First Hike

Yesterday Sandy and I went out for my first hike of the season.  There have been some summers where I have hiked quite a bit but that hasn't been lately.  I am woefully out of shape and hope to change that a bit this summer.

We headed out to Waterton National Park.  I love Waterton.  It has all the beauty of the other mountain National Parks but without all the crowds.  Although that might be changing.  I was shocked at how many people we saw on the trail.  It was a Tuesday in June and there were still lots of people.  But maybe that was just because not all the trails are in good shape yet so everyone was forced on to the same few trails.  Regardless, we had fun.

We went up to Bertha Falls and then further up to Bertha Lake.  It was a perfect first hike - not too hard, not too far and beautiful scenery along the way.

We were both only brave enough to bring one dog each and both Mira and Lacey can be a little shy, but they both did great meeting all the new people.  They also enjoyed rolling in the patches of snow we found along the way.

Lacey wore her little backpack and carried a few essentials for me - empty poop bags, Vector Energy bars and some goldfish crackers.  She generated quite the buzz as she went by people with her little saddle bags.

I think I'm going to have to invest a "proper" backpack for both her and Coulee.  The dogs had plenty to drink along the trail on this hike but it isn't always the case.  Hauling water for the dogs, plus for myself and carrying a camera, food, clothing, etc. is a bit much for me.  I could always leave the camera at home to make more space but what fun is that?

So thanks Sandy for hauling your butt out of bed on your day off and humoring me with a hike.  It was definitely more fun with a friend!

Oh and Mom.... This was the scariest wildlife we saw this trip.  So you can rest easy.  :)