Nature at its best @fleurcareil - Tumblr Blog

1st June 2024: the journey continues!

Over 6 months have passed since my last blog, but today feels a good day to finally start writing again! The sun is shining, and I'm sitting in the grass overlooking a pretty lake... (where am I?!? 🙃)

Most importantly, today it's been exactly a year that I drove out of my home in Burlington, hitting the road on a new journey!

Many things happened in the last year; the remaining of 2023 as I had planned, and then the last few months deviated from plan but in a good way. I'm kind of in between lives at the moment, which is surprisingly more comfortable than I had thought, although hopefully soon I will actually be able to move forward! Please everyone, cross your fingers for me. 🤞🤞🤞

As I wrote in my last blog, I left Toronto at the end of September last year to spend 4 months in Europe(ish) with I family and friends. After that amazing cross-Canada road trip, I was ready to calm down a bit!

I'll try to write a few more blogs providing more details on what I did exactly, but in short it felt really good to take the time to catch up with people I care about. Instead of constantly rushing (although I still had quite a busy schedule!), it was great to spend sufficient time somewhere so that we could simply hang out on the couch for hours catching up rather that feeling obliged to run around. Regardless, Europe being Europe, I still ended up doing a bit of sightseeing in between the cups of tea, but overall, it definitely felt like I could relax!

I spent most of October and November in the south of France at my parents in lovely Provence 🥰. Perfect weather and blue skies meant that despite most of the time simply following along with my parents' daily routine, I did some beautiful hikes in the countryside, where vineyards and olive trees abound!

It's amazing how easily days are spent doing crosswords, reading, chores and going for a little hike, all whilst being most of the day outside in the garden or in & about town! 🤗

In this period, I also went for ten days to Muscat in the Sultanate of Oman visiting my sister, her husband and their two children 😍. We typically see each other in the summer in the Netherlands so it was great to be part of their life there for a bit! End of October, it was still hot 🔥 over 30 degrees, so I was really struggling to do much at all... I did teach my nephew the basics of rollerblading, went a few times to the beach (scorching if not in the water!) and just enjoyed spending time with them, at home or in the playground. Of course it went by way too fast, although at the same time "tante Fleur" must admit she was a bit relieved to leave the heat and busyness behind! 🤪

At the end of November, I switched my home base to our flat in the Netherlands, where it turned out to be muuuch colder, especially as the heating didn't work for a week 😫.

First thing on the agenda was winter camping in a yurt with 6 of my oldest friends from university. After a summer of camping, it hadn't been my idea, however despite the snow (!) and rain, we had a blast and basically chatted non-stop for two days straight... We know each other close to 30 years so that means that all topics go, and the laughter, tears and wine flowed easily! 😂

On weekdays, I caught up with other good friends from university and work, some of which I hadn't seen in 14 years since I came to Canada, very special indeed to reconnect and still feel the same friendship after so long! It also included a fun visit to modern art museum Voorlinden, where you could "swim" underwater! 🤣

The following week I embarked on a mini-European tour, visiting friends & my brother for 3 days each in Copenhagen, Paris, London and tiny Everdon (population 356) in central England.

I was toured through Copenhagen by my dear friend Jamie who I used to work with at CT... in a cargo bicycle! The best thing ever, as I kept warm under a blanket while he was narrating the sights and manoeuvring us through the busy streets. Mulled wine at the Tivoli Gardens, wine tasting at a distributor under some obscure bridge and wine at home... you get the picture! 🤩 Oh and amazing food as he & his partner are amazing cooks!

Next stop was at my brother in Paris where we visited the art collection at the Bourse de Commerce... the art was a bit too modern to our taste, but the building is impressive and lunch on the top floor was sublime! Staying at foodies (in France! 😃), it meant great food and company all through...

Then, I took for the first time the Eurostar train underneath the Channel... so much more comfortable than the plane for the short distance! My friend Hélène has converted into a true Londoner, so our trips consisted of walking the dog at sunrise in Regent's Park (whilst the chimps in the nearby zoo were waking up!), lunch at a fancy yet homey private club and a visit to the V&A, one of my favourite museums in the city. 😊

Last but not least, I took the train a few hours north to the hamlet of Everdon where Tracey has set up shop with chickens and rabbits in the garden 😀. We ended up making appetizers all day for a party, which was hilarious as we both had no clue what we were doing (ganache truffles anyone??) but the guests left all merry so that turned out OK. Next day, we walked out our headache among the sheep in the very English rolling countryside and ended the evening in the local pub... perfect ending to a great trip! 💖

Back in the Netherlands, Christmas came around quickly so I spent the last few weeks of the year quietly at home, beating my parents and brother-in-law at bowling 🙃 and trying to get outside as much as possible if it wasn't pouring. New Year's Eve is very special as the air explodes with 100's of fireworks (until you can't see them anymore from the smoke) so that marked the end of 2023! 🎉

Meanwhile, I had found out that I couldn't apply for the Chilean visa without going back to Toronto to get my paperwork legalized, so although I didn't really want to, by mid-January I was squarely back into the deep freeze! 🥶 The whole application process is a game of waiting and patience, so that meant I had plenty of time to do many things, including seeing lots of friends, dog-sitting, swimming, hiking, and even completing a course in teaching English!

Some of the highlights include a hike to a frozen waterfall and a visit to a Keith Haring exhibit at the AGO, one of my fav artists in a fab museum!! 😍

Capping of my 3-month stay in the GTA was the spectacular solar eclipse combined with lots of tasty Indian food at my home-away from-home at Navneet & Arpita 😘😘

Celebrating my birthday in New Orleans at my Dutch besties was the best gift I gave myself; with a jazz festival where I collected beer money from strangers, a cool art garden, loving friends, gorgeous weather and a Dollie Parton drag show, what is there not to love?!?🤗

Running a bit out of steam now 😅, I came to Mont Tremblant in Quebec 6 weeks ago to stay at my dear friends Ivan & Cynthia and their larger family (we were 9 on the first day!), where I am thoroughly enjoying being surrounded by nature. I currently teach some 18 hours a week to mostly Koreans (that deserves a separate blog to explain!) while waiting for my visa to come through... again: 🤞🤞🤞

All in all, things are as good as they get; I remain hopeful about going to Chile later this year and in the meantime, I'm having a very different but fulfilling life... I keep learning (things about myself, how to be a coach, new trails) while meeting wonderful and kind people!

Hug, until next time 🌻🌸🌼

Leaving Canada

After finishing the road trip, the last 2 weeks of September were a whirlwind of activities to sort out things and say goodbye one more time before leaving the country. Although I may have benefited from staying a bit longer, having been on the road for so long made me ready to close off this phase and look forward to the next one, going back home to Europe! 🤩

First priority was to clean everything that I had been traveling with (with thanks to lots of space and a garden hose😁) and then figure out what to put into storage and what to bring as luggage. Initially my intent had been to travel straight from France to Chile, however due to exorbitant one-way air fares, I ended up booking a return ticket back to TO for mid-January.... not sure how this is all going to work out but for now it means that I'm only travelling with one suitcase instead of the 3 that I had already pre-packed. Easier to carry but harder to fit my clothes! 😅

Second key item was to get my car sold, so I got the car deep cleaned over lunch with Tara... something I've never done but should really have given myself as a gift much earlier! 😄 I thought the guy had done a great job at making my car look brand-new again, but he actually apologized to me as he hadn't managed to remove all bug residue from the grill nor the grit of the endless unpaved roads from the tires...the downfall of such an extensive road trip!

That afternoon, 3 accidents on the QEW highway meant that traffic was jammed for miles around, so I tried to wait it out by visiting the first 2 car dealers to get a sense of their offer... suddenly everything seemed wrong with my fab drive, as it needed new tires, new brakes, a chip in the window etc etc... 😯😪 I recognize the sales tactics for what they were but they still pulled me down, so by the time I got back home after taking 1.5 hours over a 20min drive, I was shaken & thoroughly fed up!

Next day, I toured a few more dealers who all basically said the same and then just cut my losses to get it over with (I must be the worst negotiator on earth! 🤣) ... I absolutely have had an amazing time driving my Rogue and I still loved everything about it, but it was time to say goodbye and move on.

Being a bit emotional after signing the papers, I drove by my old house in Burlington (where the new tenants are neglecting the pretty roses I had planted 😣) and then sat on my favourite bench in Paletta Park overlooking Lake Ontario. A mere 10 minutes' walk from where I used to live, I would often come here over my lunch break or after work, a great spot to relax! 😊

Next day, after having handed in the car & safely deposited the cheque at the bank, I was happy to go over to Priyanka & Arnie for a traditional Hungarian dish and meet again with their lovely parents. I first met Priyanka's parents at our MBA graduation over 10 years ago and we've been in touch ever since, having shared many dinners (including with my parents and in Delhi 🤗), theater plays, a powwow and ofcourse the wedding in India! 😍😍

On Friday, I spent hoouuuurs on the internet and phone to arrange anything from bank accounts & medical insurance to booking flights for my travels in Europe. Felt good to clean house and try to close as many things as possible before leaving. In the evening, we had delicious pizza & craft beer in the "Shed" in downtown Dundas.

That Saturday, it was fun times at the Ancaster Fall Fair with Arpita, Navneet and his cousin Nithia. 🤩 I had never been to a farm fair, which had everything from a hot sauce contest, cow & chicken displays to nitro-chilled snacks and prizes for the prettiest tomatoes, hay bales and funny-looking veggies! 😂 Quite an experience and a great afternoon!

On Sunday, I went with Heather for a hike in nearby Dundas Valley conservation area, my favourite forest west of the GTA. I've been here so often that I know most trails by heart but this time we walked in from a residential area on the side so that the forest still felt new. 😀

I spent the second week in Toronto where I lived for 11 years - my personal record of living that long in one city! 😊 - and it felt really good to roam the streets (albeit only for a short period of time before the craziness got to me 😫). For four days I crammed in as many friends as I could see, starting with a great backyard dinner with my old team. Having 9 different cultural backgrounds being represented leads to ever-interesting diverse conversations! 😍

On Tuesday, I had cozy lunch and dinner with my two good friends Kathryn and Lynne, both a bit senior to me hence always providing me with valuable insights that help me put things in a different perspective. 🥰 They're both great examples of how we can continue to have fulfilling lives for many years to come! 😘

Then on Wednesday, a lunch walk with Dana through my old 'hood and the Riverdale Farm, followed by relaxing tea with Natasha, Lance and their mother who I've also known since coming to Toronto and by whom I spent a memorable Christmas in Trinidad & Tobago. 🤩 In the evening, the drinks were tasty as usual when meeting with a loosely connected 😅 but somehow gelling group of Real Estate friends... always a good time!

On my last day in Toronto, I caught up with Harvey over Indian Roti and then had a few lovely hours at the new Love Park at the harbourfront. My final date was with my camping-sailing-drinking group of friends 😎 at the Queen Mother Café, a downtown thai restaurant where I used to go often in the first years. We're all a bit wiser (?!? 😂) then when we first met years ago but the laughs are still there!

Tired & having a terrible cold but feeling blessed with all those friendships, I made my way back to Dundas, where I was grateful to spend the last day with Arpita and Navneet, working a bit in the garden and playing the cool card game Dominion at night.

