Heli-Hiking Part 2: Variations on a Theme

Today, after a much needed stretching session and a hearty breakfast, we headed out to our next excursion in the mountains. Starting at the headwaters of Francis Creek, we then ascended  towards the beautiful lakes above.

Growing up in a city, I can see why some may think every mountain is the same and hiking is rather monotonous. This isn’t true.  What would normally be a 3-4 day wilderness adventure carrying heavy backpacks, eating trail mix and dehydrated food is no longer a 3-4 day wilderness adventure.  We saw the absolutely truly amazing countless times today in 6 hours.

We started at the headwaters of a creek where the ground was covered in skittles-like flowers and tiny streams easily passable. As we ascended higher, we traversed across banks of snow to the ridges above where we were rewarded with a beautiful view back over the valley. After sitting down for lunch, we thought, ” Hmmm.. lets check out the next mountain range!” We gave Jens a buzz, a few minutes later, he came by with “the machine” (I call it a helicopter), picked us up and dropped us in the next valley a good day’s hike away but for us ‘in the machine’, a 2-3 minutes teleportation. We landed at Thunderwater Lake where the valley was a fair bit higher with fields of flowers growing alongside streams of glacial runoff. We finished the day at Forester Lake, with time to soak in the contrasting vistas in every direction or admire the handful of icebergs floating in the teal lake directly ahead.

While CMH caters adventures to their guests be them young or old, fit or ‘aspiring’, adventure takes on a new definition and is not only for the extreme. I call this ‘accessible adventure’. I love it and you should be here.