Today was a rest day from all that hiking – our legs and feet needed a break, so some paddling in the nearby Columbia Wetlands seemed to be the perfect fit. The Wetlands came highly reviewed, with promise of seeing lots of wildlife while taking in some awesome scenery. The outfitter we used was a family-run operation, and they were really passionate and knowlegable about the Wetlands. They shuttled us and our two person canoe upstream and provided us with a map for navigating our way back to their docks.
The day started out cloudy, but thankfully, the clouds soon gave way to sunshine and the mountains appeared from behind the fog. We took care to go very slowly, so as not to disturb any wildlife. Alas, our efforts were met with only moderate success – the wildlife highlights included an elk that jumped into the river momentarily in front of us, a few ducks, one heron and one eagle. That was the sum total of the wildlife spotted in the wetlands. Kinda a bummer, but looking back on it, maybe middle of the day wasn’t the best time to go for a float trip. We wish somebody had informed us of such, but oh well…the scenery was nice. After 6.5+ hours in that canoe, however, our butts and backs had had enough and we made our way back to Golden.
We had hoped to catch a ride on the Kicking Horse Ski Resort Gondola for a nice evening lookout, but they closed at 4:30 =( At the very least, I wanted to see their resident Grizzly bear, Boo, who lives in an enclosed area on their property. Thwarted in so many ways, we were kinda bummed, but things were soon made better when we went to the local supermarket and had a rotisseire chicken and fresh salad for dinner while sitting in our car outside the laundromat, waiting for our stinky hiking clothes to be clean again. We drove around town and discovered that Golden has a good bit of charm. It’s a blue-collar working town with lots of railway and logging activity, but all the locals we have encountered are so friendly and welcoming. We’re happy to call it our “home” for three nights. We’re staying at a B&B right in downtown that has comfy beds, fantastic breakfast, and the nicest, most helpful hosts. Thus, putting the lack of wildlife on the float trip aside, it was still a scenic day spent in a nice little nook of British Columbia!
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