On the 30th September, they dropped me off to the airport, ready to fly home! 💖💖💖

Final recap: what a trip!

That's it; after 23,418 kilometers driving across the country, I arrived back home at my dear friends Arpita & Navneet on Sunday 17th September. 🥰 Having left on 1st June, I was on the road for 15.5 weeks, and I'm honestly amazed at how easy it went and how normal it felt! 😊 Apart from the occasional bugs, wasps, snakes 😆 & thunderstorms, I loved every second and made memories that I will cherish forever.

I'm not going to say that this was a trip of a lifetime, as I might do more similar road trips in the future (it has been a longterm bucket list of mine to drive from Ushuaia in South Argentina to the Chilean border with Peru, a mere 6,000 kms 😄) but it was very very special... it was unique to spend so much time discovering the diversity of all that Canada has to offer, nature & people wise, and it felt like one long farewell party! 🤩 I'm proudly Canadian and am very grateful having gotten to know this country more intimately!

I'm not going to repeat all the things I've done, the best experiences etc but just wanted to share the stats that I collected during the trip. I loved writing these posts and hope you enjoyed reading them! 😍

hug, Fleur 💖

SUPs: 19

Hikes: 86

Icebergs: 47

Wildlife:

140 bison

1 grizzly bear with 2 cubs and 4 black bears

4 moose, 39 deer, 1 elk and 5 pronghorn antilopes

21 bighorn sheep

1 fox and 2 coyotes

8 snakes, 2 turtles, tens of tiny frogs and 1 salamander

1000s of grasshoppers & crickets

115 ground squirrels (gophers) and 100 prairie dogs

3 rabbits, 1 marmot and 2 porcupines

148 harbour seals and 7 gray seals

12 humpback whales, 3 mink whales, 7 belugas and 11 harbour porpoises

5 beavers, 1 otter and 1 muskrat

12 bald eagles and 2 golden eagles

2 great grey owls

2 ferruginous hawks, 4 red-tailed hawks, 1 osprey and 1 falcon

8 turkeys and 17 partridges

51 sandhill cranes, 10 blue great herons and 1 green heron

50 puffins

102 Eider ducks, 52 Merganser ducks and 9 loons

thousands of northern gannets, razorbills & other sea birds, 2 sand pipers, and lots of terns

10,000 mosquitos

PS. I did not see a single raccoon during the entire trip!

Central Ontario: Manitoulin Island & Bruce Peninsula - going home!

1.5hrs after leaving the motel at Thessalon, I veered south towards Manitoulin Island, the largest freshwater island in the world which is so big that it has itself over 100 interior lakes. This route is only a 20-minutes further drive than around Georgian Bay, however that excludes the ferry needed to get off the island and cross the lake to Tobermory... But I love islands & ferries and also wanted to revisit the journey I did with my parents in 2010 so this was a no-brainer. 😊

Enroute to the island, I saw a beautiful display of fall colours so I did a "U-ey" to drive back to the trees to snap a pic. 😄

A little down the road, I had a more serious moment when I visited the MMIWG monument at Whitefish River First Nation. MMIWG stands for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, which is a recognition of the systemic abuse of Indigenous women and lack of action/care by the police. My awareness of the MMIWG plight started when I saw the red dresses hung by the REDress Project early on after arriving in Canada, and I've progressively learnt more about it over the years. When I read an article in June that a new monument was unveiled in Ontario, I added it to the places to visit on my trip.

The monument consists of a round stone symbolizing the circle of life, broken by a gap to recognize the missing people who their families desperately want closure on in order to heal. I cannot imagine how I would feel if a family member or any of my friends would go missing, especially if that then would be grossly ignored by the authorities...this is still a very current issue that needs to be addressed if we ever want to get close to reconciliation.

Nearby, I crossed the bridge to the town of Little Current on Manitoulin Island, just in time 😁 to avoid being stuck in traffic as the bridge swung a full 180 degrees to let a sailboat pass. In winter, this is the only access to the island as the ferry on the south side stops from mid-October.

I walked a bit along the Little Current marina boardwalk, during which I was asked by a jolly man to push his nearby brother into the water; they were fishing off the harbour and the other had caught two more fish than he had. 🤣

On my drive south, I stopped at Ten Mile Point which has a gorgeous view over the North Channel, one of the main shipping routes to Lake Superior. With blue skies, the view couldn't be any better! 🤩 There's also an Indigenous arts shop that had been recommended to me, so I bought a little dreamcatcher and birch canoe for my Christmas tree collection. 😊

Arriving at the Kicking Mule Guest Ranch was quite an experience as I was met by a large collie and a collection of 20+ hens & roosters (plus the sheep in a corner made for quite a spectacle!). Jeff who runs the place was a great guy and showed me my adorable "blacksmith bunkie" which above all has a sky roof so that I would see the stars while lying in bed! 😍 After dinner, the guests gathered around the campfire, and although I think we preferred chatting, we did sing along with Jeff's guitar songs... needless to say that I got in bed later than expected! 😉

In the morning, the small electric heater managed to burn off the worst of the cold, so that I had a perfect lazy morning lying in bed and then without any rush making breakfast & taking a shower...this being at the end of the trip, I knew that there was still a lot of beauty to be explored, but at the same time I really relished in taking it easy!

Finally, after 12pm, I made my way through the island roads along some interior lakes that were astonishing in their size, before I got to the famous Cup and Saucer trail hike up & along bluffs.

The Indigenous name Michigiwadinong actually refers to the bluffs as a spearhead and spear handle, left behind by a giant trickster trying to defend himself against the Mohawks... I always like to read the stories told to explain the natural features of an area!

Although the Niagara Escarpment is typically said to run from Niagara Falls to Tobermory, it's clear that these are the same rocks, continuing at the other side of the lake on Manitoulin Island... I've hiked so many sections of the Bruce Trail along the escarpment in the last 14 years that it made me nostalgic to see these cliffs and large boulders. 😍

The first 5k wound itself through the forest, but then the Niagara Escarpment truly showed itself with a massive drop-off and stunning views of trees and lakes. Something I could look at over and over again! 🤩

I was standing on the cup/spear handle (the upper bluffs), and then once I turned the corner, I could see the saucer/spearhead (the lower bluffs) - neither names are very convincing though. 😂

On the way back, I saw these big birds in a field; over 50 sandhill cranes which were making a pitstop on their flight south. They had no problem with the car being on the road quite close to them, but as soon as I got out to take a picture, they started cackling and walking further into the field. The birds clearly understand the saying; "it's not cars that hurt/kill, it's the drivers". 😆

In the evening, I had for one last time my favourite smoked cheddar sausages & roasted veggies on the BBQ, and then a few bevvies & laughter at the campfire. Was a great stay!

Next day, I arrived early at the ferry terminal and chatted with a woman whose daughter is looking to buy a Nissan so perhaps I'll get a call one of these days... it motivated me to send my friend a write-up on the car, which she posted on her social media & quickly created a storm; so far 6 people have shown interest and I got one concrete offer already so it looks promising that I'll get it sold within a week at a reasonable price! 🤞 I do feel sad about parting with my drive as it was exactly what I had wanted when I went to buy it, and 6 years later, even after this lengthy road trip I still love everything about it! 🥰

The ferry is decorated with Indigenous themes and colourful chairs so despite the clouds I sat most of the 2 hours on deck looking over vast Georgian Bay... getting myself sunburned as I found out at night! 🙃

Upon arrival in Tobermory, I wasn't sure what I felt like doing... this was the 5th time I've been here, so I've already visited all the must-dos (the flowerpots, the wrecks & the grotto) several times over, and it was surprisingly busy hence hard to find parking. I first walked around the little harbour and ate a tasty Tobermory Fish Taco (which is apparently a thing) on a bench, watching people go by, never boring!

Only a short walk away, is the starting point of the 800-km Bruce Trail along the escarpment, so I visited that (nothing special really), and then did a short hike to a lookout over Little Dunks Bay. I met there some Belgians who were on holiday and together with the Dutch-born man I had met on the ferry, I ended up talking quite a bit in Dutch that day! 😄

On the way back, I scaled the old fire tower for one last view of the endless forest... true Canadian scenery!

I had hoped to score an icecream before jumping into the car, but then completely forgot 😅 so instead I snacked on healthier tomatoes & radish on the drive over to my B&B in Pike Bay. Sat for a glorious hour in the sun and then had deliciously grilled Georgian Bay whitefish for dinner, a treat for the last night of the road trip! 🤗

In the morning, it rained and after a hearty breakfast, it was time for the final stretch back to the GTA. The forest gave way to the rolling green fields of southwest Ontario (so different than the prairies I now know!) and traffic was steadily picking up the further south I went... I'm quite certain that I saw more cars in the last hour than in the totality of the last two weeks!! 😂😫 I'm definitely no longer used to the more agressive Ontario style of driving so will need to readjust to that for the few remaining days.

When I arrived in Dundas, I first met my friend Heather who I had given my car papers & 2nd key for safekeeping (handy to sell the car 😄) and then happily arrived at my friends Navneet & Arpita to hug them, sit down on the couch & do nothing! 🥰

I'll write one last recap of the entire trip soon, after which I'll take a little break to sort myself out before I head to Europe on the 30th September.

Wildlife: 51 sandhill cranes

SUPs: none

Hikes: one at Manitoulin Island, one at Tobermory

Distance driven from last map: 706 km

Northwest Ontario: 2nd time's a charm

The route from Winnipeg into Ontario and eastward to Espanola is the only section of my trip that I've driven back & forth on the same road (apart from the Kenora-Thunder Bay stretch where I did take a different way back) as the rest of the 20k drive has really been one big loop across the country, hence 2nd time's a charm! 😀 Having assumed that the weather would be worse in September, I had taken my time going west, camping in beautiful provincial & national parks, so check out those earlier posts to see the full beauty of this region. Now on the way back, I tried to see a few new places and/or revisited some of my favourite spots.

It felt really good to see the Welcome to Ontario sign, as it meant I was heading home... all provinces have their own charm, but Ontario I know best, so that will always remain "my place".

Staying in Kenora for the night, I had contemplated to go see the sunset over Lake of the Woods, but instead I just stayed at the motel trying to fix the pump hose for hopefully a few more paddles. 🤞

In the morning, I took the highway south to Fort Frances, which is an hour longer to Thunder Bay then east to Dryden but has the benefit of not having any trucks. The road is curvy & hilly so that means it's difficult to bypass slow drivers, but I had it mostly to myself to take in the beautiful Canadian Shield and all the lakes - Ontario at its best! 😍

At Sioux Narrows provincial park, I did a small hike up a viewpoint of Regina Bay, the most eastern arm of Lake of the Woods. This was one of those viewpoints where the trees are blocking most of the view 😂 but it felt good anyway to be in the fresh-smelling forest. I surprised a deer that was on the trail nibbling at tree branches so that reminded me that I needed to make some noise from time to time - I was still in bear country after all!,

A bit further south, I had a nice 1.5hr paddle at Caliper Lake provincial park along the shoreline and around a little island. I usually start paddling against the wind to make life easier on the way back, however I had misinterpreted how the wind was being deflected around a hill, so suddenly it did a 180 on me and I got the wind against me also on the way back! 😆 less relaxing than I had envisaged!

