Category: Canada

On a cold morning in January I was sitting with my phone, a stopwatch, and a calendar, ready to call in at the exact moment that reservations opened for the huts at Mount Assiniboine. My practice with timing paid off and I was rewarded with a reservation code for 2 nights at the Naiset huts.

I rallied a group of tennis friends and Thursday night we were driving to Canmore in anticipation of this adventure. 2 of the girls were backcountry first timers, so there was a lot of gear sharing and pack packing advice.

Friday morning we drove to the Mount Shark helipad south of Canmore. Pro tip: if you ever plan to do this get there early so that you aren’t rushed and can park your vehicle at the trailhead instead of 1.4kms away at the helipad. Your future hiking self will thank you!

We were on the 6th flight for the 6 minute chopper ride up to Assiniboine. I was in awe of the scenic helicopter views and our first glimpse of Assiniboine, which is the highest peak in the southern range of the Canadian Rockies.

We dropped our gear at our home for the next 2 nights and set out on our first hike: Niblet, Nublet, Nub peak, Cerulean Lake, Sunburst Lake Loop. We had 10.9kms of fields of wildflowers, turquoise lakes, and monster mountain views.

Day 2 morning a couple of us walked the 10 minutes to Lake Magog for sunrise. It did not disappoint.

After our hut breakfast we set off for the 14.5km Windy Ridge and Windy peak. We were diverted by a grizzly on the trail and watched it from a distance as it moved through the meadow. Yikes. The hike afforded us views of the scale of Mount Assiniboine beside the others in the range.

We were up and at’em early on a frosty morning on day 3 for our 27km hike out. This was our only day with full packs (though we had eaten most of our food) so our shoulders and hip bones were feeling it. We had an early encounter with a large black bear on the trail that put us on edge.

The sunshine views along Marvel Lake kept us motivated. Though I was anticipating the last 10km to be a slog we all felt pretty good at the end, albeit glad to be done.

As a spiritual but not religious person, I can truly say that I felt so close to ‘heaven’ up there that I was feeling very moved. I am so grateful that my body allows me to do these adventures and that I’ve found great friends who are keen to come along.

You’ve probably been wondering what RobO was up to when I was adventuring all weekend. Here’s a text I received when we got back to civilization:

I put the small seaside town of Powell River on our itinerary for a specific reason: I lived here from ages 2-4 so I wanted to see if it might jog a childhood memory or two in my amnesiac brain.

Spoiler alert: no memories, but we did freak out the new owners of my old house when we were taking pictures of it (they said they thought their property taxes were being reevaluated!).

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I also had the goal of hiking at least two sections of the Sunshine Coast Trail. Unfortunately it was cloudy/foggy at the top of Tin Hat so I missed the views, though I met some great company in 3 women who were spending 4 days on the trail. Usually when we’re on holiday I add more places to the list than I can check off and this time was no exception. Anyone want to hike a few days of this fantastic hut to hut trail with me?

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Otherwise we filled our time with the usual Olson ‘relaction’, the perfect combo of adventure and relax time.

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We rounded out our last couple of days back in Vancouver with family. We had a fab day sailing from Granville Island, did some beer tasting, and caught up after a long time between visits. It has been a West Coast holiday that gives us lots of reasons to come back. Can’t wait for the next one!

As our corner of the world began to return to “normal” we took full advantage and booked a trip to beautiful British Columbia. Our first stop was Vancouver where I got to see my family for the first time in person since Christmas of 2019. The next day we picked up our rental car and headed to one of our favourite cities in Canada, Victoria!

In another life, I would take the ferry between Vancouver and Victoria quite regularly over a period of 3 years. In that time, I had never seen a whale in the ocean. I was convinced others were exaggerating when they would talk about seeing whales during a ferry crossing. I began to believe it was a weird expression that people from BC said when they crossed the Strait of Georgia. “Took the ferry over this morning, ordered some White Spot and watched the whales swimming off the deck.” Don’t get me wrong, I knew that it happened from time to time, but it had to be rare, like a Stanley Cup win for the Vancouver Canucks. My confidence was shaken when Dawn and I went on a safari in Tanzania. Not only could I not see whales in the open sea, but I also had a really hard time spotting wildlife in the Serengeti. It seemed that I had a uncommon condition called wildlife recognition disorder. It’s where one can’t see the lion 6 meters in front of oneself because he is convinced the termite mound 500 meters away resembles a water buffalo. Symptoms include hallucinations, crippling disappointment and social embarrassment.

In an effort to rehabilitate me, DawnO decided to book us a whale watching tour the first day we were in Victoria. It didn’t take long before I was able to see 3 humpback whales and 12-15 orcas. We did our best to take pictures but the tour had an official photographer on board so I’ve stolen a few of his shots.

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Though I’m definitely not cured, I can now say with confidence that there are whales out there.

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We made our way to Shawnigan Lake to visit with one of DawnO’s relatives who has a beautiful home overlooking the lake. BC has been hitting record setting temperatures this week so we jumped in the water to cool off quite a few times.

After our visit we continued northwest towards Dunsmuir to check something off of our bucket list.

Many moons ago DawnO came across a book called 50 Places to Stay to Blow Your Mind. Shortly thereafter we added our next stop to our list:

If you’ve never heard of Free Spirit Spheres I’ll give you a brief rundown. They are spheres that are suspended in the air that you lodge in. We spent 2 nights in the sphere called “Luna”. I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect but I definitely didn’t expect it to be so fancy. It was glamping in the sky. The site itself was very relaxing thanks to the on-site lagoon and resident wildlife. Not too far away was a cooking area and fully serviced private washroom and shower facility. There were many creative uses of space including a bed that could be lowered from the ceiling with the flip of a switch.

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We have since made our way back to the mainland. DawnO will be back with another blog before we return to Alberta.

At the start of Covid I won 2 free flights with Qatar Airlines and Roxanne and I had big dreams of going to Armenia in October. As the fall drew nearer it became obvious that we should change tack.

The most obvious plan was to spend a week in the Okanagan, where she moved about a year ago. And so, the Rock-Awn Mini Pop vacation was born.

Of course there had to be some true adventure, so Rox booked us a night at a 125 year old hotel in Ymir, just outside of Nelson. It’s a maze of stairways and hallways covered with art, trinkets, and bad furniture from the 70s. She told me that there was a surprise (remember that the last accommodation surprise she had for me was no bathroom door in Mexico!). This time it was that our room had bunk beds! Awesome. My personal favourites were the 12” VHS TV combo in the common room and the fruit cups and Dad’s cookies for breakfast.

This town was definitely a people watching treat with a variety of ‘local yokles’.

We spent the next day exploring Nelson and then had a couple of great pit stops on the drive to Kelowna.

We spent the next 5 days exploring the Kelowna area. One of the definite highlights was cycling the Myra Canyon Trestles.

Our days were filled with a lot of outdoor activity and delicious food.

I was lucky enough to catch up with 2 other Kelownite (Kelowner? Kelownian?) friends.

And finally, we did 2 different bracket competitions to determine our favourite plum and early apple.

Another great holiday in the books. Thanks to Rocky and B Rod for the hospitality.

It was a great reminder that we have great travel destinations within Canada so there are lots of adventure possibilities, even in the time of Covid. Rock-Awn!