The Skyline Divide: Big Hike for Short Legs

The first hike of the season is always the hardest. Not only physically, but also mentally. After not doing serious hiking for almost a year the idea of carrying a heavy backpack, getting into the woods and the unknown is a bit scary. In addition, being very busy this summer with work, plus tiredness from being pregnant I guess, did not make it easier. Gili convinced me that it will be fun to get out of the city, and to spend some time in nature. Of course he was right, but a little push was definitely needed.

We decided to take a risk and not bring the hiking carrier for Neil this time, trusting that he’ll hike all the way by himself. He is getting too heavy for the carrier and we also wanted to make life easier for me so I’d only need to carry a light backpack. Gili ended up carrying most of our gear, but he still said it was a breeze compared to carrying Neil plus his normal share of the gear.

Our original plan changed after a quick chat with a ranger at the the ranger’s station in Glacier who suggested we hike the Skyline Divide. The drive was a bit longer, or at least slower due to the many potholes on the road. Finally we arrived to the trail head and were ready to start hiking at around 4pm… Luckily the days are long, and the advantage was that there were a lot less people on the trail. It’s a very popular area due to the short access to the alpine.

Short as it may be, with a three year old hiking by himself it still took us a while. However, we were both very impressed with Neil. He hiked like a trooper, hardly complaining. We had to come up with all sorts of games, his favourite one was hiding his ‘baby’ Arby and finding him. There was just a short burst of tears very close to the end but then he continued hiking. When we got to the alpine and the incredible views of Mt. Baker, I think he felt rewarded too. It took us about 3.5 hours to cover 4.5 km and 430 meters elevation gain, a huge effort for his little legs.

There were a few tents around, but we still managed to find a front of the row spot for our tent, overlooking Mt. Baker from one side and the valley from the other side, it doesn’t get much better than that. Neil had fun playing in the snow, pretending to scoop ice cream into a cup and we had a much appreciated dinner. Just as the bugs started to get worse we got into the tent and fell into a very good night’s sleep.

In the morning we were woken by the warm sun, but Neil still manged to sleep in. Then breakfast, more playing in the snow and down we went. The cool shaded forest was very much appreciated since it was a warm day. We played a lot of hide and seek on the way down. We had lunch close to the parking lot, and Neil fell asleep just as we started the drive down.

The drive back felt very long due to the border crossing, a quick Tim Horton’s stop to find out where we could get blueberries (also an excuse to get some muffins), then stopping in Langley to buy 30lbs of blueberries, traffic and then an emergency bathroom stop for Neil already in Vancouver.

We were still home around 5pm. Our original plan was to head down to the beach to catch the tail end of the Folk Fest, but Neil wasn’t in the mood and I was too tired anyway. It was a short hike but my legs were still a bit sore for a few days after, I wonder how Neil’s legs felt…