Fort Frances is the main town in this corner of Ontario, sharing a river as border with the US similar to Niagara Falls. I had thought of breaking for lunch here, but the waterfront did not really appeal to me, so I drove on and stopped instead at a viewpoint of Rainy Lake, another one of those massive lakes.

For the night, I stopped at a motel in the middle of nowhere 😁 midway to Thunder Bay, where the owner had made pretty flower gardens out of reclaimed wood. Living in Toronto, I had always thought that Kenora and Thunder Bay were kinda in the same neighbourhood "out there", whereas in reality they are over 500km apart, so I was glad to split the drive in two! As a bonus, the motel was across the road from a beautiful lake so happy to sit in a chair taking in the last sun rays of the day. 🥰

In the morning the water was still calm, so I used the motel's dock to launch my SUP and went for a great paddle around several little islands. For me, this is as close to paradise as it gets; blue water, blue sky and some little rocky islands with trees in between them 💖💖

After leaving the motel, it was only a short drive to Quetico provincial park, famed for its backcountry wilderness canoeing... something I was clearly not going to do now, but I still wanted to get a sense of what it looked like. Did a small hike around a swamp which was nothing special, so sat for a bit on a rock overlooking the lake and empty beach... travelling after Labour Day is sooo nice as the crowds disappear and calmness returns. 😍 There was a whole flock of larger brown birds walking around, which looked a bit like grouse but those tend to stay in the trees, so at the visitor centre they told me they were partridges!

After Quetico, it was another 3-hour drive to my motel in Nipigon, and adding the final hour of time difference made the day go by fast! In total, I've had eleven time-changes during this trip (+1-1+1+0.5 from Ontario via New Brunswick & Quebec to Labrador, -1.5 back to Quebec, then -1-1-1 to BC, and finally +1+1+1 to Ontario), all in the same country! 😄

Just before getting to Nipigon, I had a quick stop at the Red Rock marina, where the view of steep hills was pretty enough, but the redness of the rock was masked by vegetation 😅. The scenery in this area is very pretty though, and the next day I really enjoyed the drive out of town - there's not many rest places along the highway to take pics from but hopefully you get the jest!

I had wanted to revisit Neys provincial park to hike up a hill to an overlook of a famous Lawren Harris painting of Pic Island, but I had been slow to leave in the morning, first sorting out things online and then waiting for my car to get an oil service. So instead, I repeated a small hike to a rocky point with a stunning view of the lake and sat there (in my coat & headband for the wind) for a while, chatting with a few friends online.

All through Canada some of my best cell phone reception was either on top of a hill or on a rocky outcrop (basically anywhere without trees) so I often would sit there to read email, research things online and chat with friends & family. 😂 It hadn't really bothered me to have poor/no reception for most of the time (sometimes for days on end), but now I was going home there was a lot to sort out, so it became more frustrating.

Staying that night in an airbnb without kitchen, I prepped a salad on the beach's picknick table, and then made my way over to Marathon for some cozy streaming of the Amazing Race while lying in bed 😊, a definite advantage of staying in a building rather than a tent! In the morning, I quickly checked out Marathon's Jellicoe Cove, which is undoubtedly a great place to be on the water in high summer.

Just south of Marathon, I also revisited Pukaskwa national park, which was as stunning as on the way up. It was much greyer now though, so check out the pics from my previous post to truly appreciate its beauty. I redid the Southern Headland Trail and then added the Manito Mikana trail which I hadn't had time for previously... the little islands, the vast water expanse, the beach... all pretty and with starting fall colour changes! 😍

Temperatures were less fun; 4 degrees in the morning and only warming up to 8-12 degrees in the afternoon, so after a cold day, I got myself in Wawa a chicken noodle soup & yam fries to warm me up! Arriving early at my cabin, the same where I had stayed years ago on a Thanksgiving trip up here, I cranked up the heat and snuggled in front of the tv. 😊

Next day, I hiked the Nokomis trail in the northern part of the Lake Superior provincial park, which has stunning views of the surrounding forest and of Old Woman Bay...which I had a harder time to see as I was stung by two wasps on the way up! 😫 Stopping to take off my sweater, they suddenly stung me on the arm and eyebrow before I even realized what happened. I picked up my stuff and ran away 😅. Not surprisingly, my entire eye got swollen so once I was back down, I took some rest on the beach before hitting the road again. Au, it hurt!! 😮

Driving went ok but it was very tiring, so I had another break at the lovely beach of Pancake Bay provincial park to eat something and soak up the sun with my eyes closed. I was surprised that Lake Superior has such large sandy beaches as most of the shoreline consists of Canadian Shield rocks... they are a bit out of the way for city folks from Toronto 😉 but great places for locals from Sault Ste Marie!

In that town, I spent some time getting ready for the next phase of leaving Canada; I washed my car so that it's a little more presentable 😅 (got also a deep-clean booked to get rid of all the sand) and spent my remaining gift cards and Shoppers points... don't want to lose any freebees! 😄

Checking in at the motel in Thessalon, I was relieved to be able to sit and not get up for a while... If we all could see such a sunset each day, the world would be a more peaceful place! 😍🥰

Wildlife: 1 deer at Sioux Narrows, 15 partridges at Quetico, 1 partridge at Pukaskwa, 2 wasps at Lake Superior

SUPs: one at Caliper Lake, one at the motel (Niobe Lake)

Hikes: one at Sioux Narrows, one at Quetico, one at Neys, one at Pukaskwa, one at Lake Superior

Distance driven since last map: 1,572km

Central Manitoba

Looking at a map, you'll notice that central Manitoba is dominated by several big big lakes such as Lake Manitoba and Lake Winnipeg so I looked forward to seeing both... until now, I was not really aware that the "prairie" provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba have such massive lakes; people always talk about the agricultural fields and how dry it is, and never about all that water! 😂

On the east shore of Lake Manitoba, I visited the tiny village of Steep Rock whose hall of fame is not surprisingly based on its shoreline cliffs... I was so surprised at the rock formations and the colour of the water, that for a moment I thought I was in the south of France or on a Greek island looking at the Mediterranean! 😁 Sunny & calm but not too hot, it was the perfect place to just sit on a rock, relax from the long drive and warm up from the cold night before. That is, until I started seeing snakes again 😮, 3 in total, even one hissing at me as I hadn't seen it hidden in a rock crevasse!

The region between the two lakes is called the Interlake, which I'm guessing not many people traverse from west to east (they rather go from the populated areas in the south up north) so most of the 2h+ drive was on unpaved roads... no point in getting the car washed while I'm still travelling but it will definitely need a deep-clean before I sell it as the sand is everywhere...

Nature wise, the Interlake was quite interesting as it seems as if it's an early succession forest, when plants return to inhabit an area after e.g. a fire or logging. Oftentimes the first arrivals are deciduous trees (which were here all very small & similar height) after which coniferous seedlings start to overtake, until at some point you have a mixed forest with tall coniferous (boreal in this case) trees interspersed with large deciduous ones. The landscape already had some big trees in it, which seemed to be remnants from a previous time... made for a visually attractive mix! Add to that marshes & bogs and I had plenty to look at (apart from at the road where there was almost no one, I think I counted 4 cars). 😃

My end destination for the day was Hecla provincial park, which is an island in the southern part of Lake Winnipeg, accessed via a causeway. It was first colonized by immigrant Icelanders in 1875, so this is memorized by stone ships (a traditional Viking burial custom) at the entrance to the park.

At Gull Harbour where I was staying for two nights, the Icelandic flag appears below the Canadian one (that's the law!) next to a cute lighthouse... pickerel for dinner & the howling wind created a true island feeling, and I was glad to have a very comfy room instead of camping! 😊

In the morning, I started off with a hike through extensive marshlands, but I aborted after a tiny loop as I had too much on my mind... I suddenly was stressing out trying to figure out what my next month would look like and had started to look for flights to France, so I sat for most of the day at a picknick table 😅, booking accommodations for the remaining 2 weeks of travel, contacting friends for the 2 weeks I was spending in the GTA and locking in my flight. As much as I like to explore, sometimes I just need to get things out of the way in order to enjoy again!

I did walk through the historic village which had a few old boats etc, but the church's cemetery was the most interesting, as the tombstones (including recent ones) read Icelandic names such as Helgason, Sigurgeirson, and Tomasson. Icelandic flags and names were present at most homes, so the heritage seems still strongly alive.

In the morning, feeling guilty of not having explored much of the park, I went up the observation tower at the north point of the island. The vast expanse of water shows how the lake is really an inland sea and explains why Icelanders would see this as a good replacement home (minus the volcanoes)!

To understand more about the history, I dropped by the New Iceland Heritage museum in Gimli, which was the de facto capital of the self-governing colony (with its own constitution!) until they eventually did fold into Manitoba. It's almost unbelievable that the Canadian government simply said; "yeah you can start a new country here", anything to help control the indigenous people... 🤔 An impressive Viking statue stands guard over the harbour but for the rest there was not much to see so off I went to Winnipeg.

I hadn't really planned to return to the city, but as it was on the shortest route back to Ontario, I hopped on the opportunity to visit the Winnipeg Art Gallery after all, which I didn't manage to do during the busy wedding weekend. The sole exhibit I came for is the three-storey high Quamajuq glass vault which showcases over 5,000 Inuit stone carvings. I must say I was a bit disappointed as the digital catalogue did not give any background to the art or artists (apart from name, provenance & date), so then it's hard to emotionally connect with the pieces... on top of that, the glass did not make it easy to appreciate the stonework details so not convinced this is the best way to share the beauty of Inuit art with the general public. What I did take away from the displays of muskoxen, narwhals and polar bears, is that someday perhaps I should also plan a visit to the far north, as there's still more wildlife to see! 😄

I still had 2.5 hours to drive to Kenora so didn't linger too long... was excited to cross back into "my" Ontario again!

Wildlife: 3 gartner snakes (Steep Rock), 2 bald eagles (Interlake), 3 deer, 1 bald eagle & 1 partridge (Hecla)

SUPs: none

Hikes: none

Distance driven since last map: 1,279 km

Third month recap: August

Friday 1st September marked the end of my third month travelling since I left Burlington, with the odometer just 500k shy of meeting the 20,000 mark. I spent the day driving for a few hours over back roads, stopping enroute to snap some pictures, exploring the local attractions (the "Dead Sea of Canada"), having a conversation with a friendly family, and ending with a campfire before diving into my tent... one of many similar days in the last few months! 🤩🤩🤩

It's surprising how easy the traveling has been, without any health or safety issues, and for most of the time in good spirits without feeling bored or lonely. I'm in awe of this country, even more than I was before, and I feel very grateful for all the amazing experiences I had! 😍🥰 Living out of my car has also been much more comfortable than I ever expected and in theory, I could do this for a long long time.

That said, the mechanics of traveling takes a lot of energy, from figuring out what I want to visit & booking places to stay, to setting up camp, never-ending groceries (because I don't use ice) & gas, and being constantly on the move. I've had exactly 4 days of doing nothing; 2 days on the beach (in NB and SK) and 2 days at friends (in QC & AB), and although that's ofcourse entirely my own doing, I'm looking forward to a bit more calmness! 😀 The forest fires changed my plans dramatically but that's probably not a bad thing as soon after, the first few cold nights & more extensive rain arrived, so mentally I was also getting ready to call it a day. Plus, I'm very excited about the next phases of my plan; spending time with my family & friends in Europe,and sorting myself out for a new life in Chile!

