I surrounded myself with nature this morning. Red, oranges, and yellows mixed in with browns and greens greeted me along every step of the way at Spruce Woods Provincial Park. The sun was shining bright and it was a gorgeous fall day.
My family and I ventured out for a hike through Spirit Sands and Devil’s Punch Bowl.
Bear Hug has been bit by the hiking bug. He’s occasionally joined me in the past but as of lately, he’s been coming out more often. We have some big hiking news as a family to share and we are in the process of training for a summer 2019 adventure.
We are aiming to spend 10-15 days on the Sunshine Coast Trail in British Columbia. It is a 180 km thru-hiking trail complete with shelters every 20 – 30 km that people can stay in overnight. It is reminiscent of the Appalachian Trail with shelters along the trail.
When I returned home from the Appalachian Trail we began researching long distance trails in Canada that we could hike as a family. The East Coast Trail and the Sunshine Coast Trail became our top two and we decided on Sunshine because of the large trees on the west coast.
Next weekend we are planning to hike for 1 to 2 nights. Our original plan was to hike on Mantario; however, we do not have care for our dogs. While I think my large dog would be OK, our little dog is not cut out for a trail like Mantario. She’s dainty and a tad prissy. She likes the finer things in life, like couches. Plan B is to bring them on Epinette.
While we may not get the challenges of hiking in the Whiteshell next weekend, training with our packs on a long trail will still help us prepare for our summer 2019 goal. We are aiming to complete the whole 40 km Epinette Trail. We shall see how Arya and Blue Jay do, since they will be the ones who determine how far we go. Blue Jay has a lot in her and I can scoop Arya up to ride on my shoulder for a break.
With winter soon upon us, we have training plans at the gym and will still hike as often as possible with weather permitting. We just need to keep moving and not let the short and cold days get in the way of our totally awesome family goal.
Wild Woman Wisdom 