Well Maggie and I did it….. 2nd solo hike, Hicks Lake, Sasquatch BC Holy freaking out fear but we did it.
Hicks lake is a nice easy walk about 2 hours (we speed this up quite a bit )….. So today was not a vertical challenge but was more a deep forest bear country sort of challenge.
This lake is located about 10 km down a dirt road to a place called Sasquatch Provincial Park. Yes this is the place where the infamous spooky siting of the half man half animal” Bigfoot” has been known to reside
However it was not this mystical creature that I feared, are you kidding there were a few times that I would have welcomed the Sasquatch, just for the half human side that it possesses. It was being in bear country that makes the hair on the back of my neck stand on end.
But I love the forest and there are times when you have to go it alone …this was one of those times.
The start of this trail runs along the lake and the campsites for a short bit and the smells of the camp fires helped to fill my senses and bring in some elements of calm. And the first half of the trail travels along Hicks Lake, the views through the fall coloured trees was pretty and relaxing so I was still feeling pretty composed, in the moment…. Maybe even a little over confident……
My senses were on such high alert that I swear I could hear the mushrooms popping up from the soil but I was enjoying this feeling of freedom.
I should have counted my blessings with this part of the trail and doubled back the way I came…The second half of the trail took me down an old logging road which I now know most people do not choose to take. But I was determined to overcome this self-inflicted fear. So Maggie and I decided to take the “road less traveled”
Hmmmmm ….. This logging road took me away from the placid calling of the lake and the comforting smells of the campfires and left me with what felt like endless kilometers of logging road, no one around but me and the dog….
After a short realization on the decision I made, it was time to put on some load music to help drown out my crazy thoughts and what ifs., thank you Pat Benatar and Queen. With an ocean rock in hand ( to stay grounded you see) and music on , we decided this part of the trail was going to be more about exercise then exploring and increased our walking pace .
After a few kilometers of way to much self-awareness , lots of self-talk about pulling myself together, we get what we put out there, the law of attraction and so on .We were starting to get into the fast past grove of the hike. My new positive affirmations were bringing me back to tranquil
And then we saw it….. A big pile of bear scat. Still fresh and buzzing with flies…. If you ask me I swear it was still steaming…. We were 3 quarters of the way around the lake so it make no sense to turn back and besides it is not like the poop was pointing in what direction the darn animal was anyways
Where in the heck were all the humans?
Squeezing and rubbing my ocean rock so hard I do believe I have turned it to a diamond, we did the next best thing, we ran and ran until I saw our first humans
I greeted them with such enthusiasm, with the look of fear on my face and Maggie’s tongue dragging along behind us. They must have thought I had been in the forest for years and they were my first glimpse of humanity
Ah thank you to the humans….. I was now confident again, for if there was a bear still around it would focus on the new people ……. We calmed down and finished our walk through BC bear territory….
Feeling a little braver and very proud
Thank you for reading Live Love Laugh
Catherine