New People....New Places

A few postings ago we spent two years in northern Saskatchewan and one of the great things about that time was growing our family.  We spent lots of evenings with Dan, and later Tiffany, and so when we got word that their little girl had arrived, we just had to go.

It was a long drive and I think Copper might even have been excited to see us.

Dan made a great dinner and Tiffany and I enjoyed watching the guys clean up after.

Little Adelaide is a beautiful little baby and it was worth the long, prairie drive to meet her.

The next morning, we drove back through Saskatchewan and 7 hours later, we arrived back home where the mountains were waiting for us.  The next morning, we walked to church and stopped to check out the cars along main street.  After church, we decided to go on a hike that I hadn't researched to much about.

The hike began more like a walk on a good road.  It gradually went up, up and up.  The road narrowed to a path.

Our wildlife consisted of a deer and a skunk.

The flowers along the way were also pretty spectacular and kind of helped with the continual climb.

As we kept going, looking for the lake we crossed lots of mountain streams and even had to walk through snow.  There were waterfalls everywhere.

At one point, after hoping the lake will appear around a number of corners, I decided to take a break.  Ron went on to try and get the picture.


See the lake in the distance

After 32,000 plus steps and over 20 kilometers of walking, my feet, knees, legs and back needed a huge rest.  

Bike, Hide...Ride

This past week Ron only had 3 days off and so we had to plan wisely on how to use those days.  On Wednesday, we headed south to Montana.  Along the way to the border, we spotted this guy having his breakfast in the ditch.

Only 1.5 hours from home, we were at the Going to the Sun road in Glacier National Park.  Our first plan was to bike a few kilometers along the road.  This is one of the most spectacular roads and it isn't completely open yet due to them still clearing snow in the high parts.

It was a little windy and cool when we started but the road was not nearly as hilly as our time in Waterton last week.

The views, as always, are so beautiful.  It soon warmed up to be a perfect riding temperature and I was pleasantly surprised at my stamina.

We rode for just over 14 km and then turned around.  It had been a gradual up hill and so turning around with the wind on our back, it was smooth sailing.

After 29 km on the bike, we drove back up the road in the truck as far as we were allowed.  On our way back down we stopped at the trail head for a hike to some falls.  This is the view from where we parked.  We didn't realize that we would be walking to the falls in the picture.

The hike was well travelled and quite easy but still enough work after a good bike ride. 

This was such a pretty walk and the perfect time of year to walk it.  Later in the season, the parking lots would be packed and the trails crowded.  We first came to St. Mary's Falls.

It was beautiful and if that had of been the end of the trail, it would have been worth it but there was more to see.  We came to two other beautiful falls which I found out later that were nameless and were only on the way but not the destination.

When we arrived at the Virginia Falls it was pounding with the spring run off.  It is about 50 feet high and the spray was pretty strong.

We walked up to a viewpoint and Ron walked over to look down but I stayed safely away.

On our way back down we came around a corner and saw that everyone had stopped.  Immediately, we thought it must be a bear and we were looking for a place to get out of the way BUT nope, it was a deer on the trail and people didn't know what to do.  My mountain man slapped his walking sticks together and marched on, with me following and smiling.

It was a productive day of exercise.  The next morning, we got on the motorcycle and headed down the Crowsnest pass.  We stopped for tea and a snack in Blairmore and then arrived in Fernie, BC before lunch.  We decided to do a little hike to Fairy Creek Falls.  My legs were a little stiff from yesterday but slowly I made my way, following Ron's untiring lead.

There were some steep parts when we got close to the falls and I had to take my time going down.

At the bottom of the falls, I took advantage of a little bench to rest and enjoy, once again, another beautiful falls.

Ron and I remember that when we were in Hawaii how I was always looking for falls.  It's kind of my thing, and we had seen 5 falls in two days just a few hours from our house. 


Fairly Creek Falls

After our little hike we rewarded ourselves with a nice lunch before hopping back on the motorcycle.

On Ron's last day off I slept in and then went back to bed for just a little 4 hour nap.  My body needs catch up days after such full ones but I sure enjoy it when I have the energy to half keep up with Ron.

In two weeks I will need the energy to keep up with 3 more!

Drywood Creek Hike, Cameron Lake Bike, and Crowsnest Ride

Last week, Ron and I decided it was time to get back into some hiking.  I have two books to choose hikes from and I like to pick easy ones.  We backed a lunch and headed just south of Pincher Creek, down the road to the Shell Plant and found the trail head for Drywood Creek.

The temperature was perfect with it being not too cool but cool enough for hiking.

The trail was leading us to a waterfall and along the way we enjoyed the snow covered mountains and beautiful spring flowers.

We had to cross a few little steam areas and thankfully Ron was able to stand on the other side and help me across so it was all done without incident.

We arrived at the waterfall and enjoyed a little snack.

We tried to go past the falls but there was still too much snow so we decided to just enjoy the creek along the way back.

The next day, Ron worked overtime in Waterton and then the day after, we took our bikes to Waterton with the intent to bike to Cameron Lake.  I was told that the first 3 km was all up hill and then it evened out.  At 6 km, I was still climbing and I decided that I would head back to town and let Ron discover Cameron Lake himself.

The ride was beautiful.  The road meanders along a gorge with waterfalls all along the way.

Ron made it to the lake and it was beautiful.  Thankfully I could enjoy it via his pictures.

Back in Waterton, someone was enjoying the scenery by putting in on canvas.

The next day, we decided to try an easier activity.  We went on the motorcycle down the pass.  Our intent was to get to Fernie, but the clouds looked a little threatening.  We stopped in Sparwood for a lunch break before the ride home.

It was a good week of activity.  So many places to experience and it is always great spending the time with my most faithful partner in life.