ginatida

[ginatida]

An attempt at finding Crooked Falls.

                     Shout out to Nadine for finding this photo.

First off I  would like to start off by saying.. STAY CLEAR of all "easy-going" and "laid-back" people. You may think that type of person is a good friend to have, you're WRONG! Kidding..... but for real though. There is a high chance that easy going person may get you lost or killed, and that easy going person is me. In all fairness, we always end up home in one piece so it's not entirely a losing situation, plus a good adventure story to have in your back pocket. Although the only people that may find it amusing or even slightly comical are the people who experienced it with you. That is after the initial annoyance and shaking their heads pass. Luckily I typically surround myself with equally "easy-going" and "laid-back" amigos. Lesson learned, don't put Gina in charge of a hike that she has never done. With a slightly sleep deprived weekend and already exhibiting questionable actions, I should have known it would make for an interesting day. When you start the trip making a left hand turn into oncoming traffic while the two other girls scream, an abnormally calm Heath mutters "You may want to get into the other lane" .. while I am thinking to myself " Why are these cars in my lane?!" .. it is then we should have known we were in for a bumpy ride. WE also should have switched up drivers.  It was indeed bumpy.. literally and figuratively. In my defense there are a lot of one way roads in Vancouver, but I also should be practicing what I preach.. "Never assume". As we went along our merry way I started asking Karen if she knew what to do if we were to encounter bears. This was just chit chat of course, I never expect to see any wildlife. Being from Ireland, the most they encounter are sheep and maybe some cute goats. I could see the slight fear in her eyes as  we talked about what to do with certain bears. All the knowledge I had was from word of mouth and the movie "The Revenant". She was shocked to learn that when a grizzly attacked, you have to let it and essentially play dead. Lets be honest.. at that point you would mostly be dead anyways. The not being able to scream part was what flabbergasted me.. I had only relearned what to do in the situation a few weeks back. I just laughed and told her not to worry, grizzly bears are not any where near us. The joke was on us when we came to the sign...

It's a good thing we had already went over the basics of what to do right?! At that point I have may have started to feel a bit worrisome about taking this group into bear country with no bear spray, bangers or bell. Of course when you are in an easy going group the main consensus is typically, "Meh, doubt we will see one." So we continued on route. Minutes later we came across an abandoned school bus to our left that was stuck in a ditch. Okay yes maybe it had only been there for a week.. but still creepy alright. 

We were already on high alert after the grizzly sign. Anyways no big deal, we head into the back country with no service on our cell phones down the pot hole riddled road, hoping we find where we need to go. Alas! There are some cars, we have made it the the trail head. We hop out and proceed to the route. I had read enough of the instructions that I assumed we would be okay. I mean how could you go wrong with "follow the gravel road until you see Sigurd Trail on a telephone pole and veer left". So we walked... and walked.... then walked some more. In our travels we encountered beautiful butterflies, what looked like part of a submarine on the side of the road (weird I know), some bullet casings and some questionable signs. 

All while not passing ONE single person. We continued to trek along until the 4 and 5 KM markers then started wondering if we were on the right path. Of course no one was too concerned.. even with no cell signal, we continued to go onward as I continued to think to myself "I wonder if this is right", but also "La la la la la". We passed the 5 KM sign and there he was... a cute black bear about to cross the path in front of us. Luckily Cooper distracted our fear of the bear with our fear of losing him after he ran after the bear.... Thank goodness this bear WAS not indeed a grizzly and was more frightened of us. Off he went as we frantically screamed at an off leash Cooper to come back. Long story short.. he finally came back. So again off we went, enjoying the fresh air and good company.. because that's what really matters right?! By the 6 KM mark that read "666" yes we read into it too much.. and our offline partial google map we realized we were more than likely NOT on the right trail, very opposite actually. At that point we turned around and started the trek back. So in the end.. we had a nice walk in nature.. along the long ass logging road.. and encountered some cool wildlife. It could have been worse.. bear attack, lost, grumpy people, got wet from a cool waterfall, biffed down the hill.. so really it was a success. Being out in nature is always a success, yes I am turning this into an inspirational motivational positive event as per usual. Why wouldn't you?! Turns out the trail head was 2 minutes away from where we parked, but let's not talk about that. Learning opportunities are always welcome. 

1. Bring an experienced hiker 2. Always be prepared for what you may encounter. 3. Obvs bring a selfie stick to document.  4. Surround yourself with like-minded positive and easy going people.  5. Get more sleep. 6. Don't put Gina in charge. 7. HAVE FUN!!!! The list goes on.