Galatea & Lillian Lakes Hike - Spray Lakes Provincial Park
We had such a great day surfing the Kan Saturday, that we decided on Sunday morning to head back out to the mountains for a hike. Yamnuska has been topping our list for quite a while now. So after waking up slowly, we organized some stuff for the week ahead, packed up some snacks and gear (read: camera) and set out to tackle this beast.
Unfortunately, we had basically got to the base of the mountain and came across a road closure on both sides of the access route. We were turned away and pulled over to re-evaluate the sitch. It was already getting past mid afternoon, so Dave suggested Lillian Lake in K-country. This was a hike we had set out to do a couple years ago, but had arrived there to find that the path was closed due to the 2013 flood damage. But on Sunday we finally got our second chance. All the cute little bridges (seven to be exact) were rebuilt and there weren't many people left on the usually busy trail since it was getting late-ish...that, or the fact that there was an advisory sign cautioning hikers of the Grizzly spotted on the trail yesterday. Eeeee.
I was way nervous with all the recent news of attacks, but we went ahead anyways after agreeing to talk loud and lots - mission accepted! It was a great hike, 13 km round trip following the creek at a steady climb. We definitely felt like we got a good sweat sesh in for the day.
I was a bit worried about the remaining daylight, because neither of us had a watch or phone for that matter...I know...im not exactly qualified to give out advice to the general public about hiking in the Rockies, but hey, maybe this can be more of a what not to do! But, we pushed on and when we got super puffed we would think of my amazing friend and coworker, who was currently pushing through her last hour of a 12 hour ironman race in Whistler, BC and suddenly we didn't feel so exhausted (Go Jordan Go!).
We reached the gorgeous green waters of Lillian Lake and pit stopped for snacks, some re-hydration and good ol people watching across the lake. And when the last of those people took off for the base, we thought we better head back too, and pass them, so that we were not the last ones alone on the trail in the dark without any form of emergency gear what so ever. Sometimes you need to find motivation, and sometimes motivation just finds you!
I definitely recommend this hike. We figured it took about 4.5 hours round trip - but yeah we didn't exactly track it and that includes the jog out ;)
xo Tegs
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