After many a switchback, the trail led us to our campground. Floe Lake may just be one of my most favourite campgrounds to date. The turquoise lake glittered in the afternoon sun, a tantalising invitation to jump into its icy waters after a hot day of hiking. Here are my favourite moments from three days in the Rockwall, Kootenay National Park.

A sunset summit up a Canmore classic to celebrate Autumn’s 2nd birthday.

Here lies a lengthy post from our backcountry camping trip to Skoki Valley. A trip planned since the end of January with our friends Brit & Sam, we ended up going without them on account of the fact Brit got accepted into a grad program at a university in Toronto. I wrote more about that here.

Better late than never—I finally got around to editing photos from me, Britt, Sam & Hobbit’s backcountry camping trip to Laughing Falls in the summer. Despite the intense smoke that plagued the area from the British Columbia wildfires, I welcomed those days off to spend in nature with friends.

From a long, chilly day out in the fall. Kanon and I had just moved into our new apartment, and brought Autumn home. Life changed again, but this time, I could finally start settling; rebuilding; renewing.

Moments from camp, our day hike to yet another glacier, and an icy swim in a lake. This is Part 2 of a two-part series documenting my weekend outdoors with Colour The Trails Alberta.

A hike on a glacier with total strangers, now my friends. This is Part 1 of a two-part series documenting my weekend outdoors with Colour The Trails Alberta.

On July 1st, J & Freya drove 3,200km away to move to Ontario—and took two very large pieces of my soul with them. This was our last hike together in the mountains, on the summer solstice, Sunday, June 20th, 2021.

One Sunday in May, Freya and I headed up to the mountains early to hike East End of Rundle (otherwise known as EEOR). It would be our first scramble (i.e., a trail that involves both hiking & climbing over rocks) together.

A Friday off in the solitude of the forest with my sweet Freya girl. We explored the woods with no aim, no final destination, simply wandering and delighting in the signs of spring: the greenery, the wildflowers starting to bloom, the juniper berries, the squirrels and the sounds of the birds.

It wouldn’t be hiking in the Canadian Rockies without getting caught in a blizzard. It was the last weekend of August, and we set out to summit Cirque Peak, a 15.9km out-and-back trail in Banff National Park.

Get yourself friends who will say yes to hiking 80+ kilometres and 2,000+ metres of elevation gain over 4 days with you. In mid-August, Brittany, Sam, Justin & I hiked to Mt. Assiniboine Provincial Park, a world-renowned mountain destination and home to the second tallest peak in the Canadian Rockies.

Freya’s first winter hike at 10 weeks old. The temperatures must have been -15ºC or colder, there was wind chill, very little sun and ankle or knee-deep snow (which makes walking a one step forward, slide two steps backwards kind of game) during our 4 hour adventure in the woods.

A snowy hike that put smiles on our faces and reminded us that winter, despite its typically early arrival and delayed departure, isn’t always so bad after all. We braved the icy highway and drove 90 minutes from home to a spot I had only ever ventured to in the summertime.

A weekend away to mark our first year together; a year that challenged us individually and also as a couple, but brought great joy and growth with it.

Last Saturday consisted of: a sleep-in and a delightfully leisurely breakfast of crepes & “eggy-in-a-basket”; coffee brewed by AeroPress (our usual) and conversation; a nice long stretch on the living room floor (a new wellbeing habit we are trying to incorporate into our ever-changing daily routine); a podcast during our drive to the trail and this—an 11km round-trip jaunt into the woods.

Winter likes to hit us with an icy, teeth-chattering smack in the face in February, right when we think we’ve walked away unscathed and untouched by temperatures below -15ºC. It’s been -30ºC with plenty of snow; a stark contrast to when December & January left us scratching our heads and wondering if we would truly be lucky enough to only see temperatures around 0ºC this season. Alas, how wrong we were.

Our favourite part of the trip, hands down, was the day we hiked up to Snowbird Pass. It was a 9 hour, 27km (16.7mi) day, all to walk to a spot where you could see an enormous icefield thousands of years old. We stood and imagined how the rest of the valley would have looked centuries ago—the lush green valleys, bright wildflowers & flowing streams we had just passed being nothing but ice. The world was quiet here, and I longed to sit in its stillness for far longer than our little lunch break.

Our second day at Berg Lake was a little more leisurely. I had every intention of letting my body rest, but for me, sleeping in was impossible when the world came alive. I woke up a little after 5:30am, gently unzipping the tent to peel away our “door” and peek at the outside world, gingerly facing the cold.

“Do you guys do this for fun?”

These were the words uttered by a group of girls we passed on our way down from Berg Lake. By that point, we were already a quarter of the way into our 20km descent, having already spent 4 days living at the foot of Mount Robson, the Canadian Rockies’ tallest peak (3,954m above sea level).