Our first stop after some traveling was the Durrand Glacier Chalet (http://selkirkexperience.com) in the Selkirk Mountains outside of Revelstoke, British Columbia. An early morning helicopter flight left us with the whole day to do some hiking, so with our guide (most of our hikes were guided on this trip) we headed up through some spectacular alpine meadows.
There's really no way to describe the abundance of wildflowers that we saw this day. Given that we always vacationed in September the flowers were rare and really an afterthought, but a late summer in the Selkirks meant that there were loads of flowers in the meadows. What a treat to see Paintbrush, Saxifrage, Monkey Flower, Anenome, and countless others in bloom for a change!
Laura, who was/is recovering from a foot injury explored a lower meadow for a while, while I proceeded with the group to a glacial tarn (a small lake of glacier water with no visible outlet - they usually drain underground or sometimes just by evaporation) high above the treeline.
The group spent some time skipping stones across the tarn, and boot-skiing on the remaining snow, and then we set off on a lengthy traverse of a sometimes "razor thin" ridge (I was briefly trapped on a section about 1 foot wide when the person in front of me stopped and the person behind me froze as well), and then down a steep, flower-filled slope to the lake where Laura had spent most of her day.
Our chef (yes, a classically trained chef!) preapred a lovely meal of wild salmon (chicken for Laura) with a white wine sauce that we accompanied with
2005 Domaine William Fevre Chablis
A perfect wine for the setting, as it was full of rocks and floral tones with a generous helping of lemony fruit. Delicious with the food, it was refreshing and easy to drink.
And after over 750 meters (about 2500 feet) of vertical (I measured all hikes in vertical rather than horizontal distances this year - things were steep!) we were off to bed for some well deserved sleep...until the mountain goats came by that night!
) to hike. I also was rather impressed by Fèvre's basic '05.