A few weeks before moving into our van we did some backcountry hiking in Tonquin Valley, Alberta, Canada. This was our second time hiking in teh area and we spent four days hiking, camping and exploring in the area. We spent our first two nights camping at Amethyst campground and one night at Surprise Point.
Interestingly, Tonquin Valley is home to a herd of endangered woodland caribou and we were extremely lucky to see this beautiful male, at Surprise Point campground of all places!
While hiking between Amethyst and Surprise Point campgrounds we stopped literally every 10-15 meters to see if we could spot any caribou from the trail. Hiking ended up taking twice as long as it should have, and in the end there was one just near near Surprise Point (What a surprise!).
He didn't seem too worried by our presence so, while keeping a respectable distance, we sat on a rock and watched him snacking for about 30mins. It was a such a special experience. Considering there are only about 45 of them left in Tonquin Valley, we feel so lucky to have seen one.
Caribou aside, Tonquin Valley itself is stunning! But don't be fooled, it is rugged! Full of bogs and bugs. But if you're prepared your experience will be like no other! We chose to go at the end of August to avoid the majority the bugs.
We had beautiful warm weather during the day, until the last night when we got a dusting of snow. But we were really lucky with the weather. The days leading up to our trip there was a lot of rain in the area, so while the ground was pretty soggy we were happy to have the sun shining for the majority of our adventure.
All in all we had a really great weekend and can't wait to go again next season!