Fifth Water Hot Springs

The Fifth Water Hot Springs are a very popular destination in the summer, since it is a 4.5 mile (round trip) hike to completely natural hot springs. In the winter the length of the hike to the hot springs can vary based on the winter maintenance, so we had to hike about 7 miles (round-trip) to make it to the springs. And it was so worth it! People have stacked rocks to help build different pools that can fill with the fresh spring water. The minerals caused the pools to be beautiful colors of bright blues and greens. We hiked up very early in the morning and this gave us the opportunity to have the springs to ourselves. The pool we mainly soaked in had a mixing point between the hot spring and the cool river, allowing us to control the temperature. We had a lot of fun soaking in the mineral water, taking photos, and hiking to the springs.

The Start of Salt Lake City, UT

Salt Lake City has been a great place to visit so far because of the easy access to both the city and the mountains. There are 6 resorts (Snowbird, Alta, Brighton, Solitude, Park City, Deer Valley) within 40 minutes of the city. Since being here, we have spent time exploring the surrounding canyons, skiing the resorts, and enjoying the city.

The highlight in the city was visiting the Family History Library. With the help of their lovely volunteers and Familysearch.org, we were able to start building my family tree using old documents as sources and information other people have added to the system. If you have some spare time in the city, definitely recommend a visit here!

Our favorite resorts out of Salt Lake City so far have been Alta and Snowbird. The resorts share a pass and are actually connected. We were able to find some amazing and difficult terrain at both resorts and still had more left to explore after spending 5 days at them. The next resort we skied was Brighton.

After skiing the resort one day, we drove up Guardsman Pass Road until we reached a gate, closing the road to winter maintenance. We were able to ski Guardsman Peak (10,026'), which was about 5 miles round-trip. Adding to the view were the 4 different ski resorts we could see from the peak!

Peace in the backcounty

Lydia and I often find our most special places far from any resort. The untouched snow dampens noise creating a truly quite place.

While on the road...

We drove from Banff back to Revelstoke to meet up with some more friends and use up our last ski days there! The drive was beautiful and we were lucky enough to drive it while the skies were clear and the sun was shining.

Our highlight of the drive was seeing two wolves! They were quickly trotting along railroad tracks that were momentarily within view of the road. We decided driving further down the road would give us the best chance at getting a better view.We parked the car and hiked down to get a clear (but distant) view of the railroad tracks. We waited patiently and sure enough, the wolves came into our view! These animals were the most amazing wildlife we have seen so far. The pace that they were moving was a great representation of the impressive behavior of these animals. This was a very lucky moment for us! After spending a few weeks in Canada, we decided to head back into the US to beat a snow storm headed towards Salt Lake City.

We have access to 5 ski resorts and there is a lot of backcountry access within 30 minutes of the city. We are looking forward to enjoying the longer and sunnier days (compared to Canada) and exploring the area.

Vernon/Sicamous, BC

Since we were not in a hurry, we took a few days to drive to Revelstoke from Whistler. The first stop was at Joffre Lakes. This is a great backcounty access point for future reference. Our halfway stop was in Vernon, where we camped and hiked about 6km (roundtrip) to Kalamalka Lake. Then we spent two days backcountry skiing near Sicamous before making it to Revelstoke. Sicamous is actually the houseboat capitol of Canada. We are loving the huge rivers and lakes we have seen so far, luckily they are not busy this time of year.

We backcountry skied off of Lyberger Road. There was a Catskiing operation building a lodge. They plowed the road the whole way to the construction site and near the top there was a public parking lot. We were able to ski the trees and some snow filled glades! There are not any photos from this since it was snowing most of the time!

Whistler, BC

We spent a week skiing Whistler Blackcomb and enjoying the surrounding mountains. While there, we experienced snowy, clowdy, inverted, and clear days. It was interesting skiing in a humid and warmer climate. There would be rain at the bottom of the mountain, but lots of snow at the top. The parking lots in town are free after 5pm, so we spent some evenings enjoying the base area, which was usually really busy with lots of tourists.

For camping, we stayed about 20 minutes east of the ski area’s base on a plowed forest service road. We walked to the Brandywine Waterfall, which is about 70m tall. It was a good post skiing activity! 

We spent one day exploring the backcountry out of the Whistler side of the resort. We were able to summit two peaks and ski some fresh snow. The most unexpected part was a 20km trail (luge…), Singing Pass Trail, that connects where we were skiing up the valley to just above the base area. This made a fun, easy ski back to the base area after a full day of skiing and touring.

Banff, AB

While in Banff, we were lucky enough to meet up with two different groups of friends. We skied at Sunshine Valley, which was 15 minutes from the Town of Banff and within Banff National Park. One of the best parts of this resort was that it did not have a huge base area or developments around the ski area, since it is within the national park. Snowdays in Banff was going on when we were there, so one of the highlights was getting to see the snow sculptures. Visiting Banff in the winter was beautiful and had much less tourists than in the summer, so it is a great time to go.

Jackson, WY

We found lots to do in Jackson, Wyoming, so we were able to stay busy for awhile. Jackson Hole, the main ski resort, offers tons of amazing terrain that we were able to ski for 3 days without getting bored. Grand Teton National Park is about 20 minutes north of town, so it was easy to hike there one afternoon and enjoy the stunning mountain range.

The Town of Kelly, which is close to Teton National Park, offers great access to National Forest land, so we were able to camp for free there!

Another gem out of Jackson, is Teton Pass, which is the closest place to town to backcountry ski. Although difficult, bootpacking up Mt. Glory is very rewarding. There is tons of other terrain to be skied in the area.

Telluride and Ouray, CO

The San Juan Mountains in Colorado are some of the most amazing peaks that the state has to offer and the towns of Ouray and Telluride both have their own unique character. We spent a day backcountry skiing Red Mountain Pass out of Ouray, which offers great terrain on both sides of the pass. After Ouray, we headed to Telluride to ski the resort for a few days. The views are outstanding and we were able to ski some harder terrain.

Crested Butte, CO

Crested Butte is a beautiful place to visit in the winter. The Kebler Pass area is very accessible from town, so we spent a day backcountry skiing the area. Another activity we did was a short hike up Cement Creek.