British Columbia – Phoenix's Life

The Outskirts of Banff, AB | Canada

October 30, 2017November 10, 2017by phoenixraay27 Comments

Hello friends,

Todays post will be from our drive out of Kootenay National Park and into Banff! This is where our big trip ended… sadly. At this point it was safe to say that we had an amazing trip. We did so many activities and hikes, and tried out a million new restaurants (some good and others not so much …). However, there comes a time on every vacation where you just want to go home. That time was now for us.

We were absolutely exhausted!

This day it was actually quite cloudy out. But it kind of made the mountains mysterious in a way so I kept getting my boyfriend to pull the car over whenever I saw a good photo opportunity!

Throughout the drive, as we approached Banff, the skies started to clear up and then we saw these beautiful more square then normal mountains! The most common drawing of a mountain is one with a peak at the top because that is what you mostly see. But these ones were something else! So beautiful!

The dusting of the snow and the beautiful trees lining the bottom of the mountain takes my breath away every time. I swear I could sit there and stare at them for hours. I saw the mountains today actually on my drive home form the grocery store, and more then ever did it make me want to go back there again. I have been to the mountains, especially Banff, way too many times to count, yet it still draws me back.

Here are those beauties again!

Well I hope you enjoyed re-living my summer trip with me. I know I sure did! I cannot wait until my next adventure!

Until next time,

xoxo

adventure, Uncategorized

The Drive Out | Kootenay National Park

October 26, 2017November 5, 2017by phoenixraay13 Comments

Hello friends,

Todays post will have a few surprise pictures for you! I was so excited when I got to take them! I liked the drive through Kootenay, it was stunning. I am pretty sure we pulled over at every turnout on the side of the road there was! I even made my boyfriend stop on the side of the road a few times haha

All mountain pictures may look the same to everyone, including some of you reading this, however I find them all unique in some way. I could and do take pictures of mountains all day long!

They just look so majestic!

Here is the surprise! A beautiful grizzly bear! Oh my gosh I cannot even explain how long we were waiting to see one of these! This highway had a no-stop section because there were apparently a million grizzly bears out, but we didn’t even see one until it was almost time to leave!

Staring right at me! I was like a little kid on Christmas morning when I realized I got a picture like this.

The transport truck actually scared him off down the hill and we were the car in front of it! So lucky that we were not behind that truck or else we would not have seen this beautiful bear!

Just look at his hump though!

This was the last bear of the trip that we saw. A beautiful little black bear! There was about 4 cars stopped on the side of the road and we were like, well there must be something there! Finally we spotted it! So I made my boyfriend get on the other side of the road so I could get a better picture, but there was a VERY LOUD motorcycle, which scared him off before I could get a good shot! I was soo mad!

Anyways, in the end I guess I was just happy to see a few bears on the trip! Have you ever seen a bear in person? I have been seeing bears all my life and I still get so excited when I see one! I could not imagine never seeing one before!

Until next time,

xoxo

adventure

Marble Canyon | Kootenay National Park

October 23, 2017November 12, 2017by phoenixraay16 Comments

Hello friends,

I like hiking, like a lot. However, when you go on 1-3 hikes (depending on the length of them) every day on a 12 day trip, it gets to be a lot! Marble Canyon was a short hike we did right after the paint pot hike from my last post. By this time I was exhausted and delirious! Although, I must say it was a beautiful one!

Once you climb to up the steeper part at the beginning you are basically just crossing over a bunch of bridges over a very deep canyon with water in it. It is actually quite amazing and breath taking. The pictures I took do not do it justice! It actually makes me so mad because I could not for the life of me capture the beauty of this hike!

So many forest fires throughout the national parks. Sadly this area was hit a little while ago, but it is still beautiful!

I think he got sick of me sticking the camera in his face! haha these little guys were absolutely everywhere on our trip!

This canyon is waaay deeper then it looks here. Its the kind of deep that when you lean over the edge to look down you feel sick!

Do not know why, but I was fascinated by this large out of place rock!

Have you ever done this short hike? Or have you ever done the longer ones in this area?!