In the last month, I drove west from Sleeping Giant past Kenora and the impressive Lake of the Woods to Winnipeg for a special wedding ceremony. I then drove through some amazing scenery in the southern Prairies and made my way through badlands to Calgary. where I was happy to meet two sets of good friends. After that, the amazing Rockies with all their glorious mountains, canyons & lakes until I hit the smoke from BC's forest fires. West Kootenay is somewhere I will return to one day, as sadly I had to turn around and drive back through East Kootenay to the (this time gloomier) Rockies. Heading east from then onwards, I had a fun stay in Edmonton and then criss-crossed through central AB & SK to visit some cool places. An epic journey through an extremely diverse part of Canada! 😍

Here's my top eleven experiences of the last month in a somewhat chronological order (I've grouped them to avoid ending up with a top 20 😅);

Harman's wedding in Winnipeg, MB & visiting friends in Calgary, AB

2. Hiking the sand dunes at the Spirit Sands, MB and Great Sand Hills, SK

3. Grasslands National Park (both the badlands in the east and the prairies in the west, incl. the bison, gophers & prairie dogs)

4. Driving through the Prairies with its many grain elevators, MB & SK

5. SUPping & hiking in Canmore, Banff & Jasper, AB

6. BC Rockies; the Takakkaw Falls, Emerald Lake, Mount Revelstoke & Marble Canyon, BC

7. Soaking in the natural Halfway River hot springs, BC

8. Watching beavers at Hinton, AB

9. Modern & Indigenous art in Edmonton, AB

10. Dinosaur fossils and badlands, Drumheller & Dinosaur Park, AB

11. Floating at the Dead Sea of Canada, SK

Here's also a map of my third month travels.

West Manitoba: Inglis & Riding Mountain

After driving 370k east from Manitou Beach, I finally crossed into Manitoba, thereby losing an hour to the time difference. Although the prairie provinces look small on the map of Canada, they're really still quite large to cross, especially if you take the backroads that go puzzle-like EW, then NS and back EW around the fields (some roads paved and the less-travelled ones unpaved). A long drive during which I belted along with my oldies playlist such as ABBA, Elvis, Dire Straits, Supertramp & the Beautiful South but also the Weeknd & Venga Boys! 😁

I hadn't planned any touristy things as this day was mostly a bridge towards Riding Mountain, which was too far to drive in one go and also fully booked for the Labour Day long weekend. Sunny & warm, I did have a few spare hours to hopefully spend on a beach...

Lake of the Prairies is another massive hydro reservoir (I'm unsure about the ecological impacts but it's certainly good for climate change), which looked almost threatening from the dam due to the strong wind, but luckily Asessippi provincial park's beach provided some respite as it's on a protected inlet.

I had thought of chilling here for a few hours to soak up the sun, but the water was uninviting and as the wind continued to get stronger, I gave up relatively quickly and made my way to the tiny village of Inglis.

Despite having taken so many already, I couldn't resist one last picture of the fields as these were my favourite colours 🤩; a combo of light-green and brown co-growing crops - no clue what they are but likely that it's to minimize soil erosion (as I was taught in one of my conservation courses).

I had been forewarned by the hotel owner that it was "an old place" which was a gross understatement 🤣.... it's a shame I didn't take a picture, fleeing the flies when I got out of the car, but being above a bar it looked like a western saloon, with less paint remaining on the wooden boards than imaginable! But it was clean and I had the place to myself, and my concerns about late-night bar noise dissipated when I was the only guest for dinner, whilst a few would trickle in for one drink (or to buy smokes), and then disappear again. The owner was a nice chap, who had moved here as a compromise to his wife midway between Saskatoon and Winnipeg... what people do for love! 😜

Besides its bar, Inglis boasts the only remaining row of 1920-40's era "Standard Plan" grain elevators which have been renovated as a national historic site (promise, these will be my last pics of grain elevators 😅). Over 6,000 of these structures used to be across the Prairies, but most have been torn down or fallen apart, and this is the only place where there's still a row of multiple elevators, each owned by a different company competing with each other. For example, the Reliance company (2nd from the left) owned a total of 254 elevators across the country!

The farmer's truck would drive into the building through the large side-doors and after weighing, drop the grain through the grated floor. The grain would be hauled up by buckets into the tower to later fill train wagons through the exterior pipes. The little houses at the front were where payments would be made, and gossip / banter exchanged between the men😆.

The next day, I was excited to make my way over to Mountain Riding national park, of which I had read an article over 10 years ago and I've been looking forward to visiting ever since. So-called "an island of wilderness surrounded by a sea of farmland", it's a bit out of the way but here I was finally, so I had booked 3 nights of camping... a bit risky in September but hoping the cold & rain would stay away just a bit longer 🤞 (it didnt!)

Coming from the west, I dropped by Deep Lake first which has a pair of iconic red chairs that are dotted throughout national parks. The water being so calm tickled my paddling desire 😁 however that turned out quite an ordeal; I first needed to get the SUP inspected for aquatic invasive species and then my pump hose repair broke down leaking air like crazy 😫. 1.5 hours later I did manage to get on the water and although the scenery was nothing special, I was happy to be out! Very subtly, the colours were starting to change from the summer greens to fall orange... 🍁

Towards the end of the afternoon, I arrived at Wasagaming which had a great resort town vibe with lots of people hanging out at the beach and enjoying a pretty sunset 😍.

In Canada, the weather often suddenly flips around Labour Day, and this year was no exception; it started raining overnight and temperatures plummeted so was already regretting my camping choice! Luckily it did dry up mid-day so that I could get out of the tent and visit a Wishing Well surrounded by pretty flowers.

I wished for two things; that my pump hose would hold and that it would no longer rain, and lo behold both came to be!! 🥰 (next time, I'll wish for world peace 😉). Someone had recommended to paddle Katherine Lake, where I was able to get close to a beaver lodge and clearly see its underwater construction.

The lake had been quite small & I was up for some more, so I only partially deflated the board, stacked it in the back of the car and drove to nearby Whirlpool Lake for a second paddle... I had forgotten however to include a time frame for my wish 😛, so inflating the board back up was a huge struggle (with both hands trying to close the leaks 😣), and by the time I was on the water, the wind had picked up & menacing clouds were coming my way... I cut my losses after 45 minutes and just made it in time back to the car before the first rain dropped. The red wine over meatballs & soup made up for the cold weather so that I could dive straight from the restaurant into the warm sleeping bag! 😊

Next morning, I got up early to have another attempt to see bison in their summer pasture grounds where a herd of 40-50 is being maintained - they're in process of converting more forest to grassland so that in the future the herd can be expanded but for now that's the maximum number of animals that the habitat can sustain.

First observation from the viewing tower was that the smoke had returned but then I spotted some black dots on the landscape, in total some 30 animals! Driving a bit further along, there was a separate group of 13 that was close to the road, so I turned off the motor and sat sipping my tea while hearing them munch 😍. To my surprise, they came closer & closer until they walked straight past my car! Perfect way to start the day!

Back at the campsite around 11, I made a hearty breakfast of bacon & cheese to warm me up, while prepping dinner for the campfire that night. With the clouds and cold I was not in a mood to go for a long hike or paddle, so instead I did a smaller one which showcased ancient beach ridges (supposedly where the trees are) and a pretty birch forest. Disturbingly though, I also saw 5 big bear poos (full with berries) on the narrow trail which freaked me out a little, so I ended up almost running back to the parking lot... the night before, my neighbour camper had seen a bear walk by around 3am (chased away later by rangers)😮 so I was getting nervous - too much wildlife for my taste!

In the nearby city of Dauphin, I had hoped to visit its Ukrainian catholic church which is supposed to have beautiful frescoes, however it was closed for tours after the long weekend... the laundromat that morning had also closed for the season, so these were all signs summer was getting to an end... time to go home!

Back at Wasagaming, the sun unexpectedly came out so I went for a small hike on a floating boardwalk through the marsh... you know I like my boardwalks so was happy again, even more so when I saw a green heron (a smaller cousin of the "regular" great blue heron), a muskrat as well as a beaver!! 😍🥰 When I mentioned to a woman that the bison had been so close this morning, she said her car got rammed once by a bull causing $8,000 in damages! 😮

In the evening, the campfire & double set of clothes kept me comfy warm, and so did my mummy sleeping bag, but when it was 2 degrees when I woke up it was clear that this was my last night tenting... Getting dressed, eating breakfast and brushing teeth with ice-cold water was not fun so it was a dash to my heated car! 😄

I hadn't slept much because there was a pack of wolves loudly howling throughout the night... they seemed close but as sound travels far when it's quiet, I'm sure they were far away (or maybe not?!😅). This together with all the other wildlife things of the last few days however did make me think twice about going alone for the park's signature 14k hike up Bald Hill... by now the park was deserted (everyone back to school) and although I contemplated waiting at the trailhead until other people would show up, I realized there was no point in pretending I wasn't scared... the whole idea is that I have fun rather than checking things off a list!

On the way out of the park, there was still a viewpoint over the Manitoba escarpment and the impressive East Gate to admire and then that was goodbye to Riding Mountain!

Wildlife: 2 great grey owls, 11 deer, 2 loons, 1 hawk, 1 falcon, 1 coyote (crossing in front of my car), 47 bison (including 5 calves), 5 bear poos (almost counts as a bear😅), 1 green heron, 1 muskrat, 1 beavers, howling wolves (all at Riding Mountain)

SUPs: three at Riding Mountain

Hikes: two at Riding Mountain

Central Saskatchewan: Great Sand Hills, Sask. Landing and Manitou Beach

Driving from Alberta into Saskatchewan was immediately clear from the road condition; similar to driving from the Netherlands into Belgium, the way my car suddenly started rattling left no doubt I had crossed the border! 😂 The convoy of cars that I had been keeping up with also suddenly dissipated, so I was all alone on a crappy road in the middle of nowhere while dark clouds were brewing on the horizon - welcome to Saskatchewan! 🙃

Driving here (on older roads, they do also have top-notch new asphalt) gives the sensation of being drunk on a rolling boat 😝, constantly going up & down from left to right... there's actually no potholes but I'm guessing the asphalt's ability to withstand the cold winter might make it more ellastic so that it sags all over the place... on some stretches my head shaked so hard, I felt like a bobblehead! 🤣 (less good for my stomach though)

When I finally made a right turn after 245 km on the same road out of Drumheller, it was as I had suspected on a gravel road; I was now squarely back on the Prairies! 🤩 The gravel roads are in good condition (although the Manitoba ones are even better), but the loose gravel does mean I need to be more focused to stay in the tracks, so it's tiring and slower.

I didn't take many pictures of the scenery as it's exactly the same as when I drove westward through the province 😁 (albeit that was a more southern route than now on my return), so please check out my earlier blog if you're curious how the Prairies looks like, basically one field after another. I did include below pic of what-I-presume is a blooming wheat field, as it looked really golden! ☺

My first stop in Saskatchewan was at the Great Sand Hills near Spectre, where the cowboy way of life is idolized in a pretty stone mural and an arch of old (mostly falling apart) boots.

