically touches the ground. Not many are listed as easy for both, so tomorrow we’re gonna try our luck with an easy drive but hard trail. If all goes according to plan, we’ll end up on the top of a mountain peak! 🙂

I’ll keep you guys posted and keep my bear spray close! Anyone ever encountered a bear before?? Tell me about it!!

PS, best pants ever to hike in have got to be LuLu Lemons! I usually don’t like to spend that much on hiking clothes, but these pants are an absolute dream!

  
#obsessed

Rolling, Rolling, Rolling…

  
We made it! After 6 hours of driving and an hour worth of pit stops, we’re finally in Golden!

 
Pit stop in Banff included some much needed sushi!

The view from our hotel is spectacular. But I guess when you’re in a mountain town it’s almost impossible not to have a nice view.

Apart from getting some absolutely breathtaking views driving across the British Columbia/Alberta border, we didn’t get up to too much yesterday. Just driving. So much driving.

  
We obviously had to go out for a drink before we hit the hay 😉

Today we’ll probably just go grab some groceries and explore the town, possibly go on a short hike!

Where do you guys like to hike on Golden?? Shoot me a message and let me know!