Until next time,

xoxo

adventure

Paint Pots Hike | Kootenay National Park

October 19, 2017October 28, 2017by phoenixraay12 Comments

Hello friends,

Lets talk about paint! And no, not the product you use to paint your room a different colour, the natural paint pots found in Kootenay!

They are found in an area that has unusual physical and chemical activity in the ground, which gives this area the very intense colour you will see in the pictures below. These areas have a history of being used by both Aboriginals and Europeans in the past. The ochre was collected for important ceremonies or to trade for other goods. These areas are still considered sacred by many First Nations today, so just keep that in mind if you visit this area. Just as you should be respectful to any area in National Parks.

If you want more information about the history of these paint pots, click here.

Now in the upcoming pictures, you will probably think that the vibrant orange colour it photoshop… well it is not. If you ever go visit there you will see this exact colour on the ground!

This was a little waterfall on the side of the path. Here you walked on the orange ground on the right side of the picture, however later on when it gets more muddy they have wooden boards so you don’t completely dye your shoes orange!

Personally, I loved these mini green coloured lakes at the top of the hike. I thought they were beautiful in contrast with the bright orange ground.

At first I was like why would people leave garbage up here, but then we continued to read the signs and these were actually tools used in the past to help get the ochre out!

I found these cute little purple flours and of course I nearly got covered in the orange mud trying to take pictures of them! Whoops!

Well I hope you enjoyed this post. If there is any advice I will give you for this short hike it would be to bring your camera! But also wear your hiking shoes so you won’t care if they get dirty and also bring a plastic bag or have somewhere that is designated in your car for dirty shoes! We washed ours off in a puddle, but they will never be 100% clean…

Have you ever been to the paint pots? And if so, did you fall into the orange mud off the wooden beams like I did?!

Until next time,

xoxo

adventure

Foxes in Kootenay National Park

October 16, 2017October 28, 2017by phoenixraay18 Comments

Hello friends,

Todays post will be about this beautiful fox I saw while we were driving in Kootenay National Park! This specific fox is called the Red Fox.

The red fox is a small, dog-like animal with red and white fur. The ears are prominent and you will notice that its tail is quite long and very bushy! It also has a white tip at the end of it. I love their tails because of how bushy they are. It kind of reminds me of my one labradoodle when we got her shaved and they left her tail all fluffy! haha

Such a beautiful colour on this little guy. We were driving down the road and of course on the lookout for wildlife, because they actually had sections of the highway that you couldn’t stop on due to a lot of bears in the area.

However, we were out of the “no stop zone” when I saw this guy! And I was soo excited I told my boyfriend “pullover pullover pullover!” and he finally did. By this time we were ahead of him. You could tell he was intrigued when we stopped and I popped out of my window to grab a few pictures. So he actually stared to walk towards us and then started a slow trot … and he got a little too close for comfort so we drove away! haha and he still followed the car for a little bit!

He was actually so beautiful in person I could not get over it. I was all giddy for the next 20 minutes of the drive.

I love this picture because it looks like he is smiling because we stopped!

These are just a few pictures of the scenery along the way. Not the best mountain pictures, but I thought I would just add them in here so you can get an idea of the whole setting for the story!

Whats your opinion on foxes? Are you scared of them or think they are adorable?

Until next time,

xoxo

adventure

Exploring Kootenay National Park

September 28, 2017October 8, 2017by phoenixraay19 Comments

Hello friends,

Today’s pictures are from part of our drive through Kootenay National Park. I absolutely love exploring new National Parks! I always think they will be the same, especially the ones between Alberta and British Columbia, simply because they are so close together, but that is not the case.

Each park has their own unique features and I love driving through them to find it. I have heard people say before that they would much rather fly from place to place even if it is only a few hour drive. Now I would rather fly if it is a very far distance away, but my parents, especially my mom, have taught me to really embrace the long drives of vacations.

Flying does not let you see nearly as much as driving does, however you do get a pretty cool aerial view if its a clear day! I won’t ramble on too much more though since I am planning on doing a post simply about flying versus driving on vacations! Let me know if you think you would be interested in a post like that in the comments below!

