Day 11 -- Goodbye British Columbia

One province down ... seven(?!) to go (not going to hit PEI or Newfoundland this trip) ... check off the Yukon and Northwest Territory too.  Nunavut will have to wait 😔

Summary:

Continuing South and East

• Drove from Dawson Creek, BC to Hinton, AB (just outside of Jasper National Park)
• Distance Travelled: 465 km
• Time on the road: ~ 7 hrs
• Regrettable Decisions: (1)
• thinking I would be fine in trainers to hike up part of a GIANT hill (or small mountain, if you prefer)
• Wildlife Seen: (2)
• boring old deer
• beaver (definitely know that the previous things were NOT beavers ... likely gophers)

After a wonderful coffee in a darling greenhouse at my AirBnB (thanks J!), I got on the road.  I knew I'd loose an hour today given the change in time zones ... at least I was prepared this time!

Blue Lake

The day's drive was winding my way through a bit of prairie/farmland/oil/gas land then into the mountains.  No pictures do the views on this drive justice.  I continue to be amazed at every turn.  Once I got south of Grand Cache, I decided to do a  few hikes in the William Switzer Provincial Park (just north of Jasper National Park).  Again, breath-taking.  The first little hike around Blue Lake was through the woods and very pleasant, except for the bugs (must buy more potent bug spray!).  The lake was gorgeous and made me wish I had a kayak (and that I knew how to kayak ... yeah, yeah.  Everyone says it's easy ... I haven't figured out how to not tip over yet).

Athabasca Lookout

A short ways down the road was the turn off for the Athabasca Lookout tower.  It promised unrivaled views of the Rockies, so I thought to myself, "why not.  It's only a kilometer hike".  Well ... it's only a kilometer ... with an almost 600m elevation change in that one kilometer ... when I finally got to the top, huffing and puffing (I would not have been able to blow any house down ... I could barely hold myself up), I was rewarded with an incredible view (they say one of the most picturesque in the area ... we shall see).  Google tried to make a panoramic for me ...

Google's panoramic

there's a beaver in that photo, I swear

the Hinton Boardwalk

Not totally welcoming

This is hike is where I should have put on my actual hiking boots ... Blue Lake was ok in trainers (not smart, given the rains yesterday, but doable).  I trudged through SNOW in my trainers on this uphill trek ... all the while chastising myself ... 😒













I'm holed up for a few nights in the quaint town of Hinton, AB.  Hinton has a massive boardwalk set up through the local wetlands.  It's called the Beaver Boardwalk because, well, beaver live in the local wetlands.  I went for a nice stroll along the boardwalk this evening.  As I'm wandering deeper into the surrounding forest (still on the boardwalk), I realize that 1) I don't have a map and the board is a full on labyrinth (literally 3 km of criss-crossing jump, jump trails) and that I haven't seen another human being for at least 5 minutes (this really IS how horror movies start).  Oh wait ... there's a cougar in the area?!  Why is this the ONE TIME I forget to put the annoying yellow bell on my pack?!  I'm definitely going to get eaten!

So ... I hurriedly turned around and walked out how I'd come in because I was 100% certain I would not figure out how to get around to the other side.  Stay tuned for whatever trouble I get myself into tomorrow.