I
amamemberofaFacebookgroup
called PG Backcountry Babes, which is
a group of like-minded women who en-
joy the outdoors. It is a place to meet
new people and do things together. I no-
ticedapostfromonewomannamed
Richelle, which included a photo of Mount
Assiniboine—known as the Matterhorn of
the Canadian Rockies—who was looking
for women who would be interested in hik-
ing there on Canada Day weekend in July- The photo was stunning and I imme-
diately signed up! Shortly thereafter, a
small group of us met at another member’s
home, Nadine, and drafted out a plan of
what to do.
I had taken a few multi-day hikes before,
but I was not all that experienced. I have to
admit I was a little intimidated by some of
these hardcore hikers, and was a little con-
cerned about being able to complete the
60-plus kilometers in four days. While re-
searching the routes, I discovered that you
could actually helicopter off the mountain
instead of hiking. That seemed like a great
way to end the trip and, surprisingly, flights
were reasonably priced. In the end, half the
group decided to fly out, while the rest
would hike out.
Over the next few days, there was a flurry
of Facebook messages and phone calls as
hotels, transfers and helicopters were
booked. As the departure date got closer, we
would meet up one more time to finalize de-
tails and do some pre-trip planning. All told,
there were nine of us who went on the hike.Lydia snapped
this shot of
her fellow hikers
as they took
in the awe-
inspiring view.19