The sand hills are a remnant of glacial lake deposits, similar to the Spirit Sands I had hiked in southwest Manitoba. Where this used to be a vast expanse of moving sand dunes, most are now stabilized due to vegetation, so there's only a few truly sandy ones left over (which are expected to be gone by the end of the century). Despite them not being so high as I had expected - when driving along the flat fields, I had already been wondering why I didn't see them miles away - the reserve protects a small island of native prairie ecosystem in the middle of farmland so that makes them valuable just as they are!

During a little hike through the dunes, the only thing you could hear was the wind rustling through the bushes and the bellowing of cattle 😀 which was very relaxing until a cow family suddenly came directly my way! The male was looking at me while advancing towards me so not knowing what to expect, I backed off... turned out they really just wanted to walk over to another patch of grass behind me, so off they went over the dune. 😁

An hour further east, I checked in at Saskatchewan Landing provincial park on Lake Diefenbaker for a two-night stay. The lake is a massive 225km-long (almost as long as the Netherlandsb is wide! 😮) hydro reservoir that feels like an oasis after descending from the grasslands plateau, as it's green & lush with vegetation. It explained all the boat trailers I had seen driving on the dusty prairie roads which had felt really odd! 😅

I had wanted to capture the sunset but ended up talking at length to a Canadian-Belgian couple who recognized my accent 😀, so I missed the pretty pink colours but instead I did see a mesmerizing full moon! It had just been a few days that India had landed on the moon so it was special to consider that there's now a piece of that country so far away (I congratulated my Indian friends)! ☺

The next day, I had planned and indeed did absolutely nothing all day!! 🎉 As you'll have figured out by now, this is not something I do often (last time was at Kouchibouguac in New Brunswick over 2 months ago), but it was supposed to be a real summery hot day so was excited about getting to the beach.... it turned out to be only 22 degrees, cloudy and with a lot of wind so my beach-bumming did not completely work out as I had hoped 🤨 but still had a glorious day of basically sitting at the campsite, sitting at the beach (with clothes on) and then back to sitting at the campsite 😂

On the way to the beach though (a 2k drive to the other side of the lake), I had to pay my respects ofcourse to an old bison rubbing stone, and also checked out the viewpoint which really shows how the lake creates this green ribbon in an otherwise yellow-brown landscape, aka an oasis!

Having had such a long lazy day (including eating a delicious raspberry cheesecake icecream 🤗), I already had all the veggies prepped for roasting on the fire by 6pm (which is very early as I usually only set up camp by 7) but it felt a waste to start the fire when it was still light, so I ended up having a late dinner after all 😅. Over my beers, I came up with the idea that I could create my own cozy "virtual fireplace" video that I can play on my laptop on cold winter days... what do you think?!? 🤣🤣

The next day, the air felt different and when I walked over to the lake to watch the sunrise, it was confirmed; the smoke was back and the sun was really struggling to break through 😒. Too much wind to paddle so I left early hoping that things might be better elsewhere.

Same scenery as the day before 😜 (never boring though!), but I did capture one more "golden field" as example of the absolute nothingness... in a way, Labrador and the Prairies have this flat, monotone landscape in common despite their widely different geography, climate and ecosystems; that of Labrador is a sea of trees and here it's a sea of fields... In contrast, Québec, Ontario, BC and the other provinces have a much more varied landscape of ocean, lakes, mountains, forest AND fields.

When driving, the road oftentimes looked black from insects which I wasn't sure what they were (not flies luckily! 😅), until the gentleman at the gas station explained while cleaning my windows, that they're crickets eating grasshopper eggs... as it had been a dry summer, there were lots of grasshoppers and as a result the crickets had a bumper year, great example of prey-predator cycles! PS. Unfortunately a few miles after the gas station, there was a lengthy stretch of roadwork & gravel detours, so that meant RIP for my short-lived clean windows...

I found a few days later a cricket who had hitchhiked in my trunk, so he/she was quickly booted out when I saw it - I had already searched for whatever culprit snacked on my paper towel and was relieved it wasn't a mouse 😜.

The gas station was in the town of Outlook, and I must admit it took me a while to remember why it sounded so familiar... just shows how 3.5 months off work can undo a lifelong of using Microsoft email! 😅

But the real reason I took the picture of the sign was that for a long while these signs had perplexed me... when I had driven westbound into Saskatchewan from Manitoba the signs appeared, all with a "1" behind a name, and confusing them with city boundary ones that are typical in Europe it seemed as if each village was being numbered, e.g. Outlook 1, Outlook 2... which seemed such an odd thing to do (but Québec does have similarly numbered hydro dams & associated villages, e.g. Manic 1 to 5)! Only what must have been at the 20th sign or so, I realized that it indicated the next village 1km away 🤣🤣🤣 it took me a while to realize there was never going to be an Outlook 2... what can I say... my brain is also on a break!! 😅

Lastly, when driving around, the dry summer that the gas station guy had talked about was apparent in either completely or partially dry fens, the little ponds that dot the landscape and are a source of water for the farmers... the dried fens have different colours than the surrounding fields (white of salt or green for younger vegetation) which gave pretty visuals.

Having left early, I arrived just after noon at Manitou Beach which has as unique feature an extremely salty lake, 3 times the salt content of seawater, so that it's aptly referred to as Canada's Dead Sea! 😃 I had to try it ofcourse, and yes, swimming was basically impossible in the disgustingly salty water as each time I tried to go underwater, it would just push me up 😲... a really weird experience! Once I started to dry, my arms and legs turned white from the salt deposits so luckily there was a shower on the beach to rinse it off. It's a groundwater fed lake that through evaporation results in high salt concentrations, which are attributed to cure a whole list of diseases... as I tend to be covered in cuts and bruises, it was almost painful as the salt would sting all open wounds!

On my walk back to the campground, I admired the various wood carvings that were on display from a contest a few weeks ago... at it's an annual competition, the village is full of wood carvings including random ones of chimpansees, Belle & the Beast etc... there must be a theme each year?? This year it seemed related to Canadian nature (although not sure the stingray and turtle live here, maybe on BC's coast).

I really enjoyed the floating so I returned to the salty water, but then at the spa where it was heated, even better! 🤗 someone mentioned to me they come here every winter... if I would live nearby and had -40C winters, I would sign up for a membership in a heartbeat! There's noodles (as used in aquarobics) to help you balance in a vertical direction as the feet want to float up all the time 😜, or you can just lie back with your head onto a noodles and float away... Divine!

Topped off the evening with a cheeseburger & onion rings from the food stand on the beach and then a campfire with a s'more... oh la la, it feels so good spoiling yourself 🤩

Wildlife: 7 gophers, 1 deer, 1000+ crickets

SUPs: none

Hikes: one at Great Sand Hills

Distance driven from last map: 1,668km

East Alberta: Elk Island and Drumheller

Before heading back to the Prairies, there were two more things I was excited about to explore in Alberta; Elk Island national park and Drumheller.

Elk Island was the first location where bison were reintroduced in Canada (after they had all been killed to force natives to live on reserves 😵); 20-30 animals that were brought from Montana where farmers had kept the last bison alive to prevent them going extinct... since then, the herd at Elk Island has grown so successfully that they've been translocated to other parks like Grasslands & Waterton where I've seen the majestic animals 🤗! Grasslands' herd is also a "bison exporter" to amongst others Indigenous communities so that they can rebuild their cultural ties to the animal, hence this is really a very successful conservation story! 🤩 Elk Island being the place where it all started, I had been excited to see bison here but no luck; on a 30-degree day they were hiding in the forest, I would too!

The lake stank of algae so I ended up going for a small hike, which according to the description would pass by some beaver dams & have a bit of steep terrain to a view of the rolling hills... I'm quite certain that I did do that hike, but I didn't encounter any of those 🥴 😅 and instead had a flat trail without any notable viewpoint nor dams... not sure where the disconnect was but disappointed by the park - probably it's more interesting in fall.

This meant that I had plenty of time to drive down to Drumheller where the famous Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology is located... I had initially thought of skipping it but as I now have spare time after cutting my BC travels short, I thought why not!

This drive was probably the straightest route I've ever driven.... apart from a few bends it was dead straight for kilometers on end, making it difficult to stay focused! I did have a true Canadian train passing by, where 200 wagons later you're finally allowed to cross the tracks. 😝 About 20 km north of Drumheller, the scenery changed abruptly from rolling green hills to yellow flat grasslands (including the return of nodding oil donkeys), until I drove down into the river valley and the badlands appeared.

First thing I saw when driving into town was the largest T Rex in the world together with his smaller child/cousin/other dino?? (I'm not really versed in the world of dinosaurs 😅) so couldn't avoid taking a selfie for my nephews whose world revolves around the creatures 😍.

Check-in at the airbnb was a breeze so showed up at the museum at 6.30pm which was perfect as the masses started to leave. I must say that I was at first a bit apprehensive about visiting, as I'm not that much into dinos but I was truly blown away!! 🤩 Yes, they feature extensively but the fossils that are displayed are extraordinary, and beyond that, the exhibit explains the story of evolution and life on earth in an easy-to-understand & attractive way, a great recap of my ecology course! In 2 hours, I probably skipped a third, not because it wasn't interesting but because I was really getting hungry. 🙃 Below are just a few impressions, this one got added to my favourites of this trip! 😍

Outside, the sun was setting over the badlands so they would have to wait until the next day... first order of business was to get some chips, veggies & dips and sit on the microbrewery's patio embracing the desert-like evening heat 😊... which I would hate a few hours later in a stuffed room where the airco was too loud to run. 😒

In the morning, it was decidedly cooler and cloudy, which was a welcome change after the last few hot days! Just south of the village, there's some imposing hoodoos that are still standing (despite children running & climbing everywhere 😮). After that it was one more look at the badlands (which is not my favourite landform, but prettier in contrast with the valley's green) and a derelict grain elevator, before driving east out of Alberta.

Wildlife: 1 gopher at Drumheller

SUPs: none

Hikes: one at Elk Island

#Before heading back to the Prairies

Alberta: Hinton & Edmonton

After driving down the Rockies towards Edmonton, the landscape changed to rolling green fields interspersed with woods, much greener than the yellow hues further south around Calgary, presumably because of more rain/snow (which I luckily didn't get ☺).

After checking in at the camp cabin in Hinton, I grabbed some salads-to-go at the grocery store and headed to the town's Beaver Boardwalk which has an extensive network of boardwalks around a 20-year old beaver colony. This is a prime example of why I love boardwalks so much; they're easy to use without having to worry about getting your feet wet or muddy, and the effort that the builders put in to show their guests why they should care about the "presented" nature, implies that it's worth paying attention!

Here, after seeing the beaver lodge (of which I've seen plenty before), I was shocked to actually watch a large beaver emerge from it, swim around a bit and then go back under! 🤩 A woman mentioned that there's also two young beavers and indeed a bit later, one came out and swam right under the floating dock where I was!! ❤😍 For the next hour, I sat eating my dinner and watching the little one eating his own reed snack, whilst the brother/sister would swim lapses (we only saw it go in one direction and never back so presumably it made a loop out of sight). Really very cool & perfect way to spend the evening!

