Heading to Skoki Lodge

What a magical day to skin (walk with ski's on)/snowshoe to Skoki - about 11ks total - through a mountain valley at Lake louise, over boulder pass, a frozen lake and another pass

Almost to the top of Deception pass although after reading about it Dad liked to call it Depression pass as they used to years ago.. I wonder why?

We conquered the pass - beat the sun down too

Was all worth it!

What a sight for sore eyes! Skoki lodge has a whole lot of history that goes along with it - built in the1930's its still all original. This is the main lodge and there are also seven other cute little log cabins - ours was called 'Riverside'. We got in to a candle lit setting with home made hot soup and lemonade for starters then a little later amazingly tender/tasty NZ lamb and vegies. The crew at skoki sure knew how to make us feel at home!

Mmmm, more tasty treats

After the best sleep for who knows how long we woke up to breakfast for a king and the packed lunch buffet.

Jess and I were off exploring while mum and dad had a relaxing day mending tired muscles and making new friends.

We made it through the trees to the top of a cliff above a couple of lakes which you can see in the background.

This is merlin castle, and also merlin lake, funny enough...

Yet another sunny day for exploring

Was a really cool morning making our own tracks

The fun bit!

Going down again didn't take long...

We have to go back one day

We all had a great time at skoki, from Katies delicious eggs wrapped in bacon to the luxurious outdoor toilets with frozen seats and our picturesque cabin. Fun had by all

Our Christmas Tree

Yip it is now officially Christmas because we have a real Christmas tree! Jess and I found it from a location undisclosed under the cover of darkness... It didn't take long to secure it with recycling bottles and decorate it with wrapping paper :) Our flatemates already had some lights for it so we are all set. Santa has to come visit us now!

Kootenay National Park

All thats left to tell is the drive home.. once again very picturesque! We saw a couple of deer and lots of trees and mountains. We were only a couple of hours from home so the Rockies weren't far away

Breakfast in the pool

So we had a great time laxing under the stars and next to the river (and snow but thats just a given these days) in a natural pool of awesome, clear, hot water. Not bad huh? It wasn't even too bad getting out and freezing our buttocks off (our hair was already frozen hard in the air). We stayed the night (not nearly as cold as the night before) and jumped in first thing for breaky too!

Hot Springs - Whiteswan Lake

Awesome!! After following my hand drawn map for a couple of hours in the dark we stumbled upon the best hot pools ever -I must add we had some great local knowledge to help us along.. Anyway there are three pools, the top one is 41 degrees at the warmest point, the next 39 degrees and the one closer to the river a lot cooler (I can't forget the river temp either - must have been pretty close to zero).