Back to civilization!

Hello everyone! 

I am happy to report that I survived my trip to the Albertan wilderness! I am now warm and showered, tucked away in my bed with my little yorkie dog by my side. 

My three day trip in yellowhead county was really cool. Cool, like, it was cold. But it was also really awesome. We're getting a gorgeous Indian Summer here in Alberta, which I love. It's the 11th of October today and it got to be 20 degrees Celsius in the mountains. What!? That's incredible.
I mean the weather was all over the place. We had frost, some rain, sunshine... typical for the Rocky Mountains. 

we get pretty sunrises and shit

So I went on this 3 day trip to do some documentation for a huge class project. While I will not disclose the angle I'm taking on my article online just yet, I will be happy to share some pictures from my trip!

Now, it's important to note that my guide owns a family owned outfitting company that usually takes large groups on these mountain tours. He was extremely nice and took just me out when the season was technically over. I though this would be perfect and fantastic because I'm essentially allergic to humans. Realistically this meant that dinners with the guide and his wife were super awkward. Like super quiet awkward silence. The sounds of clinking utensils on plates was deafening. 

I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's start from the beginning!

Day 1:  Wednesday, October 8

I got up at 5:00 am to drive 6 hours to Brule, Alberta, where my outfitter is based. My drive was uneventful and absolutely beautiful. I am convinced that I live in the most beautiful province in the world.The Rocky Mountains are breathtaking. I started my drive in the dark, and drove through the mountains as the sun rose. It was absolutely stellar. When I was in Jasper, I caught a glimpse of an enormous elk buck laying in a thicket. About an hour or so later, I slowed down to look at another large buck, this one walking along the side of the road. 

The Canadian version of having an amazing rack

I am absolutely kicking myself for not stopping my damn car, getting out, and actually taking a good picture. Realistically, this was a cool opportunity. It's not every day you get to see an elk (or wapiti, if I'm going to be correct here) with such a gorgeous, full rack. 

Random fun fact: in the UK, "elk" is what they call moose. 

Here in the great white north, we call our Wapiti, elk. Because we like to make things complicated for the tourists. 

Really, though. Wapiti is the correct term for these critters. They're super cool. What's even cooler is the sound they make, called "bugling". 




When I arrived at the ranch, I met my guides. After eating lunch in their house, signing a waiver form, it was time for me to pay for the trip. The guide's wife was kinda funny about it, and was like, "do you have your wallet with you? You'll be paying with visa, right? If you give me your card now I'll just run it through online." This trip literally broke the bank for me, but who actually wants people to know that they're super poor? So I told her to wait one moment, I would go out and grab my card. When I handed her my visa I was like:

After the money part was taken care of we loaded the horses into the trailer and started the first leg of our journey. Lucky for me, the guide's wife had a little Australian shepherd dog named "Tri." I prefer canine company to human company, so I was perfectly happy to have this little thing sitting in the back seat with me.

she was my best friend during the trip

We hauled the horses up north a bit, then our adventure began. On the trip we took 4 horses with us. All 4 of them were Percheron crosses, all mares. My guide rode Belle, his wife was on her horse Fashion, I rode Moon, and the pack horse's name is Taeo. We rode for about 4 hours on a relatively steep incline, deep into the bush. 

I am a weathered rider, but believe you me my ass was damn sore at the end of that ride. The western saddles we rode in were well used and hard. I'm not accustomed to western saddles, as I usually ride bareback.

The view was absolutely gorgeous, and it was cold outside. I really enjoyed the whole thing, to be honest. 

my view up the mountain

at the base of the mountain there were lots of aspen thickets and saplings

my favorite photo from the trip, this pretty much sums it all up.

our view of the valley as we climbed up the mountain

When we got to the cabins, I was tired (a full day of traveling, first by car then on horseback!) and I was well ready to get into bed. It was freezing up there...! The cabins were in a small clearing in the forest, completely inaccessible by truck. I was under the impression that the cabins were unheated, so I pretty much fell over when my guide said that he would "get me fired up," (meaning of course light the heater in my cabin). 

there seems to be a horse standing outside my window.

this is where I lived for 3 days

  

Small cabin, but I had about 40 roommates. Not even kidding or exaggerating. I literally had about 40 fucking flies in there with me. I didn't even know flies existed in October. The cabin was freezing when we arrived, but after the heater had been turned on, suddenly the whole damn room was filled with the deafening BZZZBZZZZBZZZ of 40 flies just waking up from their winter slumber. I hate flies. I'm utterly terrified of bees, so anything that makes a buzzing sound is scary to me and I don't like it. I initially started smacking flies with the readers digest magazine that was on my windowsill, but I didn't like being that close to those creepy little fuckers while I kill them I have an irrational fear of them touching me.. seriously. So I ran over to the main cabin where the guide and his wife were staying, and I asked them if they had a fly swatter. They pointed to where it was. I snatched that thing up, now armed and prepared to commit massive fly murder. I wasn't able to kill all of them, as these things just kinda came out of no where and multiplied of something. So I had to deal with those stupid, filthy, shit mongering assholes for the entire trip.