In the morning, I was really happy to be in the cabin because although it was the same cold outside,1q it was toasty inside which made it hard to get up. 😁 I did have a good reason to get going though, as I wanted to get in time to Edmonton to visit the Art Gallery of Alberta, which is (or at least at the moment) differently than the one in Ontario entirely dedicated to modern art. The road to Edmonton was nothing special but oh so empty! 🤩 I'm already dreading my return to the GTA mayhem...

The building is impressively designed with metal shapes weaved in & out of the glass facade... artsy indeed! 🤩

The top floor was dedicated to a video exhibit about dance, and although I didn't film it, I rrally liked a Brazilian installation called "Swinguerra" showing dance groups rehearsing a multitude of war-inspired dances... when I finished the rest of the exhibits, I went back to watch again 😍.

The 2nd exhibit was a private collection of PopArt, with works of Andy Warhol (top picture left), Roy Lichtenstein ("Cow Going Abstract" top pic bottom right), and a huge collection of Banksy originals (2nd pic) to others (Tom Wesselmann, top pic top right) I hadn't heard of... I LOVE popart and have spent many many hours in galleries whenever there's an exhibit... 5 hours in Ottawa once 😂, the Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh ofcourse and even a few hours in a random Peru gallery... not sure what about it is that attracts me, a combo of the bold colours, the abstract, the exaggeration, the playfulness?? I had Keith Haring posters growing up and have 2 Warhol ones at home (now in storage) 😍. There were also a series of videos from Banksy that made social commentary about Xmas, Disneyworld and showed how a $1M auctioned painting got shredded moments after purchase! 😝

The final exhibit was also really interesting; embroiderery interlaced with LED lights, such as the left one below named "Selfie Girls", something that I had been shocked at in Banff to see how many young girls would spend ages on taking the perfect picture (& getting upset if their hair/ face/boobs/ass was not showing up exactly as they wanted it to be)... I've also been taking a lot of selfies on this roadtrip but I think you'll agree that most are not necessarily very flattering 🤣 and are just meant to show I'm still alive & having fun!

There were also a few embroideries such as the one on the right where you were invited to send a text... see the response I got! 🌈🤩 (found out later that the texts had been sent by the receptionist downstairs, she must be happy it wasn't very busy!).

My airbnb for the two nights in the city was a room in an older but renovated house of a wood furniture refurbishment couple who were very friendly, so I sat for a few hours in the garden chatting with them and got a great Mexican restaurant tip.

Next day, I had a completely different art experience at the ᐄᓃᐤ (ÎNÎW) River Lot 11∞ Indigenous Art Park on the south river bank, located where a Métis farm used to be as one of the first settlers in the area. It's probably not the best place to be in the evening but in the middle of the day it had a great view of the city and no one to bother me 😀.

Each artwork was described in 4 different languages; top left is Cree as the artwork represents the word "fire"in that language, and I assume the top right is in Michif (the Métis language) as I recognize some French words but have no clue in what language the bottom left text is....

The two turtles had colourful mosaics on them of birds, feathers and a beaver but what stood out to me most was the description of the amphitheatre in the picture below... the highest seat at the top references to the past, which is farthest from our reach when you're at the base, but it provides the greatest vision and perspective. When you sit in a lower seat, you are closer to the future but not able to see so far in the distance... so true! My favourite course in high school was history, where the teacher was amazingly good at linking events from the past to the current state of affairs. Listening to my playlist while driving, there's quite a few '70s-80s songs about the nuclear bomb threat during the Cold War (e.g. "Russians" by Sting & several Dutch ones) and it's saddening to have history being repeated... 😔

After those sobering thoughts, it was time for some consumerism 😉, so I paid a visit to the West Edmonton Mall which is truly gigantic with an indoor wave pool (which at $64pp is a bit outrageous), zip line, pirate ship, sea lion show, mini golf etc. I browsed the Lego store which touts true Canadian themes like a forest fire and a bear chasing a hiker 😜) and found a cute wildflower bouquet which I'll buy once I'm in Chile!

When I no longer could handle the crowds, I escaped just west of the city to the BLESS viewing platform of Big Lake and nearby wetlands. Sitting there for 2 hours with only ducks quaking and cooling themselves in the lake (it had returned to a balmy 30C, much better than the cold mountain weather a few days earlier) was the perfect antidote! Seeing another beaver swimming and eating reeds was the cherry on the cake 😍.

Wildlife: 3 beavers (Hinton) & 1 beaver (Edmonton)

SUPs: none

Hikes: one at Hinton

Alberta Rockies (3): 2nd visit to Banff & Jasper

When I had been in Banff earlier in the trip, I learned about the Cave and Basin national historic site, whose thermal springs had been the kick-off of the creation of national parks in Canada. People can no longer use the hot springs, as they found a unique snail living solely in the hot waters on this mountain (!) but the exhibits provide an interesting history of how national park policies have changed over the years from resources to conservation management, whilst also balancing human use for tourism... exactly what I want to do in Chile!😍💖

There's also a little boardwalk out to the marsh which provides a warm habitat year-round because of the steaming hot water runoff from the springs, so after a massive rain shower had passed, I went to check out the white algae that grow in the streams and look for fish & birds. Turns out that this is the only place in the Rockies where garter snakes live as it keeps the soil from freezing in winter, but luckily none came my way ... I had already noticed that I hadn't seen any snakes in a while, now I know why! 😄

Most national parks aim to build reconciliation and collaboration with local Indigenous communities, recognizing that the creation of those parks resulted in the loss of traditional hunting, gathering and spiritual places (newer parks now often have an agreement for continued traditional use). In this case, Banff asked Indigenous artists to create large stand-alone, cubic murals, which I thought were very powerful.

Dodging the rain once more, I drove to Bow Falls close where I just sat on a bench for several hours looking at the river and doing some internet (as Kootenay Park had zero reception). Had a quick dinner downtown but despite its prettiness, I felt it was heaving with tourists so couldn't wait to get back to my quiet campsite! 😁

After another night & morning of rain (this is the only time so far in 3 months that it rained so much during camping so I'm not really allowed to complain), I was hoping that Jasper would give me some sun and warmth, but unfortunately it stayed gloomy and cold (12C) all day. 😢

My first stop was at the Crowfoot Glacier and Bow Lake, which despite the clouds were in-your-face impressive. I had initially not planned to drive the Icefield Parkway as I spent two days here in 2010, literally stopping at every viewpoint of which there are tons, but the mountains and lakes were mind-blowing as ever so I'm glad I came back after all. 😊 Similar to the sea, mountains are magnetizing regardless of whether it's sunny or gloomy, so how could you ever say no?! 😍

The walk to the Peyto Lake viewpoint is a steep hill up, but the scenery is mesmerizing. 😍 It (& every stop) was of course super crowded but somehow I didn't find it overbearing and still managed to get people-free pics!

Speaking about bears, after another view of the glorious mountains, there was a suddenly a massive pile of cars and... a grizzly bear walking on the hill with 2 cubs! 🤩🤩🤩 I was so taken looking at them that I forgot to take a pic until they were much further away, but they're the 3 black dots if you zoom in 😂. For a moment it looked as if they were returning back to where I was (they were first next to my car when I stopped!) but alas they got fed up with all the people gawking and left into the woods. It was really cute to see the characteristic shoulder hump also on the little ones... made my day! 🥰

Two-minutes drive around the bend was a parking lot for a popular hike, where people were completely unaware of the grizzlies, so that reiterated my resolve of not going for solo hikes in the Rockies! 😅

Finally, I spent some time at the Columbia Icefield Centre, looking at the exhibits and eating fries overlooking the glacier. 😋 There was one exhibit showing the ice's retreat that has happened since 2017, so I'm curious whether I can see it on my own pics from 2010 that I must have taken when we were here... once I got the time to retrieve those photos, I'll post them to do my own citizen science! 😄

As it was another 100km to the town of Jasper & I was tired, I skipped all other stops (including undoubtedly two pretty waterfalls), and drove straight to the campground where to my astonishment I did not have a firepit (didn't even occur to me to check when I booked it) so got no fire to keep me warm. 😣

It dropped to 4 degrees that night 😨 and although I was ok warm in my mummie sleeping bag, it was not comfortable so when the sun came in the morning, I just sat for hours with a cup of tea and a book, embracing every ray! 🌞 I felt a bit guilty to stay on the campsite whereas I was supposed to take in all the beauty of the park, but this was exactly what the doctor had ordered to get my mood lifted! 🥰

After only leaving the site at 1pm I wasn't really up to do much driving and facing crowds at the waterfalls, Mount Edith Cavell etc, so instead I checked out Patricia and Pyramid lakes which are close to town. With calm water & no wind it was a perfect day for a paddle, so I pumped up my SUP for the first time using the repaired hose... it was very slow in building pressure while leaking some air, so as I wasn't sure it was correctly reading and would possibly blow up, I stopped at 7psi instead of the usual 15psi... I told the warden who came over to talk about invasive aquatic species that I would likely sink 🤣, but I just managed to stay afloat! 🤗 Good news is that the pressure gauge is correct so that I can continue to use the pump until I have a replacement (which after a hunt at multiple stores in Golden, Jasper and Edmonton has proven to be impossible except for buying online which I can't do until I'm back in TO 😕, the downside of modern shopping!)

I ended up having a beautiful paddle around the lake with views of mountains and glaciers, that I couldn't capture as in the commotion I had forgotten to bring my phone 😅. As a bonus, on the way out, I saw a black bear alongside the road so this was a happy day!

Before heading back to town, I hiked a small portion of the Maligne Canyon, which had impressive potholes from (previously) swirling water, as well as a huge logjam under which the water continued to flow. The waterfalls & gorge were pretty too but not newsworthy compared to the prettier Marble Canyon... I believe I've canyoned out for this trip 😛, a downside of traveling for so long!

Although the town of Jasper is less pretty than Banff, it has much less tourists and therefore is far more relaxed in terms of vibe; a cool mountain town! On my way to the canyon, I had hopped into a bakery for a delicious rhubarb pastry, and now on my way back I had some appetizers & local beer on a rooftop patio watching the sunset. 🤗

The sky was cloud-free and although I was too tired to stay up all night for the milky way to come, the treeline against the darkening sky was magical and I managed to photograph the Big Dipper and Arcturus at its tail (shout out to Byron 😉)! At the front end, I also could see the North Star and the beginnings of the Little Dipper but they were still very faint.

Went happily to sleep but that night, it got again freaking cold so less charmed in the morning 😫... if this weather continues, it would mean the end of my camping as I'm really not prepared for close-to-freezing temps!

Even without an extensive sun-warming session, it took me a couple of hours to pack up the tent, eat & get dressed - I guess not working & having deadlines has made me slow 🙃 but the beauty of traveling solo is that I don't answer to anyone 😀 - and get on my way to Maligne Lake. I believe it's famous because of the row of mountains at the back end of the lake, but the smoke had returned so there was really not much to see.... too much wind to go for a paddle, too few people hiking to make me comfortable on the trails, meant that I drank my cup of tea at the lookout and then left.... no magic for me here today, c'est la vie! 😜

Leaving Jasper Park eastward towards Hinton, the mountains changed; they became less high and more white-grey in colour, still pretty though.