Enjoy these pictures, I know I sure enjoyed taking them … my boyfriend might not have though because I kept making him stop the car! haha

Do you enjoy exploring different National Parks or do you think they are all the same?

Until next time,

xoxo

adventure

Bighorn Sheep in Radium | BC

September 21, 2017October 1, 2017by phoenixraay3 Comments

Hello friends,

Today’s post will be about the visitors we had nearby our campground when we visited Radium! We stayed at the Red Streak campground in Radium BC. This one was quite big with a good number of people camping there. It was about 95% campers though … so not actually camping! We were one of the two tent people there! They had good bathroom facilities and you got a good amount of firewood in each bundle.

While we were visiting Radium, we went to the hot springs every night we were there I believe. There usually is a trail (2.7km) that connects from the campground to the hot springs, but due to construction while we were there it was closed. To be honest though, I think we would have been too lazy to walk there and back anyways after hiking all day!

Lots of wildlife in this area too, which we thought was great! We saw deer in the forest by our camp and these bighorn sheep were on the hill up to the campground every time we drove by, except on our very last morning there! It wasn’t just a few of them either, there was probably around 12-20 at all times!

He was staring me down while I was trying to get pictures… I have decided I need a better zoom lens! My boyfriend was yelling at me to get back in the car!

These horns can weigh up to 30 pounds! Isn’ that crazy!

Have you ever been to Radium? If so did you see these guys too?! They are pretty common there; we even saw them on the cliffs while we were sitting in the hot springs!

Until next time,

xoxo

adventure

Myra Canyon | British Columbia

September 18, 2017September 28, 2017by phoenixraay11 Comments

Hello friends,

Todays post will be about our little walk in Myra Canyon! We decided to go check out this trail while we were in Kelowna. It is 12km one way, so 24km round trip. Most people bike this because walking it will take a very long time! If you do only want to do it one way, there are parking lots at both sides so you can park one vehicle where you start and another where you end! We only walked the first few kilometers though because we had other things planned that we wanted to do.

If you are just visiting and have no bikes with you, yet you want to bike this trail, they do have bike rentals available! They also have guided tours you can do, which I think would be such a good idea since there is so much history behind these tracks. Though there are little stands with information about these trestles and tracks along the trail.

The Myra Canyon trail is quite an interesting one to go to because it is a highly scenic route of the Kettle Valley Railway (KVR), which runs right on a steep-walled canyon! The trestles were originally built by hand and out of wood. There are 2 tunnels and 18 trestles on this trail that you get to walk on. Each of the trestles have a small platform off of the tracks, which is quite scary to stand on and look off but we did it!

Now the road up to this trail is gravel and quite narrow, especially when another car is coming the opposite way. What I suggest is going slow and making sure you are always paying attention! Most vehicles are able to get up there though!

There recently was a forest fire here and some of the trestles were actually damaged in it since they were made out of wood. They have since been rebuilt though!

If you do want more information about the trail and the history behind it you can click here.

Hope you enjoyed the post! Let me know if you have biked the 24km round trip!

Until next time,

xoxo

adventure

Knox Mountain Park Hike | Kelowna, BC

September 11, 2017September 25, 2017by phoenixraay8 Comments

Hello friends,

Today my post will be about the hike we did in Kelowna! If you haven’t seen my first post on Kelowna you can click here so that you can have some background to this post.

Kelowna is absolutely stunning. I loved it there. It was so hot everyday we were visiting there, which was nice because a few days before hand we drove through a snow storm on the Icefields Parkway!! But that is a story for another day…

Anyways, this post is about Knox Mountain Park. This hike definitely ranges from easy parts of the trail to hard. However, I did not actually have good judgement of that because I had Mexican food and margaritas before hand in +30 degree weather!! So you could say I was not feeling the best and I kind of died on the way up … but I made it 🙂

You can take your dog on this trail, as long as they are on leashes. There are a few look off points on the way up, but the top one is the best by far. Don’t forget to look around while you are hiking instead of just focusing on your feet and staring at the ground because the views constantly change as you hike up further and they are all stunning.