So we were finally off to Golden to see if Robert could spot the elusive goat..... Without knowing pretty much anything about the whereabouts and behaviours of goats and neither of us had never been in the Kootneys before so it was a little bit like finding a needle in a haystack. However, we knew what mountain goats looked like because we had seen them in pictures and we saw some 'live' ones on the side of the road high up in the mountains when we drove through the Banff National Park. That must have been a good start. Right?

In Radium hotsprings, Robert had got some leads on where around the town of Golden he might find the goats, so on that advice, we set off on a forestry track straight into 'goat land'.... or at least what we thought would be the home of the mountain goat. We set up camp at a remote site and since there was a little of a chill in the air Robert put in the wood burning stove that we have for the tent. It would turn out that would probably be what saved us from freezing to death!

The first day of goat hunting included a plan to go for a four hour hike up a 7000 ft mountain. A neighbour at the camp site had given us some vague leads on where to go and since we were clueless we thought that it couldn't be that difficult and set out to follow this trail that the guy had told us about. It turned out that the 'trail' was virtually non-existent and we spent the next two and a half hour climbing a VERY steep hillside. 15 minutes into the hike Robert pulled a calf muscle and for a moment we were wondering if the goat hunt had ended before it really even started.... Luckily, the calf warmed up and we continued.

Victoria made a snow man before we set off:

During some parts of the 'hike', we were literally hanging on to tree branches to pull ourselves up! Victoria was the lucky carrier of a 35lbs backpack which contained all our gear and emergency supply, and both of us where absolutely exhausted when we reached the top of the mountain. Having set off quite late we had to pretty much turn around right away so we spent the next two hours climbing down again without seeing any goats or any other animals. Oh, wait. Yes, we did see a few bear tracks and cougar tracks. We even found some fur balls that the big cat had coughed up which contained hair, pieces of bones and claws from some unlucky animal that ended up being cougar dinner.

Completely exhausted and a little bit discouraged, we decided to take the next day off and go down to Golden. That night there was a full moon and in the distance we heard the wolves howling. The morning was a slow one also because we woke up and realized it was minus 12 C! Thanks to the wood burning stove in the tent, the temperature inside was hovering about 10C or so above freezing, but as soon you left the tent, it really felt chilly! Golden is a little town on the west side of the Rockies in the Kootney mountain range on the British Columbia side. The surrounding environment is beautiful in the Columbia valley with mountains on both sides, farm lands and wetlands where the river cuts through the mountains. In town we did our bi-weekly laundry at a laundromat and found a very cute bookstore with a nice cafe.

The next day we got an early start as we wanted to be up on the mountain by mid-morning and our experience from the first hike was that it would take us about 2 hours just to get to the top of the mountain range. Even though we had sworn never to do the same hike again, we decided to take the same route as we knew that it at least would take us to the top. The night before it had snowed quite a lot, but thankfully, it wasn't as hard this time. Perhaps it was psychological because this time we knew what was ahead of us and how long it would take to reach the top, or perhaps it was also because our bodies had adjusted better to the altitude. In any case; one thing was crystal clear: finding a mountain goat is not easy and requires that you are in decent shape! If you are not alread, you will for sure get fit!

We reached the mountain ridge around noon and it provided the most spectacular and beautiful view!!! We had a great view of the Rockies, the Kootney mountains and the Columbia valley.

However, it was quite chilly with a considerable amount of snow and the clouds were sweeping past the mountains very quickly. When the sun was shining it was warm and wonderful, but as soon as a cloud came in everything changed in a second and it was easy to understand how people get caught by surprise by weather on top of mountains and get in trouble... In other words: weather on top of a mountain is very unpredictable and can change quickly.The best way to describe mountain weather is 'temperamental'.

We spent about two hours walking on top of the mountain range but didn't see anything in terms of wildlife. So eventually we decided to head down again and turned around to follow our own tracks in the snow. That's when we saw that a the tracks of a BIG cat had walked the same direction as us very recently. The only feasible explanation is a mountain lion and it was probably a good thing we didn't see it!

After another day's rest we decided to give it one more go. It would be nice to at least see a mountain goat even if only in the distance!
The alarm went off early in the morning again and...ugh... it was -16C!!!!! The wood burning stove in the tent had kept the temperature somewhat comfortable during the night, but by now, the milk, toothpaste, water and everything else containing liquid was frozen solid...... We eventually learned to bring the water into the tent during night, but we didn't want to bring any food inside as we had already seen quite a few black bears and knew very well that we were in grizzly country so we felt it would be unnecessary to invite the bears for dinner inside our tent... A guy with a cabin in the area stopped by and asked if we had seen the big grizzly. "Which grizzly?" Robert asked? "The grizzly, the size of your car" the guy replied. "Hmm.....no... we haven't seen him.....yet".

Robert had studied the maps in great detail and had this idea that taking a new route up the side of a mountain would be worth a go. Oh boy, were we wrong about that!!! This time we went straight into the woods. No trail whatsoever but a bunch of fallen trees which we climbed over and under. After that, bushes with branches sticking out in all direction making it extremely difficult to walk forward. In short: we spent four hours struggling through very dense and difficult terrain- all on a steep incline. During our lunch break we discovered that all the food was frozen so we chewed on some icy sandwiches and tried to not break our teeth on the granola bars.

Still no goats in sight but we did see some tracks! However, after five hours we decided to turn around again. As stated before, we concluded that going down is at least as difficult as going up! Victoria was trying to keep up as best as she could with half a foot shorter legs compared to Robert but after falling flat on her face in the snow for the 20th time and getting even more snow inside her boots, she couldn't keep quiet anymore: "Robert! I don't want to come across as complaining, but I AM NOT HAVING THAT MUCH FUN ANYMORE!!!!!" Thankfully, Robert's reply was 'Well, that's ok. I stopped having fun about 3-4 hours ago! But don't worry. We are almost there!"

It turned out it would take two more hours before we reached the road where the car was parked and by now we had hiked non-stop for eight and a half hours!!!! Needless to say we were completely drained and we concluded that the day had been somewhat of a disappointment. The only good thing was that it was a hell of a good workout! Our legs were covered in bruises and our hands were full of bits from the trees we had been grabbing on to, but at least we must have buns of steel by now!!!!

The day after, we decided to break up camp and head back into town. By now, we had spent ten consecutive nights in the tent so the thought of a 'real' bed and being able to go to the bathroom without having to worry about running into a bear felt quite compelling!!! The last night we woke up to find that 'somebody' or 'something' had picked up the core of the corn on the cob from our meal that we had thrown on the the camp fire ... It could have been a bear the size of our car or something smaller and it's probably better that we don't actually know what it was...

Tomorrow we are heading back to Vancouver. Probably via Revelstoke and then Kelowna. We plan on spending 3 days in Vancouver to sort out all our stuff and re-pack for the next leg of this journey which will take us east across Canada!

written by  Victoria & Robert on October 11, 2009 from Golden, Canada
from the travel blog: the Canadian Arctic
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I red about montain lion in Wikipedia. Hm, they come sneaking from behind and kill the prey with a bite. Just 4 persons per year in the USA. No statistics from Canada!!!!!
love
Maud

written by  Maud Naess on October 13, 2009

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