Big disappointment; I had planned for the afternoon to soak at the Miette hot springs, which are supposedly to be surrounded by beautiful nature, but I had not checked the website so wasn't aware that they are closed since June due to a landslide! 😵

This was the end of my time in the Rockies, now back through (more) northern Alberta, excited to explore Edmonton!

Wildlife: 1 grizzly bear with 2 cubs ♥ and 1 black bear at Jasper

SUPs: one at Jasper

Hikes: one at Banff, two at Jasper

BC: East Kootenay

When I left Nelson, there was no longer ash falling on the car but still a lot of smoke and the sudden 10C drop in temperature from the day before held out, so suddenly I was wearing a sweater & scarf again!

Ferries always make me think of holiday (when we were little, we would take the ferry across the Mediterranean from Tunisia to the Netherlands & France, maybe that's why?), so even with poor view I enjoyed the 35-minute (free!) crossing of Kootenay Lake. Upon landing, I visited the Pilot Bay lighthouse which was in use from 1905 to 1993 to guide ships on the long lake on days like this with poor visibility... I was able to climb tiny stairs to the top but the view remained the same; none! 😂 Somewhat further south, I walked a bit on Lockheart Beach and could only imagine the mountains surrounding it.

Still further south on the lake I visited the Glass House, completely made out of embalming bottles that an undertaker had collected through his job (the strangest hobbies one can have!?!😁) and which is still lived in during the winter by his descendants.

Off the lake now, the town of Creston has two grain elevators that I had wanted to take a photo of (given that we're west of the Rockies instead of on the prairies) but they were in such a bad state that I didn't even bother stopping.

I had planned to do some wine tasting in the famous Okanagan wine valley, so instead I did one in the up & coming Creston wine valley at the Baillie-Grohman winery... out of the four that I sampled, the pinot gris was my favourite to go with the baked brie. 😊

I stayed overnight at a nearby private campground, which interestingly had simple garbage bins right next to my site instead of bear/raccoon/other wildlife-proof ones... having been conditioned to always keep food securely packed away, it was a bit unsettling but luckily the night passed uneventful. 👍

Next day, driving northeast up to Radium Hot Springs where there were another two large fires, the smoke was getting worse so I didn't feel like doing anything and cancelled all other attractions I had earmarked as potentially interesting; any viewpoints ofcourse, paddling on a pretty lake, a trout hatchery and a hike to the source of the Columbia River... With the town of Nelson having been unexpectedly the farthest west on my trip in BC, I had hoped that things would improve going back so it was disheartening that nothing changed. I had not wanted to travel to East Kootenay in the first place, and I did not like it now! 😣😅

Instead, I drove straight to my campround at Radium, set up shop and then had a soak in the nearby hot springs which improved my mood. After a tasty jambalaya dinner, I spent the evening playing solitaire and won three times in a row! 😄

In the morning, it rained but there was no smoke, and you cannot imagine how happy I was... I had not thought that I would be so glad to see proper clouds again!😂

At the hot springs the previous day, I had already spotted the first few bighorn sheep (most without big horns though) and now I saw quite a few more on my way out along the canyon. Bighorn sheep don't lose their horns annually such as deer so they grow longer each year, and you can determine their age from the horn rings just like trees... roadkill is unfortunately a major issue, but this was not going to be by me (the duck was enough!!) so I slowed down properly. 👍

In Kootenay National Park, I checked out Olive Lake which is spring-fed and has pretty colours but the rain made it a brief stop.

The road follows the Kootenay river, which with its light-blue glacial water was a bit monotone with the grey-white sky, but still pretty and with an impressive flow, not to swim in!

I started a hike crossing the river towards a lake but turned around at the bridge, as I didn't feel at ease. August is prime berry time for bears and as I didn't see anyone else on the trail, it felt a bad choice to continue... I'm not too concerned about black bears as they tend to flee when they see humans (unless they feel threatened), but grizzly bears are aggressive and will attack, against which my hiking poles & whistle are not really up to 😯. Lesson learnt; if I ever come back to BC and the Rockies, I would want to be in a larger group so that I can hike more!

I did do a small hike in a fire restoration area as the parking lot was full and there were more people on the trail. The scenery was a bit haunting with a lot of dead trees but at the same time it had a positive feel to it as new plants were taking over. The area has had four fires in the last 20 years, some natural and some burned on purpose to create meadows, which does not only reduces the risk of devastating, out-of-control fires but also provides important habitat for wildlife who depend on the grasses & shrubs for their survival.

Although there was a tiny bit of blue sky during the hike, once I got to the Marble Canyon campground, it rained and rained and rained, so I sat comfortably in the car reading a magazine until there was a dry spell, set up the tent in record time and continued reading there when the rain restarted. 😁

In the morning it still rained on & off but it felt really good to breathe fresh mountain air, so I was not fed up yet. 😅 Out of the 3 Rockies canyons (Johnston in Banff & Maligne in Jasper are the other two), I found my hike at Marble Canyon to be the prettiest, as the river has carved deep into the rocks, leaving a narrow chasm with the water way down below. Impossible to photograph its full length, the waterfall plunging down into the canyon is unbelievable! 😍 As a bonus, the sun even came out!

The other highlight of Kootenay park is the Paint Pots, ochre-red pools that were used by the Indigenous for e.g. body painting. I had a vague recollection that we were disappointed when we were here in 2010 and that got reconfirmed once I got to the 2-3 small pools... nothing special here but the hike to them was pretty enough not to make it a waste.

As the weather was flipflopping between rain & sunshine and I didn't want to get rained on another hike, I decided to spend the afternoon in Banff as there were still several things I was interested to explore & it would be fun to go for dinner in town... Banff was just 30 minutes away on the other side of the Continental Divide, which determines whether a rain droplet flows west to the Pacific Ocean or east to the Atlantic Ocean. Kinda cool to think how different those paths would be if you were to be a rain droplet! 😉

Am running out of my photo limit so next post will be about Banff (2nd visit) and Jasper!

Wildlife: 21 bighorn sheep (only 2 with actual big horns 😜) at Radium

SUPs: none

Hikes: 4 at Kootenay Park

Distance driven from last map: 1,631km

BC: West Kootenay

Once back down Mount Revelstoke, I picked up a delicious poke bowl from a food truck to eat while waiting for the ferry across Upper Arrow lake... which instead of 30-50 minutes turned out into a 1h20 wait due to delays, mechanical problems etc. A bit of a shame, especially as due to the smoke there was not much to see! 😒

I had been recommended that this would be a good place to paddle which I can imagine on a clear day but I wouldn't venture on the water in these conditions... I might not find my way back! 😅 On the ferry we were laughing that the scenery was so extremely pretty, at least in our imagination 😝

After the ferry landed on the east side of the lake, I had one of the best experiences so far in my entire time in Canada; soaking in the hot springs of Halfway River! 😍❤ It's a bit of a trek to get there, first on a rough stoney road & then 100s of stairs down to the valley floor but it's absolutely worth it! There's 3 man-made pools of different temperatures (the hottest was way too warm), a few natural pools a little bit further and then the river to cool you down. I understand why people I spoke to have been returning for years on end, I could stay here forever ☺... there's no better feeling than to get really hot and then plunge head down into the cold water! Most people tend to only sit in the cold water not submerging their head, so I taught a girl & a few ladies the real magic of going all-in with the hot & cold cycle 🤩 (which they loved after the first shock)

Unfortunately I did need to say goodbye to the hot springs as I had another hour to drive to New Denver (next time, I'll stay at the on-site campground!), where I stayed at a hotel run by a friendly Chinese family, so had yummy Chinese food but the room was stuffy and hot 🔥, probably better off camping despite the smoke.

Over dinner, I had a great conversation with an older couple who has travelled the world including Scotland and Colombia so it was fun to exchange notes. It did also make me realize that although I very much enjoy traveling to explore new places, I get my real energy from living in a different country, building a new life there and getting a deeper understanding of the culture (like I did in Canada 😍)... I see my road trip as a farewell to this amazing country that I call home, and although it seems distant at this moment, I'm looking forward to starting a new life in Chile, so together with the worsening fires in BC it felt I was coming to an end to my travels soon. I still had 6 more nights in the Okanagan booked that I was excited about but perhaps after that it would be good to start my return. Fast forward 2 days (as per one of my previous posts); after having had terrible smoke in Nelson and more areas being evacuated I did cancel the bookings and returned east, not even making it to the Okanagan 😔

For now however, the next morning was slightly better and it made me happy to see some snow-covered mountains and semi-blue sky from my window! 😀 I was told that New Denver is a hidden gem so I walked around the old downtown and bought delicious orangy cake from the farmers market. Thereafter, I visited the Nikkei memorial centre at the location of a Japanese Canadian WW2 internment camp which had ofcourse shocking displays and a pretty Japanese garden (I've had my fill now of internment info though; I better hope Canada will never have a war with the Dutch or the French 😅). There was another Japanese meditation garden on the lake but by then the wind had kicked up a frenzy, signalling it was time to leave!

Driving across the mountains to Kootenay Lake, I stopped by in Sandon, which is billed as a ghost town but I didn't get a good idea of its history (I'm guessing mining ?)... currently, it's more of a repository of old trucks, train wagons and a whole collection of electric trolley busses (incl. one from Hamilton!) that are waiting to be restored and put back into use (questionable given their current state). The iced coffee was delicious! 😁

In Kaslo, I visited the SS Moyie Sternwheeler which had functioned as the only local transportation for the villages along the 105km long Kootenay lake until the road was built. The ship is beautifully restored and I can imagine this was pure luxury at the time!

After a well-deserved icecream and a chat with dear Priyanka 😍, I had quick stops at a strangely rounded covered bridge and some falls (of which I've also reached my limit now) and then on to Nelson. My tent site was a bit different on a deck high above the rest of the campground... put in extra stones to make sure I wouldn't roll off in the middle of the night. 😅 Delicious Italian food & local wine on a patio with live music capped off a good day ☺

Next morning though, the smoke was double heavy although it had cooled down 10 degrees overnight, and the bad news of fire evacuations kept rolling in so pulled the plug and canceled my existing reservations (they would have been nulled by the end of the day anyway because of the travel restrictions put in place for tourists), and booked new ones in East Kootenay on the way back to the Rockies. Feeling drab, I spent some time inside at the visitor centre and a restaurant but the smoke was everywhere...it did not only physically feel bad but also mentally it wore me down like a heavy blanket trying to suffocate.😔

I had driven by the Ainsworth hotsprings the previous day so went back and had some good time there... they also have a "cave" in which you can swim which was different... didn't beat the forest hot springs but the warm water was soothing anyway!

In the evening, I went to an Oppenheimer party at the cinema with live music & drinks before the movie, something completely different! 😀 I briefly met an interesting couple who live happily in Nelson & had met many years ago, after she had decided to grow roots in Nelson "because it felt home" after a summer job... gave me hope I'll have the same home feeling when I'll set foot in Chile!

Despite not having been able to truly experience West Kootenay as I had wanted to, I feel that this is an amazing region so will hopefully come back here another time, just not in August.

