Sept 10. Lost Lemon (part 3):- Coal miners lake.

After a day off to recover from the Turtle Mountain shenanigans….the day coincided with the Blairmore farmers market….a small but well attended market. Not a lot of vendors but enough to get us restocked with some Mennonite eggs and veggies ( and some Okanagan fruit ) so worth the trip…

Next hike…

Coal miners lake.

The trailhead was in Livingstone (park?) right on the boundary between Alberta and BC. Another challenging road to drive up…….(slowly, cautiously and thankful of 4 wheel drive…!!!) Once we got to the parking area……it looks like a great spot for wild camping….if you have a tent…or an RV with some ground clearance..!!!

…the trail was a fairly wide path obviously used by ATV’s…..but still not an easy one to walk. Lots of loose rocks, a couple of creek crossings that resulted in clean shoes…..and some mud puddles demonstrating both adult and baby bear footprints……

This yielded some pretty serious discussion about acquiring some bear spray…….We did not see any actual bears…and …ironically did not see much wildlife……you take the trail that is recommended for wildlife sighting….then have to make a bunch of noise to avoid surprising any bears…!!!We are pretty sure we saw moose tracks, definitely some bear prints and either a big dog…or something of that ilk had trekked through the mud spots also.

It was also a day of my favourite little guys…..in many varieties

I really need to get myself a good mushroom book……or an app or something….cos Im pretty sure at least some of theses would make good soup….!!!

The top of the hike was at the lake (Coal Miners lake..!!) a little man made lake that must have been part of a coal mining operation at some point in the last hundred years……It would have made a lovely camp site……but I’m sure we were there at the right season to NOT be eaten alive by bugs…!!!!

Next couple of days we were forecast for rain….and with some of the hikes we had been doing……it seemed like a better idea to drive to Fernie for a look around…..

Halfway along the valley….we just had to stop in Sparwood…after seeing the signs for the’ Worlds Largest Truck’…..!!!!

Fernie is a lot like Paris in many ways……lovely little town with lots of small stores on a main shopping street…….but with the addition of some spectacular mountain scenery around it……

There are some really lovely buildings…and a couple of good outdoor stores….that sell bear spray……Yes…we did purchase some…!!!

….and then we came home and watched multiple vides on how to use it……!!!!

All ready for the next big hike…..Plane Crash trail…..!!!!