Hey seaster,
Those "mountains" are cool and all, but you forget where I live! This summer, we planned an overnight hike in Garibaldi Provincial Park (free day passes!) to Wedgemount Lake - rated as difficult online. Oooooh boy, were we tired! Took us 3.5hrs to hike up the NONSTOP UPHILL, finishing with a rocky scramble to the lake. But the views were 10000000% worth it. We set up camp, and enjoyed some delicious rehydrated food, a cold night under the stars, and breakfast with the rising sun.
The lake was so pristine and beautiful, and it was do great to see all the other hikers respecting the environment. I guess only the avid nature geeks want to tackle the tough hike! We drank right from the stream (we did filter the water), and saw some marmots enjoying the cool glacier water as well!
Before we left, we walked over to the glacier and made way too many jokes about mammoths, and how there was probably a frozen mammoth hidden somewhere in the glacier. A friend who had visited Wedgemount a few years before was shocked at how much the glacier had receded since his last visit - climate change will do that. Hopefully the beautiful ecosystem is able to survive any further changes!
We packed up camp and hiked back down the mountain. Note to all hikers- make sure you eat enough! I was feeling so wobbly and faint on the hike down because I hadn't had enough food; it was almost worse than the way up. Luckily, we made it to the end just in time, as my legs were screeeeeaming on the car ride home!
Love ya,
Hailey