Thursday, July 15, 2010

The hike that wasn't meant to be


Desirée and I were excited to do more hiking this summer, and after a couple of good hikes we set our sights on Evelyn Mtn just a bit outside of Smithers. It's part of the Hudson Bay Mtn Range, and not that hard to get to.

So this last Tuesday, our day off, we prepared to conquer this mountain! We got ready all our supplies, and headed out. Now the trick to this hike is that you need to park outside a gravel pit, and walk about a half-hour (according to the guide) to the trail head. So we walked, and walked, swatted flies, walked, swatted mosquitos, and after about an hour on the trail still no visible trailhead. Hmmm... but then some promise! We found a couple trucks and trail heading into the bush - YES! So we start the climb, or so we think. After a bit, we realize that this trail isn't the well travelled trail we were looking for, but a brand new trail being cut into the bush - and we had no idea where it might take us. And to top it off, I think they're falling trees in the area. So we made the decision to turn back, and see if we somehow missed the actual Evelyn Mtn trail.

After backtracking for a half hour, success! There's a trail, and we totally missed it. Eventhough we were tired we thought we'd try this trail out for a bit, and found out once you start going up a trail, it's pretty hard to stop! So on we went, until to my horror our dog Morley disturbed a wasp nest that was in the ground! I noticed her zip past me, in some distress, then noticed a hole in the ground with some wasp emerging - and told Des to RUN! Unfortunately, I didn't tell her what we were running from!! Ooops :) So we hustled down the trail, and poor Morley still had a wasp clinging to her tail, but she eventually shook that off, and I was able to explain to Des what the problem was. No I didn't see a bear! Ohhhh!

After all that, we decided to call an end to our conquering hike of Evelyn Mtn, however consoled ourselves by eating our supper by Round Lake, watching Morley play in the water. A good end to a wonderful day off outside!