Things You Should Do in Washington: Hike To Lake Serene

One of the reasons I was so keen on the move to Washington State was living in close proximity to the mountains and especially the snow. So it's a little sad that over the course of this past winter my first visit to the snow came just a little over a week ago in May. Our mountains were all quite snowy still, so I spent a while looking at trip reports on Washington Trails Association for hikes that would at least be considered passable without any special equipment. Last time this year we attempted a hike up Kachess Ridge and ended up turning around due to loosing the trail in all the snow. It sounded like the Lake Serene and Bridal Veil Falls hike would be an okay choice, although it was noted that there was some snow on the trail - we figured we'd just enjoy as much of the hike as we could.

Overall, I put this hike in my totally worth it basket - in spite of the amount of stairs (those are my hiking kryptonite). If you include the out and back to the falls, the hike clocks in at around 9 miles round trip with about 2,000 feet of elevation gain. However since there are two gorgeous water features to see along the way, the climb is totally worth it.

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Things You Should Do In Spain: Hike the Frontier Views Walk

Beginning from the car park at Puerto de Izpegi, which sits right on the border between France and Spain, the Frontier Views Walk outlined in Lonely Planet's Hiking in Spain book certainly lives up to its name. This 10.5 km hike wanders between open fern covered hillsides, beech forests, and high up to wind swept ridges - all the while crossing back and forth between the two countries. One of the most magical moments from our trip to Northern Spain took place on this hike - that kind of moment that I always thought only existed in other people's photographs or the Planet Earth series.

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Things You Should Do In British Columbia: Hike to the Paint Pots

Often overlooked by it's more famous neighbors, there are oodles of beautiful things to see and do in Kootenay National Park - just the drive down Highway 93 alone is absolutely breathtaking. The short hike to the paint pots is an easy trail to give your legs a stretch, take in beautiful views, and explore some of the area's history. It's about 1.5 km to the actual Paint Pots and the first 1km out to the ochre beds is wheelchair friendly. 

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Things You Should Do In Spain: Hike Atxular's Eye

Located in Parque Natural de Gorbeia, the Itxina massif is full of features to ignite your imagination. With over 500 caves, jagged limestone cliffs and labyrinths, beech forests, and stone huts - it's hard not to create stories of some mysterious world high in the mountains of Basque Country. In fact, one of the caves inside this limestone world is said to be one of the regular homes of the Basque goddess, Mari. To make spark your curiosity even more in terms of the history of the area, remains of a Neanderthal were found in yet another cave.

Following Lonely Planet's Hiking in Spain guide book, we hiked the Atxular's Eye route into and through the Itxina. At about 10km, it's a great but not too challenging day hike into a magical place. However, route finding once you get into the Itxina can be a bit of a challenge if you're unprepared - at the very least bring a compass, a map or guide book, and a sense of adventure.

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Things You Should Do In Alberta, Canada: Hike Johnston Canyon

While it's one of the most popular hikes in Banff National Park it's also one of the most beautiful places I've been - the scenes are simply striking.

Johnston Canyon was never on our must hike list for Banff, like the Plain of Six Glaciers, but after sleeping in a bit too late to do our planned hike in an alpine valley we went for a drive to look for something else. Along the Bow Valley Parkway we spotted signs for a hike with waterfalls, looked it up in our guidebook, and decided to give it a go!

The full hike is about 11.6 km (7.2 miles) round trip, but you can choose to do as little or as much as you would like - with three different rewards to keep you going. We opted to end our hike at the Upper Falls, about 3.6 km one way. 

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