Hoping for a more relaxing day, we decided to visit the Kicking Horse Mountain Resort, which is near our base in Golden, on the slopes of the next door mountain range. The resort is named after the river that we followed into British Columbia, and flows passed our plot on the campgrounds. It is primarily a skiing resort, but being out of season, we wouldn't be trying our hand at that activity today.
After buying our tickets, we got onto a gondola that took us to the top of the mountain range. We started along the ominous sounding 'Terminator Ridge' trail, but we weren't far along before a big black cloud rolled in and brought with it our first major rainfall of our holiday so far. Rather than continue, we retreated to the shelter of the restaurant that was built on the summit. At roughly 7,700ft this should have provided some good views to enjoy over lunch, but these were blocked by the poor weather. Thankfully, as we finished, the weather began to improve and we were able to get a good look at our surroundings before rejoining the Gondola and making our way back down. On the way, we spotted the target of our next destination; a grizzly bear taking a bath in a pool of water on the slopes of the mountain!
At the bottom, we got on a ski lift which took us up to the bear reserve, which was the home of a captive grizzly bear called Boo. Boo, and his brother Cari (RIP), were rescued as cubs when his mother was shot by a poacher in the Caribou Mountain Range (hence their names). The guide told us about his two escapes and how they've continually had to upgrade security. Both escapes were during mating season, and both times he returned to the enclosure of his own free will once the season had ended. We got a better look at him than our first grizzly encounter on Day 10, but it wasn't quite the same experience. We are still hoping to get a closer look at a wild one (but hopefully not too close!).
After saying goodbye to Boo, we returned to our car and made our way back to camp for a relaxing evening of doing very little! Despite just arriving here, tonight will be our last night at Golden as tomorrow we head further west to our next short stop-off at Blind Bay, near the town of Salmon Arm, on the shores of the Shuswap Lake.
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