Sept 8th Lost Lemon (Part 2). Turtle Mountain.

It seemed like a good idea at the time….it was close to the campground…….

The first Alltrails map is the planned route…….the second is the hike/climb we did. ….and yes…it really did take us 2 hours to do 3.4 kilometres……and we turned back at the lookout in the interests of getting to the bottom again alive. My legs were shaking with fatigue the last bit of the climb down …..it was such a challenging climb.

Good fun tho……

Turtle mountain trail …craaaaazy trail….defo the hardest we have done….we did not cover a lot of distance but the elevation was serious…and the path on the way up was hands and knees at some spots. It was one of those hikes where its hard to tell if you are more apprehensive about the climb you are undertaking or the certain knowledge that you have to , somehow, get back down….!!!…..But the view was totally worth it.

The climb up……..

You may have noticed that I did not take many of the pictures on this hike….nope….I was too busy clinging on to the rocks and tree roots….trying not to die…!!!!

But again …the views ….and the experience were spectacular…..

The route guide said this was one of the best views of Frank Slide…….it was…but lots of trees there also made it difficult to photograph…that and feeling like you were hanging off a cliff edge by your toenails……

We had kind of decided that we were going to turn around at this point, and the wind picked up enough to solidify that plan….so back down…eeeek…!!!

It was also quite smoky again that day…….

Big relief to be back down safely….glad of the proper footwear…!!! ….and pleased to have done it….hindsight, safely on the ground again….yes it was fun…….

How are we going to top that one…

We had a long chat with Tanya and Jordy (our Lost Lemon neighbours and local hike experts ) about some of the local hikes. Among the recommendations they made…the strongest one was to get bear spray……there are not just black bears here but also grizzlies……..(erp…!!)

We finished the day with a walk out in the evening to the local hotel/bar/pub. Wednesday night was supposed to be jam night at the Greenhill……..

Trip advisor describes it as ….’dated’…….!!!! (Editor, Dated comes somewhat close. The staff were only partially warmed from the permafrost and the band played a wide variety of ‘classic rock’ numbers all at the identical pace of pouring cold molasses. )