Bugagaboos and Conrad Kain hut

Honestly, have you ever heard of Bugaboo Provincial Park?
Neither had I.
Neither had any of us actually.
But it got stumbled upon while Andy was searching the web for one "nice" hike to do with Seth and Tristan.  That was one of his personal goals on our trip, to have one good, rugged, climbing, scramble in with the big boys.  The Conrad Kain Hut and trip came up and it seemed like a perfect fit so early one morning he took off to this very isolated and secluded area in the Rockies between Golden and Radium Hot Springs.  If you are interested in the geography of this sort of thing click here to read all about it, you will leave feeling like you learned something new for the day!
This was more of an advanced hike for the guys in the family, and they were extremely excited to go as this park had been closed due to the forest fire smoke till the very day they went. I would not be surprised if they were the first people to hike here in possibly weeks.  After 50 km of slowly driving down a windy gravel road they made it to the Purcell Mountains which are known for its rugged granite mountains and spires.
In the above picture you will notice the van has chicken wire and stakes around it. This is provided at the parking lot since it is known that porcupines like to enter the brake systems of vehicles to lick the salt and thereby, eat thru the brake lines. Which obviously is a very terrible thing to have happen to you when you are miles and miles down a logging road up in the Rocky mountains. So proper precautions were taken and the van secured.

Certain areas were secured with chains and a small ladder.

Victory!  Made it to the goal. 700 metre elevation gain in 3 hours.

Note how you can see the glacier folding and flowing down.

The Hut is behind the boulder. Where's Waldo? (Seth and Tristan?)

The kids were happy there was some chain to hang on to.

Kicking Horse Gondola

On one of our "outing" days we bought tickets for the gondola ride to the peaks at the Kicking Horse Resort.   The days were continually getting colder but this was a bit of a warmer day so we thought it would be a good day to go up for a ride and see the views and do one of the hikes.  We were mistaken in how far up we were going as it was extremely cold up at the top of the mountain!  Close to freezing!  What a view though, it was really amazing being level with the tops of all the mountains in the area and seeing the valleys below.  Incredible.  And almost scarily high.  There were some really neat trails we could do but found out quickly that Marla and Abby were going to freeze on us and Rowan was a bit clumsy and I could just imagine him tumbling down the side of the mountain (!!) so I decided to return to the condo and let Andy "quickly" do a hike with Seth.  I'm glad we had the opportunity on a clear day to go to the summit, as the views were really worth it.  Next time - more clothing required.  :)

We started a trail, then turned around. :)

See how high we were - all the peaks behind us.

Myself and the four kids watching Andy and Seth continue hiking from the Gondola.

And Andy also took one of us in the Gondola! :) Seriously, look at that ridge though! Beautiful.

Below are the pictures from the ridge walk Andy and Seth did.  Seth loved it and was such a good sport.  It makes my heart happy that Andy can do these things with a son now.  How special is that?

Incredible views. And incredible danger to my eyes ;)

This final picture below is one Seth loves.  He thought a snowboard bench was the neatest thing ever.  Till he found out the reason it was there was in memory of someone who died there in a snowboarding accident.  Still, he asked I put it up :) 

Glacier and Revelstoke National Parks

Red chairs at Hemlock Grove!

 Another full day was spent traveling west this time, thru Glacier National park all the way to Revelstoke thru the Rogers Pass.  This was a very interesting and beautiful drive, unique and different from Yoho.  Glacier National Park is huge, but even more remote than Yoho. The valley which the Rogers Pass cuts thru is narrow and so the scenery is different also because this is where the warmer pacific air meets the colder dryer continental systems.  You can tell the difference by the huge evergreens and the jumbo foliage on the floor of the forest.
We followed the parks map and picked out the boardwalk trails along the way. First was Hemlock Grove. 

Next was the Giant Cedars Boardwalk, in Mount Revelstoke National Park. Another short walk but enjoyable and we were amazed and awed at the changes in scenery only miles apart.   We had many things to research and discuss about geography and science from this!  

The last boardwalk was the Skunk Cabbage boardwalk.  This also was in Mount Revelstoke National Park. Many of the longer trails  was closed because of roaming bears hunting for berries, but these hikes were open and well used but even so, we were cautious and bear aware.  A new favorite saying for the boys ... "Be Bear Aware!" 

These final two pictures are for my own interest as most people are not as fascinated in old deserted buildings as I am 😉 The Rogers Pass is intriguing to me as it is the main artery between BC and Alberta yet virtually undeveloped.  There are no gas stations, no bathroom breaks etc. for miles and miles.  Just steep mountains on either side of a well maintained highway and many snow sheds/tunnels on avalanche paths.  This area receives so much snow (10 metres on average per winter!!) it can be a dangerous place to drive in the winter so this makes it much safer as the snow can travel over the road.  In the pass there is a discovery centre to stop at with interactive displays and lessons on being wildlife aware. There are also these deserted buildings. They are the old Glacier Park Lodge hotel buildings for back country skiers.   They are quite famous for their unique shape and obviously location. You'll see them featured in magazines etc. about the area, which is, obviously how I first heard about and saw pictures, of them.  So one of the things I wanted to do was see them as it blows my mind how something so big, unique and in such an ideal location would be closed down!  There is much shrouding the story of these buildings but apparently they are full and were left as is, one day being locked up and closed. There are chairs and dishes and beds unmade... all deserted.  They have been like that for several years now and are probably going to be torn down next year. Anyways, intrigue aside, I managed to see them, and snap a picture or two. 😊