By the The Mordaks | IG: @mor.wild
Where: Golden Ears Provincial Park, Maple Ridge
Distance: 22km Out and Back
Elevation: 1,695m
Day 1:
Have you ever had a trip that started off all wrong? This was one such trip where, seemingly, our gear was against us before we even left. While packing our bags into the car, our wine carafe burst inside our bag. To be fair this wine carafe has seen many bottles of wine, and many rough trips in its lifetime. Luckily, the spill was caught early and it didn’t get much more than the pocket it was in. We washed off all we could and sun dried it all. Nonetheless, this whole wine fiasco was kind of a nightmare before heading into bear country. We considered cancelling but in hindsight, I’m glad we didn’t.
Later, we arrived at the trailhead to discover that our water bladder too decided to spring a leak; a seam had busted. We were now down 3L of water and 750ml of wine. I guess we either need to take better care of our gear or know when to retire it. Well no matter, we’re stubborn and didn’t give up. We started our adventure later and did not make it as far as planned. We did, however, make it to a pretty cool spot - The Alder Flats. Roughly halfway to our destination. Quite honestly though, even if we hadn’t lost time with our leaking luggage, I’m still not sure we would have made it to our destination. Not with our gear and our toddler. And if we did, I would have been absolutely exhausted.
Though this trail is technically a walk in a park, it is a long, and very strenuous, walk in a park - particularly so with a bag full of toddler and gear. If you have a little, you likely know that as a parent there is little patience allowed for exhaustion, so we always have to keep in mind to not push ourselves too far. So perhaps our earlier set backs were entirely meant to be. This change of plans allowed time to lounge, play, and enjoy good food.
Given that we ended earlier in the day, at a nice spot lush with trees, we had more time to rest and enjoy our new Eno Double Hammock and Suspension System. Now, I don’t think we had anticipated how much our toddler would have actually enjoyed it. To be honest we were tossing back and forth on purchasing a hammock or saving up for snazzy backcountry chairs. I think we made the right choice. We could hardly get Kismet out of it! I mean who wouldn’t love a snuggly, swinging seat in the wilderness?
We spent hours hanging among the Alder Trees throughout our trip. We even fell asleep in it. For that, I’m thankful that we also purchased the Eno Bug Net. What we really enjoyed about the Eno Hammock: It is spacious, cozy, lightweight and comes with a compression sack. Why get the accessories? The suspension system made for an especially easy set up with a daisy chain no-knot set up, has a whole lot of length to offer opportunity for setups in various spaces, wide webbing to assist in tree protection, and reflective stitching for nighttime visibility. The bug net was brilliantly bug proof, lightweight and too packed into a compression sack.
Day 2:
We set our alarms for 7am, thinking that was an early and reasonable time to get the show on the trail. Yet, we could already hear early birds hiking past us as we rustled around in our sleeping bags. We did not count how many groups went by us, but I assure you close to none of them camped there the night before so they were on a pretty serious mission to be already near half way that early in the morning. It was clear that the weekend was arriving and the tent pad competition was coming along with it. We, however, weren’t there to compete. We agreed to leave our camp right where it was and just plan an out and back to the summit. It seemed simpler that way.
Let me say, it really felt like the right decision when we passed by many groups sitting on the side of the trail who were gulping down water with their bags violently tossed off of their backs. Additionally, as we continued our trek, it became obvious that many backpackers don’t make it to Panorama Ridge, or perhaps it is that the ridge fills up. Regardless, there were many make-shift sites and vegetation destruction along the trail. Part of me understands after having lugged myself without a pack up this section of the trail and part of me hurts for the alpine flowers that once were or could have been.
All that aside, for those who do make it with their packs to the ridge, wow. Simply wow. I’m not sure if I have witnessed a more stunning place to rest for the night. The views circled around us. Mountains after mountains after mountains. I may have dreamt for a short moment that I could have reversed the day, packed up all of our gear and carried it up there. Yet, I’m glad that we didn’t stretch our limits. I’m glad we did it the way we had. We stayed up there for a couple of hours, taking in the sights, enjoying possibly the most delicious and refreshing cold water that there ever was from an enchanting snowmelt waterfall, and ate our lunch.
We had an interest in making the final summit but we had heard from a number of other hikers that the final section is a climb that involves using all-fours on an exposed scramble. So simply, and particularly because we had a toddler with us, everything that was surrounding us was everything that we needed. Eventually, we made our way back down to our tents with light hearts, full bellies and heavy legs. We slept so well.
Day 3:
We slowly made our way out of our tents, ate a quick breakfast, savoured our coffee and said a sweet goodbye to the Alder trees as we packed up. We then simply meandered back down the trail; making time to enjoy cold feet soaks in the river, deep breaths of fresh air that the dense fern floor forest had to offer, and the reddening of our lips to rapturous, ripe thimbleberries.
Eno
DoubleNest Hammock - Print
$99.95
With ample room for 2, the ever-popular ENO DoubleNest Hammock Prints are your all-access pass to relaxation. The DoubleNest easily stuffs into its attached compression sack, sets up in seconds, and is light enough to travel from backyard to backcountry. Our print hammock collection adds just the right amount of personality and pizzazz to your next hammock pursuit.
Eno
Helios 2 Suspension System
$44.95
The ultralight Helios Suspension System, crafted with Silverlite™ cord, saves weight while providing maximum strength and ensures the perfect hang with its Microtune™ Adjustment System.
Eno
Guardian Bug Net
$79.95
The Guardian Bug Net comfortably surrounds you and your hammock with its breathable SkyWeave ™ Mesh to create a bug-free refuge, without cramping your style.