Day 2:  Thursday, October 9

Day 2 was my favorite day out of the whole trip. After breakfast, the guide took just me for a ride. Oddly enough, when it was just he and I and the dog, he chatted quite a bit more than he did when his wife was present. We rode well up the mountain on Thursday, and we had the most gorgeous weather. See, I love autumn for a number of reasons. First of all, I love the colors and the smells. I also love how you get a mix of different conditions. The morning was cold and grey, and it was almost eerie when we walked out horses through the fallen leaves and ventured out into the grey mist. By afternoon, the sky was bright clear blue and it was hot out, like 20 degrees Celsius.

my guide and his horse, Belle. We stopped to fix a barbed wire fence at the beginning of our ride.

The ride up the mountain was gorgeous and peaceful. We saw a chickadee (one of my most favorite animals ever) and a pair of grouse. Unfortunately that was all we saw for wildlife the entire trip (more on that later). I was chipper and excited day 2, so I took a lot of pictures.

"Magnificent Moon"

Failed attempt at a selfie.

We stopped for lunch on "paradise ridge," a gorgeous spot over looking the surrounding mountain range, Wilmore Park and the valley below. 

Belle grazing on our lunch break.

my guide, Tom, and half of Moon's head.

my lunch buddy. I pulled her onto my lap to help keep me warm.

The view from paradise ridge

The ride down the mountain was actually my favorite part of the Day 2 ride. We did a bit of the descent through the forest. The horses took their time picking their way down the rocky path, and I was very impressed with how clever they were about where they stepped. Belle seemed to be better at her job, as she didn't trip and did it at a good speed. Moon, however, was about as clumsy as I am (she full on wiped out twice) and she had two speeds: slow and slower. 

At one point, it got so steep that we had to dismount and lead the horses down the narrow winding slope. Allow me to share the photos that ensued.

Moon says: "I don't wanna."

Tom and Belle leading the way

Moon: "maybe if I hide behind this tree she won't see me"

Bell's bum

Moon: "are you @#$%ing serious right now"

Moon: "excuse me but I'm a princess."

Moon: "If I must..."

Belle is such a good girl.

Tom thinks I'm weird...

Even the cowboy and his Belle stumbled a bit down this path

Of course I wiped out pretty hard.

me: "MOON MOVE YOUR ASS." Moon: "NO."

Yay we made it!

Of course my endometriosis acted up a bit on the trip, and I experienced quite a bit of pain on our way down the path. When my body experiences too much pain, I just kinda vomit. So of course we're like, 10 minutes into our descent and I just started shaking and threw up the lunch that I just ate... I wasn't too happy about that. But walking down the slope was a blast (by walking down the slope I mean falling down the slope and dragging Moon down along with me). I was happy when we got to the forest below and mounted back up for the rest of our ride. We lost a lot of altitude and it was hot in the aspen forest. I didn't have to wear my toque and winter jacket, so I felt nice and light.

POV on my magnificent Moon

Riding through the sunshine

Dinner that night was super awkward. Although, there was cheesecake for dessert so I was stoked about that. But there was hardly a dinner conversation so I was happy to take my pain killers and visit with the animals.

Taeo is such a pretty girl!

Little Tri, nicknamed "Piglet" was my best friend on that trip.

Day 3:  Friday, October 10

The last day was all about riding back out to our starting point. No scenic route, no tour, just get on your horse and take the shortcut back to the truck and trailer.  Poor Taeo had a heavy load on the way down, as the guides were closing down for the season and had some stuff to take back. 

Taeo knows what's coming...

I'm getting Moon all ready to go

Taeo taking a drink in the creek

I love it

I'm not the type of person to get homesick. On the contrary, I love travel and adventure and I love flying from the seat of my pants. I believe that's how that expression goes. However, this trip was so awkward that when we got back to the ranch I was dismissed rather quickly and I wasn't inclined to stay long. I got into my car and got the hell out of dodge. The drive through the mountains was gorgeous of course! I wish I could just travel forever, always. No work no school, just travel.