Larch season is here again! This is the much anticipated, most cherished and sought after, hiking season for your average Albertan. Prepare for hordes of cars at Highwood Pass and overflowing parking lots at Lake Louise! Everyone wants to get their annual fall photo with the iconic golden larch (including yours truly!). Going for a … More A ‘Larch March’ in Skoki Valley
On September 17th, I enjoyed a mid-week hike with friends Trish and Peishan in Highwood Pass, aiming to see Alberta’s golden larches. Although the fall foliage was not yet out, the day turned out to be one of my top scrambles. We tackled Mount Lipsett, then spontaneously scrambled to Mist Mountain, navigating challenging terrain and celebrating our achievement at the misty summit before descending through beautiful valleys. … More Mount Lipsett to Mist Mountain Loop
On Friday, August 9, 2024, my dear friend Victoria and I embarked on our much-anticipated 4-night backpacking trip for our annual friend-venture. This tradition started in July 2016 as a front-country camping and day hiking trip, but has evolved into a grand backcountry trip over the years. Some of our most memorable trips include exploring … More 2024 Friend-venture on the Sawback Trail (Johnston Canyon to Badger Pass)
The phrase “get your pink back” has become trendy online, thanks to mommy blogger Lindsey Gurk. If you haven’t heard of it, it refers to the phenomenon where flamingos, both male and female, often lose their pink color when raising chicks. Because raising their young is so intensive, and they give so much of their … More Getting my ‘Pink’ Back: Helena Peak via Rockbound Lake
It has been over two years since my last blog post. It’s honestly really tough to think of how to even start to write an update after so long! It is impossible to try to summarize over two years of life lived in a single post, and I wouldn’t even feign an attempt to do … More It’s been a while, because I thought I wasn’t cool enough. Spoiler Alert: I’m still cool – according to me 🙂
I started writing this a couple months ago but only just got around to finally posting Augie’s birth story. At first I was a bit unsure about sharing my labour and delivery story on my blog. I thought to myself why that would be the case, after all, I’ve shared many camping and hiking adventures … More Welcome to the World Augustine!
When I reminisce on the four days that Victoria and I spent at the end of July in Skoki Valley, I still feel like I’m trying to remember a wonderful dream. So many times during our backpacking trip we looked at each other in awe and commented on how it was hard to really believe … More Friend-venture Backpacking in Skoki Valley (the Redemption trip!)
I’ve had yet another many-months-long hiatus from the blog-o-sphere, but I’m back (back again!) for a life-update post! The past year has been such a challenging, unusual period for all of us; I partly blame the monotony and uncertainty of COVID-19 Lockdown-Life for my lack of motivation to write, but not writing or blogging was … More Checking in – Hello Spring 2021!
I’m pretty sure I’ll never be able to convince my husband Ryan to go on any mountaineering or climbing trips, but he loves camping and backpacking! Let’s be honest, climbing is hard and it takes a certain special (potentially masochistic?!) kind of person to tolerate the mental and physical demands of mountaineering. We also generally … More A mini-backpacking trip to Ribbon Lake
Mount Joffre is an impressive, glaciated mountain located in Peter Lougheed Park that stands at 3,450 m tall! It is generally known as one of the “easier” 11,000ers of the Canadian Rockies, and it was our selection for the first summer mountaineering trip of the year. Hannah, Trish and I met during a Women’s Introduction … More Mount Joffre, the 5th AAWSOME Summit (nope, not a typo)!
Christina Lives Freely 