Kicking Horse Mountain Resort

Trip Date: February 2012

The third stop in our annual snowboarding trip was Kicking Horse Mountain Resort, which is just outside of Golden, British Columbia.  It's approximately 275km west of Calgary and has about 2,800 acres of skiable terrain.  This resort also has the 4th highest vertical drop in North America behind only Revelstoke, Whistler Blackcomb, and Jackson Hole.  The intel we got on Kicking Horse was basically just, "steep and deep" and it definitely lived up the "steep" portion of the rumors.  Unfortunately the snow wasn't great the weekend we headed out west and it was pretty socked-in much of the time, but to be honest the snowboarding is only half of the reason we do these trips.  We tend to have just as much fun back at the cabin, spending quality time with great people, as we do on the slopes.  Despite the weather not cooperating I definitely want to come back again.  Enjoy some of the pictures from our weekend in Golden.

Kicking Horse Mountain Resort Trail Map

Our cabin was on a huge plot of land and it had an amazing view of the mountains

The hot tub even overlooked the valley

Not a bad view to enjoy while soaking in the hot tub!

Kola is definitely a Calgary Flames fan!

Rome and Kola on the picnic table

Ryan enjoying the "view"!

It cleared off just long enough to snap a few pictures

Looking back up the valley

I think I can see mountains in there somewhere

The following pictures are of a train derailment that occurred just west of Golden on December 27, 2011.  Twenty-five boxcars came off the tracks, but luckily were only carrying grain.  The train was not transporting any hazardous materials so there was no risk to the environment or the surrounding community.   One engineer and one conductor were on board, but nobody was injured in the accident.  

Train derailment west of Golden

It was in pretty bad shape

Twenty-five boxcars

My Stag in Golden

Trip Date: August 2011

Another post about a bachelor party, except this one was my own!  Keeping with tradition we decided to go camping in Golden and do some white-water rafting down the Kicking Horse River.  There was an excellent group of guys, in fact there was so many of us that we couldn't all fit in one raft!  I had my brother and some friends come out from Regina and Rob made the trip up from Kelowna as well.  Everyone else travelled from Calgary for the occasion.  We had a great weekend of fun and laughs, with just the right amount of debauchery thrown in!  

I caught a ride to Golden with the Regina boys (Kyle, Mike, and Brett).  We stopped at Takakkaw Falls on our way through.  The falls really are magnificent when you seen them in person.  We weren't there very long before we were back in the truck and on our way.  

Takakkaw Falls

Brett, Mike, Kyle, and I near the falls

The falls are located in Yoho National Park

Me being dwarfed by the falls

Yoho River

You can read more about Takakkaw Falls in my post titled Yoho National Park.

We stayed at Sander Lake Campground, just outside of Golden.  We started calling it "Tent City" for obvious reasons.

Picturesque Sander Lake

Canoes floating on the lake

Cattails around the lakeshore

 We would be doing our rafting trip with Alpine Rafting, who are based out of Golden.  We chose the Ultimate Whitewater package, which is 22km of paddling through the Middle and Lower Canyon sections of the Kicking Horse River.  Near the end of the trip there's even a Class 3 rapid that you can swim.  Being the bachelor, at a bachelor party, it wasn't an optional swim for me!  Luckily everyone else in the boat jumped out to accompany me down the very cold river.  Well everyone jumped out of the boat except Jeff P.  There was no way he was getting in the river, until our female raft guide called him some names, then he joined the rest of us in the water.  Being a rather large individual, as he jumped out of the raft he kicked off the side sending the boat, complete with guide, into an eddy.  Our guide panicked a little because it was now completely up to her to maneuver the raft out of the eddy by herself and then quickly catch up with her boat crew, who were getting increasingly further downstream.  Don't worry, we all lived to tell about it!

Kicking Horse River map

My boat had Jaryd, Ben, Ryan, Brett, Kyle, Jeff P, and Mike

Looks like we're taking on a little water here!

The other boat had Dylan, Rob, Kurtis, and Jeff C.  Unfortunately Dan couldn't make the rafting part of the weekend.

Their boat hitting the rapid quite hard!

Rafting the Kicking Horse River

I have no idea why Jeff's paddle is straight up in the air like that!

They made it down the river safely!

A beautiful day to be on the water

Sitting around the campfire and cooking some Pizza Pops!

After the night's festivities we needed a good morning wake-up swim!

I had an absolute blast all weekend.  The only thing I would've changed was the number of mosquitos!  They were just awful the entire time.  I want to thank Kyle, Mike, Brett, Dan, Ben, Ryan, Rob, Dylan, Jeff P, Jeff C, Jaryd, and Kurtis for travelling to Golden and making the weekend a memorable one!

Northern Lights Wildlife Wolf Centre

Trip Date: June 2008

Wolves have long been my favorite wild animal so last Christmas Christine got me a great present; the opportunity to get up close and personal with wolves.  The Northern Lights Wildlife Wolf Centre offers a truly unique experience called Blackwolf Photography.  Basically you get a chance to walk with and photograph wolves in the wild!  The wolves run free during the adventure hike/photography session, working between two handlers.  It was an amazing experience!

The Northern Lights Wildlife Wolf Centre is located just west of Golden, British Columbia, which is about 265km west of Calgary along the Trans-Canada Highway.  It opened to the public in the summer of 2002, giving visitors a fun, educational experience, and the chance to see wolves up close.  The wolves live in a 1.25 acre enclosure, but are given regular off-leash exercise in the surrounding wilderness.  All of the wolves have been adopted from various facilities and were born and bred in captivity, which means they aren't candidates for release into the wild.  Each wolf has been socialized from a young age.  This allows them to be used for education and photography.  It also means being in captivity is less stressful because humans don't make them nervous.  The centre currently has eight wolves in their pack, with the newest additions having arrived in the spring of 2012.  

We decided to book our photography session while on our way to the Shuswap, since we'd be driving right through Golden anyway.  We left Calgary the night before with the intention of camping nearby the centre.  With the recommendation from a co-worker we tried to camp near Thompson Falls but wound up lost down an old logging road!

Try convincing Christine to sleep in a tent when this is one of three Black Bears we spotted on our drive!

After missing our camping location we settled on the Thompson Falls Recreation Site instead.  It was a beautiful spot right beside the Blaeberry River and the falls.

Blaeberry River

Thompson Falls

Christine enjoying the falls

Doing a little morning exploring

The remains of an old bridge

After enjoying breakfast by the river it was time to get moving!  The wolves await.  We were lucky to be sharing the trail with two wolves; Aspen and Wiley.  

Aspen was born in April 1998 and passed away in February 2013.  She was 25% Husky and 75% Grey Wolf and weighed about 30kg (65lbs.), which is average for a female wolf.  Aspen was the centre's main ambassador wolf, which means she was taken into schools and used for educational purposes with the students.  

Aspen

Wiley is 100% Grey Wolf.  He was born in May 2002 and weighs a healthy 50kg (110lbs.).  Today he is a friendly, yet mischievious, ambassador wolf for the centre.  

Wiley

Christine and Aspen

Wiley playing in the brush

Looking for meat treats that were tossed by the log

Christine, me and Aspen

You try getting two wolves to pose for the camera!

Aspen up on a tree stump

Rolling around in the grass

Wiley

Christine with both Wildey and Aspen

This was an amazing experience and one I won't soon forget.  Even if you don't feel like paying the extra fee for the Blackwolf Photography experience it's well worth taking the time to visit the wolf centre and learn a few things you might not know about wolves.  

Recently I did a story for the Calgary Guardian titled, Walking With Wolves that features the Northern Lights Wildlife Wolf Centre.