We woke up very early again (not quite sunrise, but still) the next morning. It was going to be a hot day and we had a huge hike planned.
Well actually we'd been planning that hike from the time we first started thinking about going to Whistler, BC.
We'd seen photos like this one: from magazines like National Geographic! Click HERE to see what we were looking at!
Yup! Had to go there!
Now the only way to see that blue glacier water and see those mountains up close is to hike the trails.
There is no gondola that takes you.
There is no ski lift.
It's all on foot.
It's all up hill the whole way.
It's all rocks and such for paths.
It's about 4.5 hours.
And it's the most stunning hike I've been on in my life!
I honestly couldn't wait!
The good thing about a hike like this is that there are no crowds. Sure, there are people of course but the 4.5 hours uphill rocks really deters a lot of guests visiting Whistler, BC! So that part worked out in our favor.
Back to our day:
So we left really early to beat the heat. I brought a pillow in the car so Abigail could sleep on the way there. It was around an hour drive from Whistler.
Anna wasn't there for this hike - she had mini toe nail surgery before we left home so this was definitely out! Honestly, she was really looking forward to a day to unwind and chill so it worked out for all of us.
I was a little worried as there there is absolutely no cell phone service at all on this hike and for at least 10 minutes after you start driving from the park. But it all worked out just fine.
We drove up windy roads like this, around and around and around for what seemed like forever...
... until we parked and got started in that cool morning air! I wish I took a photo of us before we started all clean because boy did we get dirty on this hike!
There are actually three lakes to visit.
This is the first one. Spectacular on its own for sure! What we didn't know was that this would be a tiny dot by the time we got up to the farthest lake!
Starting off all smiles and energy!
This is what the easier walking paths looked like. Straight up!
We were out of breath quite quickly and we are all (all three of us) in really good shape!
I couldn't get over the light, the plants, the trees - there were so many opportunities to take photos.
I love this one of the sun peaking up over the mountain!
Some parts were harder to climb and it took concentration for sure - we kept saying, "this is going to be tricky to hike back down".
There was beauty around every single corner.
And the views on the path were spectacular! Look at this of the first lake (from the beginning of this post!)
Right when we were so tired out, this came into view - - the second lake!!!
My oh my!!!
Worth every single step!
The water is so blue because it is all water from the glacier.
Here's a little better of an explanation:
Their striking, saturated blue colour is caused by “rockflour” – or glacial silt – that is suspended in the water and reflects green and blue wavelengths of sunlight.
I couldn't believe that I was literally standing in the spot we had researched, looked at, and hoped to hike to for so long! These were the famous images! Click HERE to see what I was seeing before our trip.
I carried up the lens I thought would best capture this amazing spot in Earth but still, there is no way unless you walk into the photo to truly get the picture of it.
This is just a tree that has fallen into the water -- been there forever is seems and this is where we wanted to take a photo. So Scott and Abigail balanced their way across the log and into the lake (so I could take this!)
And I did too!
After spending some time at that second lake we continued up - walking past raging waterfalls.
Keep in mind that there are no guard rails. This is a park but it's not meant for crowds of people -- it's just us in nature (using our best judgement)
Stunning light and water
The hike from lake two to lake three was a bit more rugged as you can see from the rocks we had to walk up.
But there were some bridges over rivers.
I couldn't get over the trees, the snow on the mountains, the rushing river beneath us.
This is looking down from the path to lake two. Lake one is even farther away from us.
We made it to the top!
And it took our breath away!
There is nothing like it.
I love this photo of Scott. I love that he pushes me and I push him to do adventurous things like this!
Oh my this water!
The way the sun hit the water, the rushing river from the glacier into the lake - - worth every single step we took that day!
We packed food and ate our lunch up there on that rock. There was a cool and pleasant wind - not hot at all up there by lake three.
After we ate lunch we started out hike back down.
My camera was safety tucked into my camera bag so that I wouldn't loose it from walking down all of those rocks.
I wish I had more photos of us walking down. It was harder than I thought for sure!
We hiked back down to the second lake (where we took those famous log photos) and Abigail said she wanted to go in to swim. I wasn't so sure but said, "go for it!"
Scott walked her in (clothes on) after she took off her shoes.
He was headed toward his backpack to grab his phone, and she couldn't wait - she just dove in! Luckily I had my camera and was able to capture these:
Just look at face!
After that Lake two swim we packed up, and raced as fast was we could - I was missing Anna and boy were we tired!
Here we are at the bottom of the trail ready to drive back to our hotel where we promptly collapsed on the floor!
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