Wildlife: 2 turkeys, 1 bald eagle, 2 deer, 1 salamander

SUPs: none

Hikes: none

Hot springs: two 🤗

BC Rockies: Yoho, Golden and Revelstoke

My first stop in Yoho National Park was at a viewpoint of the Spiral Tunnels, which were built in the form of a figure 8 to allow trains to go down the steep slopes without losing control and getting wrecked. When I was here in 2010, we saw both the head and the tail of the tremendously long trains (we counted one with 220 wagons!) come out of the mountain, however without a train going through it's just two small holes among a sea of trees 😉. When hearing the trains come by at night, it seems there's a train every 2 hours or so but didn't feel like waiting it out. Some 5 minutes after driving off however, I saw a train approach... Murphy's law! 😝

Next, I drove up a curvy road to the Takakkaw waterfall, which thunders from the hanging valley & glacier above. Takakkaw means "it is magnificent" in Cree and at 254 meters high it's certainly magnificent! 🤩 I first walked along the fast-flowing silty river and then got soaked by the spraying water... stunning & refreshing! 😉

A bit further west, I stayed for a while at a natural rock bridge, talking to a friend on the phone by climbing up a rock pile for better reception 😅.

There was also an interpretative sign again on the WW1 (mostly Ukrainian) internment camp here, and ended up having an interesting conversation with an American couple about similar actions in the US and more in general about how poorly governments sometimes treat their own people whilst they're supposed to serve & protect us!

At the end of that road lay mesmerizing Emerald Lake of which the water colour was incredibly special... a true gem!! 😍 Lake Louise & Moraine Lake have their own charm but this one is my favourite! ❤ I considered going out for a paddle but at 5pm I was already tired from a long day (having done two hikes that morning!) so instead just sat by the water with an iced coffee from the fancy lodge ☺ I would try to come back in the morning!

Another hour west (as usual with construction 😐), I arrived at my campsite in Golden, which was really just a patch of dry dirt so that within no time everything was coated with dust... on the bright side, the tent was completely dry in the morning. After a refreshing shower, I found a great patio on the river downtown with Tuesday Tacos, craft beer and a "golden" sunset 😁.

Next morning, I was out of the campground before 8am to head back to Emerald Lake and immediately it was clear that the smoke had moved in... the pretty mountain backdrop from the previous night had disappeared 😕. Worse, after the hour drive & having found perfect parking at the lake, the SUP hose connector broke off so that I couldn't pump it up! $%#@!!

Everyone else was already on the water so no one to ask if I could borrow their pump hence could do nothing else than to return upset to Golden 😭... the stores had opened by now; the sports one didn't carry electric pumps and snob as I may be, I won't go back to manual pumping... luckily someone suggested the hardware store and this man fixed the hose with some duct tape! 🎉 I must admit that I haven't had the chance to try it yet due to all the smoke mess but I'm hopeful I'll be back on the water soon 🤞.

I also discovered a wasp in my car while driving on the highway which rattled me, so this was really not my day! 😫 Continuing westward towards Revelstoke, I hoped that the smoke would improve but instead it was only getting worse (got an extra hour time change as a bonus though). By the time I was at Rogers Pass in Glacier Park it was unbearable to be outside (the 30 degree humidity didn't help), let alone go for a hike, so I had a good time in the visitor centre, even dropping in at a video on headbanging bighorn sheep for a Dutch tourbus 😂

In Revelstoke, I spent a few more hours indoor at a lovely café and then headed to my campground where the smoke seemed somewhat better (or so I made myself believe 😉).

At check-in, I had asked if it was safe to swim in the lake but then I realized there was really not much water left apart from some isolated bands, so no paddling here (I did meet a girl that had already inflated her SUP before she realized there was not enough water & now used it as her beach towel to sit on 😅). There was a manmade watering hole though, so I had a cold swim under a disappearing sun at 7pm, and then woke up with the same sorrow sun at 7am 😔

Not sure what to do, I decided to drive up the Mount Revelstoke Meadows in the Sky Parkway after all with the slim chance I might get above the smoke?? 🥴 That was clearly wishful thinking but am glad that I went as there were some nice, easy hikes including one called "First Footsteps" celebrating Indigenous knowledge and art. The alpine meadows no longer had wildflowers due to the hot weather but were pretty nevertheless.

At the top, there was also the original fire watchtower which until 1985 served to warn the wardens of new fires. It's sad that these posters are as valid today as they were then!

On my way down to the car, two park staff gave me tips on what to do in West Kootenay where I was heading next, which was perfect as I had no clue! 🙃

Wildlife: none

SUPs: none :(

Hikes: one at Yoho, two at Revelstoke

Alberta Rockies (2): Lake Louise and Johnston Canyon

I was up early to arrive at the shuttle bus by 8.30am, as nowadays the best way to visit Lake Louise and the only way for Moraine Lake is by shuttle bus, for which I managed to score a ticket while I was in Calgary - at the time the 8-9 timeslot seemed early but with the warm weather it was perfect as it meant I would do most of the hiking while it was still relatively cool. When I asked the ranger whether I should be concerned about bears while walking alone, he laughed and responded that I wouldn't be really walking alone 😜.

Back in 2010 we had already hiked up to the Agnes tea house and its famous side viewpoint of the lake, so now I opted for the Plain of Six Glaciers trail, which at 15.2km return is a long one but was relatively easy in terms of gradual elevation gain apart from the very last scramble up the rock pile. It first follows the lakeshore and then the river until you walk beside the end part of the glacier which is unrecognizable due to all the soil and boulders on top of it but has some blue ice shimmering through. At the very end, you can peek behind one of the mountains into the valley where one of the glaciers comes down. Blue sky and less people once away from the lakeshore, so it was absolutely gorgeous!! ☀️😍 From time to time there would be a loud rumbling when ice broke off but I was ofcourse always too late to see it. Down the steep slopes there were lots of waterfalls carrying meltwater... a really great experience! 🤗

On the way down, I sat for a while in the shade at the cute tea house sipping a rooibos tea after which it was a hot descent back to the lake. To cool down I plunged my head in the water which was deliciously refreshing but in the evening my hair felt like rope from the "rock flour". 😅 Before leaving I couldn't help but take one more picture of perfect Lake Louise! ❤

The interconnection shuttle went smooth so was half an hour later at Moraine Lake where it was insanely busy at the lakehead, however it got calm really quickly further along the shore... amazing how few people don't bother with walking another 1k to escape the crowds!? The mountains are called the Seven Sisters (having 7 peaks) but due to the afternoon sun and the angles from the shore I only managed to capture 5 at a time 🙃. Tip for anyone visiting; pics are best at Moraine in the morning and at Louise in the afternoon (so opposite of what I did). Instead of going out for dinner as I originally planned, I scrambled whatever edible I had left and just chilled at the campsite with my feet up! 😀

In the morning, I still wanted to visit the Johnston Canyon so defying my own expectations, I had already fully packed up and hit the trail by 7.30am! Downside; no sun, but upside; no people! 🤩 Listening to the brute force of a waterfall is I can tell you the perfect way to wake up! ☺

On the drive north on the Bow Valley Parkway there were some more pretty viewpoints as well as a memorial to a First World War interment camp. Canadians or immigrants with Austrian-Hungarian ancestry were deemed "enemy aliens" even if they had lived here for many years and were rounded up in internment camps, put to harsh work as in this location to build the national park's roads and even the Banff golfcourse. So much for condemning prisoner forced labour! 😵

Having a weakness for both viewpoints and wildlife, I spent the extra bucks to go up the Lake Louise ski chairlift which crosses above a wildlife corridor where you should have a good chance to see grizzly bears. The views were outstanding (you can see Lake Louise in the distance), but saw zip wildlife. Too bad but sitting on a chairlift in a t-shirt with binoculars is a fun change from shivering in the cold on a typical ski day ! 😉

After all the gorgeous nature at Banff & Lake Louise, I now went down the other side of the continental divide to Yoho National Park in British Columbia. BC, here I come!

Wildlife: 7 gophers at Lake Louise

SUPs: none

Hikes: two at Lake Louise, one at Moraine Lake, one at Johnston Canyon

Alberta Rockies (1): Canmore and Banff

After saying goodbye to Deborah, I drove out west and soon started to see the first mountains!! 🤩 I read somewhere that out of all landscapes, people are most impressed by mountains and I cannot agree more.. not necessarily for me to live in but certainly to visit!

I had been recommended to do the hike to the Grassi lakes in Canmore as a good intro to the mountains, so up I went together with a few other hundred persons 😜... this was the first time in over the two months I'm on the road that I experienced real busyness, so I was a bit annoyed at first but hey I was there too so couldn't really blame others wanting to do the same 😅.

First view was from a man-made hydro reservoir and there was also a waterfall, but then the two star Grassi lakes showed themselves.. . I must say that initially I was a bit disappointed, is this it? as they're tiny & seemed unassuming at first, but then went I waited until the sun came out I could see those beautiful green colours & agreed that they're stunning. I probably sat on a rock for about an hour waiting until the sun came through, observing the other tourists, rock climbers and even a girl in a fancy dress having a photo shoot 😀. I'm never bored when doing nothing!

As this was a Saturday evening in August in the Rockies 🙃, it was no surprise that I had had trouble finding a place to stay, so I backtracked a bit into the valley to a campground which turned out to be on a First Nations reserve. The evening prior, I had been asked whether I had ever stayed on a reserve so now I could say yes!

Basically being a big grassfield with a porta-potty it was really not much but it had an amazing view and as the reserve is its own nation, I was allowed to have a campfire whereas the rest of the province had a fire ban, bizarre! I would not have done a fire but that night was the height of the Perseides meteor shower, so I gladly enjoyed the warmth while looking for shooting stars... I saw 13 in total! 🤩

Next morning, I headed to the visitor centre in downtown Banff to get ideas on what I could do, and although the village looked pretty I was glad to leave for lake Minnewanka for one of the most glorious paddles I've done to date... blue sky, mountains, crystal clear water & no wind... SUP paradise! 😍❤ I had optimistically put on my bikini but this being my first glacial lake I had not fully understood how absolutely freezing the water is, so that swim didn't happen! 😅

In the afternoon, I drove along the pretty Bow Valley Parkway to set up camp at the Johnston Canyon, whose parking lot was overflowing & mayhem with people, but luckily the campsites were large and quiet.

When I had first been to Banff in 2010, the smoke of fires near Kamloops (speaking of history repeating itself, see my recent update on BC fires) created zero visibility so we fied Banff within a day, not having seen any of the landscape so I was very happy to experience it now with such perfect weather! 😍 Top of my list was taking the Banff Gondola which is apparently the single largest attraction, so I guess I was lucky to get any ticket at all, even at 5:30pm.... once more TONS of people but I didn't let me distract from the marvelous views. I sat again for an hour or so on a bench, watching the world go by while sipping a beer and taking in the scenery 🤗 PS I know everyone loves their children but OMG what a patience parents must have nowadays!?! 😵

After all this beauty, I was completely content to have a simple salad (and the last delicious samosa from Calgary's farmers market), make a crossword & dive into bed early.

Wildlife: NO grizzly bears, black bears, mountain goats or bighorn sheep 🤨 I did see 1 elk & 4 deer

SUPs: one at Banff

Hikes: one at Canmore

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