Ah, summer

Time for sitting out on the patio, sipping cold drinks. Long days, sunshine filled moments, hot weather... or so the story goes...

Some friends and I decided that we were going to go for a hike on Saturday. We decided on heading up to Elfin Lakes just out of Squamish. I had been there before last year, but nobody else had, and I didn't mind doing it again. I mean, with memories of a place like this (picture from last July), who WOULDN'T want to go back?!? The trail was long (22km "A half marathon!") but not too strenuous, and high enough that we would already be hiking in the high alpine (instead of just climbing to it). There are sweeping views of mountain ranges and lakes, and we'd be hiking through meadows filled with red heather and wildflowers. At the top are two pristine little lakes set against a pretty spectacular backdrop. Yippee!

The day was kinda cloudy and unsettled, but we were promised breaks of sun, so we set off, not letting a few little car glitches atop us: Um, why is the temperature needle a-waaaay up past the "I'm about to explode" mark? I just had a coolant leak fixed yesterday! And 2 km into the 16 km gravel road up a mountain into nowhere, Ooooh. Gas. Below the red. Ummm... it's ok, we're on a hill, the gas gauge just LOOKS that empty. Uh huh. {to self: wellll... it's all downhill on the way back, we can just coast to a station if need be. Provided we get UP. PleaseGod pleaseGod pleaseGod} Pshaw. We made it. (ThanksGod ThanksGod Thanks God!) There was a little bit of snow last time we went, but not much, and we WERE pretty high up. I anticipated a little bit more this year, as it's not been a realyl hot summer. No problemo.

Ha! This is SO not gonna help with the stereotype that Canadia is the land of year round ice and snow, but here goes anyway.

We hit the first little patch of snow about 3/4 of the way up. It was just little, no worries. But the last quarter was mostly snow with patches of clear ground. And when we got to the lakes? Well, they say pictures are worth a thousand words, so here's what we saw:


Yeppers. See all that snow? STILL IN THE LAKE??? Ho-LEE!

Last week when I was still in Cincinnati (holy cow, that was only a week ago? That part of the story is still coming...) it was HOT. And HUMID. Like, 35C/ 96F degrees hot. And "my glasses fogged up when I stepped outside" humid. Six days later, I was looking at lakes covered in snow and wandering the wilderness with a wet a$$ from tobogganing down a slushy snowy slope. In August.
Good times. Good times.

Here are some more pictures from our day of hiking. Roll your mouse over them to see the caption, or click on them for a bigger view. Click here to see the whole set.