It's been 6 days since my last post so some updating is needed. Cassia and I went on a hike this past Monday. We went on the Wardner Trail to see Kaslo from above. It was a .6 mile hike pretty much vertical the whole way up. It was a pretty view at the top and there was a nice wood bench for us to take in the views.
The main event of the week was my hike to Kokanee Lake in Kokanee Glacier Park. Tuesday night I decided I wanted to go on a hike the next day and landed on this one. Wednesday morning I got up, had breakfast, and collected some fruits, bear spray, my camera and my hiking shoes and I was off. Kokanee glacier park is about an hour drive from where I'm staying in Kaslo, so it wasn't too bad of a drive, or so I thought. About halfway through my journey, I take a right onto a dirt road. Now my GPS says I'm 10 miles and 47 minutes away from the trailhead! What?! Why would it take 47 minutes to drive 10 miles. Well I'll tell you. I crawled at 5mph for 10 miles over rocks and potholes the size of tires. There were bumps and ridges in the dirt that jostled me around the car. I questioned my continuing on this road, but I knew this trail was popular and mid-sized SUVs must drive back here all the time. So I persisted. After what turned into 50 minutes on the road from hell I finally made it to the trailhead. (Dad if you're reading this, I'm taking really good care of the car, I promise.) Thankful to have made it to the parking lot I had high expectations for this hike, hoping it was worth the drive in.
The road in question, looking super innocent.
As I start the hike, immediately there are amazing views of the mountains. The whole experience was jaw dropping. Every pace was an incredible view. I was so excited, and needed to get out my camera as soon as possible. As I'm turning it on the screen face reads "No SD Card Read". NOOOOOOOOOOOOO. It's comes rushing back that I left my SD card in my laptop, I was downloading photos the night before. Now my whole 6+ mile hike I will not be able to use my camera. I can be known to be a tad unprepared at times and this is one of those times. I took my loss on this one and captured the amazing views on my phone. The way out to Kokanee Lake was 3.1 miles and 1,565 elevation gained. So it's safe to say the hike out was a lot more difficult than the way back.
Now along the trail I was pretty much on my own no one but the knowledge that bears were around to keep me company. Until I stubbled upon Abbie and Charlie. Now Abby and Charlie were in the bushes just off the trail harvesting wild huckleberries and invited me to join. Now I love interesting people so I was all for having a chat and a huckleberry. As I continued on the trail I eventually got to Kokanee Lake. I have no words so I'll just leave the pictures below. I walked around part of the lake and found the perfect rock to lay down and take in the views. I got out my plums and pear I brought, had some water and listened to the sound of nature around me. I dipped a toe in the water and as expected it was freezing. I did some journaling, listened to The Lumineers (My favorite song of theirs is "My Eyes") and after an hour I decided I was ready to take the journey back. Now I love walking pack down a trail cause the perspective is completely different on the way back even though it is the same trail. Anyways the way back was lovely with those amazing views and after an hour made it back to my car. Now the dreaded journey down this dirt road. I was dreading it but I knew if I got out onto pavement again that I would never put my dear Acura in that position again. So I persisted down this road and the way down was actually 10x better than the way up. After 40 minutes I made it out onto the highway and I was super grateful. I'd like to formally thank my car's tires and Axl for working so hard to get me out of this dead zone. But the main point is the hike was absolutely amazing and I had a wonderful time and didn't get attacked by a bear!
