Valemount

It's my friend Kevin's birthday this week (today actually) and to celebrate we decided to plan a hiking trip in Valemount. It was supposed to be a surprise, but somebody let the cat out of the bag.

We left Friday morning and were planning on hiking to a back-country cabin a few miles in. A few things interfered with these plans. First, we got into Valemount a bit later than expected. Second, the alternator in the Jeep died just as we drove in so we had to replace it. Thankfully the shop had the alternator we needed... but it still took a couple hours. Third, it was pouring when we got there and it was already getting dark. We decided to grab a motel room for the night and to leave in the morning.

I'm so glad we waited till the morning as the hike was a little bit more difficult than we expected. It was thankfully a short hike (it only took us two hours), but it was steep. And wet. And snowy. And did I mention that it was steep?? It was awesome though and it felt so good to get my heart rate up a little bit. And to challenge my little lungs -- boy has it been a while since I've done that. The poor things didn't know what to do with themselves. I'm glad my pack weighed all of 15 pounds because that was challenging enough.

We were told it was a well groomed trail, and it was for the most part, but there were sections where trees had fallen along the trail and we had to climb over and under and through and around them.

And yes, Rhett did take an umbrella. He didn't have proper rain gear and he wanted to stay as dry as possible.

It was a gorgeous hike -- absolutely beautiful! We want to do it again sometime in better weather so we can actually see the view. Hiking is such a funny thing though. I hate it while I'm doing it. I hate making my way up a grueling mountainside. I hate when my lungs feel like they are going to explode. I hate when my legs are shaking and ready to give out. But it feels so good when you reach your destination. It feels so very very good.

What a fabulous idea too -- having a cabin in the middle of nowhere that you can only hike into. The cabin was just big enough for the six of us. There was a loft with foam mattresses up top and a wood stove, a table, and a little cooking area downstairs. And that was all. So simple and so perfect.

It was so wonderful, in fact, that Erik and I are already planning our next back-country cabin adventure. Only next time we may need snow shoes.