Last day of August and I have to say it was a wonderful summer. I’m also looking forward to the fall colors and hopefully beautiful weather for all of September. We did our biggest hike of the season last weekend. Hiked some of the Tonquin Trail in Jasper. Most people do the distance we covered over 3 days, but I guess we like to test ourselves so we took 2 days and 1 night. We were so fortunate the weather was perfect no clouds and a slight breeze, best of all no mosquitoes. I was carrying a lot of OFF as we did expect them to be bad so it was a pleasant surprise not having to spray even once. The scenery was spectacular I saw views of the mountains like never before. Toward the end of day 1 we went for a swim in Amethyst Lake which was very refreshing. This time I did better not hauling too much food although next time I would bring even less. The first day I ate apples, potatoes and dried tofu. Also some banana oat cookies. Day 2 was oats, almonds, prunes, cookies and Lara bars. Each hike is a learning experience and I have figured out a better way to organize the backpack so it doesn’t shift around as much. The first day we hiked 25km with a fair amount of elevation. My body felt fine all day, but at the very end of the day I ended up with left knee pain. Not sure what happened, but perhaps just pushed it a bit too long with the weight of the pack. The pack was around 25 to 28 pounds. Anyways, day 2 was the real challenge as we hiked 17km. Good thing I had Tylenol and poles as the knee sure wasn’t liking any of the downhill portions of the trail. I was lucky it was mostly flat or slightly up.
I am thinking it would be a good goal to do this hike every 5 years so we might do the same one again when I’m 65. I think perhaps over 3 days though! We didn’t encounter any wildlife, but I’m perfectly fine to not meet up with any bears lol.
I think the knee is recovering now with a few days of rest, I can walk fine now. Will try Pickleball again today. I picked up a cantaloupe and a watermelon yesterday so will be enjoying that over the weekend. I’m running low on beans so will cook up some chickpeas in the pressure cooker, having a craving for some hummus. I really am mostly a lazy cook, just starches, veggies and fruit.
Wishing everyone a wonderful September. If I can find the instructions on how to upload photos I will try and share a few hiking pictures.
Erin
"The more disciplined your environment is, the less disciplined you need to be. Don't swim upstream."