Forum Lake

Another post about hiking! We here at the Bear house sure like our hiking, and this one was my current favorite. The trail head for Forum Lake is just north of Cameron Lake, this trail has several branches that can be hiked. One can be done over the course of 3 days, doesn't that sound like fun! The entire trail is called the Akamina Pass, and it goes a long way.

This trail was quick rocky, compared to others we have been on. It gets steep pretty quickly, and is a steady uphill walk for about a kilometer, then it is kind of an uphill/downhill for a while. One of Little Bear's favorite things about this hike was hiking all the way to B.C.! 

That's right! You cross the Provincial boundary on this hike. Not long after passing this sign, the trail forks, we took the main trail. The trail we were on on also leads to Wall Lake and continues the Akamina Pass. Further along there is a second fork, this time we took the smaller trail and boy did it get tricky after that. 

These 2 are so funny!

Once you branch off on the Forum Lake trail things get super steep, for a long time. I would like to do this hike again with a GPS of some kind to measure how much elevation you gain. You are in the trees from here until you nearly get to the lake. One thing I liked about this trail is, there's a ranger station! Which means a bathroom! Which means, an outhouse, but that sure beats a tree in my books. Just past the ranger station there is a little trail that forks off and takes you to Forum Falls. It is only a few dozen meters, and well worth the few minutes,

We took our time on this hike, partly because there was so many pretty flowers and other vegetation to look at and mostly because it was really steep! Little Bear was a champion on this hike, it was taxing for her, but she pushed to the end. When you get to the end you can see this

It was another successful hike, and we had a lovely picnic on the shores of this little lake. It was cloudy when we were up there, and I wish I could have gotten a picture of the lake when the sun came out for a few seconds. The lake turned this incredible shade of turquoise, It was breathtaking. If you ever feel like taking a hike that will challenge you, this is a good one. It is about 4km each way, and should take you 3-4 hours depending on how fast you can scale those inclines.

Looking down from above the falls

On the way back down we decided to hike the cut line along the AB/B.C. border just to see what we could see. Papa Bear always the surveyor noticed this. It is the official marker of the border, or something like that, ask him, he knows all the real words. 

True to our luck, we saw a Mama Bear & 2 cubs while driving out of the park. Un-lucky was that I was not camera ready! But that brings our bear count to 10 this summer! 

Another Marathon!

That's right, I ran my second marathon yesterday. This time Little Bear ran with me! This event is probably my most favorite ever. It is put on by an Elementary school close to us, and it's all about getting children to be more active. The children run a full length, 26.2 mile, marathon over the course of 2 months. Everyday they run and record their distance, our entire Elementary school participated this year. On the final day, all the children who have been logging miles gather together and run the final mile.

Yesterday was the race day, and I have been logging my miles along with Little Bear, which was so fun, we ran together several times. We ran the final mile together, I kept our pace pretty quick, and Little Bear did awesome! I really enjoyed spending the day with Little Bear and her classmates. Days like these, and exactly the reason why I chose to not work outside the home. I love being at events like this, and making memories.

Monday's Muffin

Time for another installment of Monday' Muffin! This weeks muffin is a daring experiment. Very Berry! I used my basic oatmeal muffin recipe, and added a special twist.They are baking up as I type this, so I hope they are as tasty as they smell.

Very Berry Muffins:

2 cups - unbleached white flour

2/3 cup - whole wheat flour

1 1/2 cups - Oatmeal (I used quick oats, the ones that take about 3 minutes to cook if you were to cook them in a pot.)

2/3 cup - sugar (One of these days I am going to figure out how to substitute this with honey)

4 tsp - baking powder

1/2 tsp - salt

2 beaten eggs

2 cups - milk (The original recipe calls for 1 1/2 cups, but I found the muffins were too dry, so I increased the milk)

1/2 cup - cooking oil (I use canola oil)

Berry mixture - blackberries, blueberries and raspberries - Approx. 2 cups total

Directions:

*Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl,

*Combine all wet ingredients in a separate bowl

*Pour wet ingredients into the dry ingredients

*Stir about 10 times, then add fruit

*Continue to stir until moistened

*Grease muffin tins, Bake ate 350 for 15 minutes

*This will make 24 muffins

I hope you enjoy this week's muffin! Time for a taste test.

Monday's Muffin

I am very excited about this week's muffin. I tried something very new, (for me), and it turned out great! I love it when experiments work out so well on the first try. Allow me to present this weeks muffin Apple Pie! The idea came from Little Bear, who thought adding fruit other than bananas to the muffin would be yummy. She was right! These muffins are moist, and smell divine. I found as well that you don't need to use any kind of spread, these muffins are quite flavorful all on their own.

Apple Pie Muffins:

2 cups - unbleached white flour

1.5 cups - whole wheat flour

4 tsp - baking powder

1/2 tsp - salt

2 beaten egg

1.5 cups - milk

1/2 cup - cooking oil (I used a canola oil)

1 can apple pie filling

2 tsp - cinnamon

Diections:

*Empty entire can of pie filling into a small bowl, use a potato masher to break down the apple slices, stir in the cinnamon and set aside

*Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl

*Combine all wet ingredients in a bowl, exclude the apple filling

*Add wet ingredients all at once to dry ingredients, stir about 10 times

*Add the pie filling, and stir just until combined

*Grease muffin pans with cooking spray

*Bake at 350, for 12 minutes.

*This recipe will make 24 muffins

Mondays' Muffin

So, I am posting this on a Tuesday, because Monday kind of got away from me. Spring has (mostly) come to our corner of the world, and there is mush for a bear to do. Rest assured we did come up with a muffin for this week, even though I've yet to make it to a grocery store, Monday's Muffin is: Oatmeal Raisin.

Ingredients:

2 2/3 cups - unbleached white flour (I forgot to substitute any whole wheat flour in this week)

1 1/2 cups - Oatmeal (I used quick oats, the ones that take about 3 minutes to cook if you were to cook them in a pot.)

2/3 cup - sugar (One of these days I am going to figure out how to substitute this with honey)

2 tsp - baking powder

1/2 tsp - salt

2 beaten eggs

2 cups - milk (The original recipe calls for 1 1/2 cups, but I found the muffins were too dry, so I increased the milk)

1/2 cup - cooking oil (I use canola oil)

1 cup raisins

Directions:

*Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl, include the raisins

*Combine all wet ingredients in a separate bowl

*Pour wet ingredients into the dry ingredients

*Stir just until moistened

*Grease muffin tins, Bake ate 350 for 15 minutes

*This will make 24 muffins

Stay tuned for next weeks muffin, which will be made after I (finally) get to a grocery store!

Monday's Muffin

This weeks muffin, we decided to make the easy and popular Banana Chocolate Chip. With baking supplies at an all time low, we had to make only a half batch this week. While we were making this weeks muffin, we did some brain storming and Little Bear came up with a couple of really interesting ideas for future muffins. I am looking forward to replenishing our baking supplies and trying out some of those good ideas.

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins:

1 cup - unbleached white flour

3/4 cup - whole wheat flour

2 tsp - baking powder

1/4 tsp - salt

1 beaten egg

1/2 cup - milk (I used 2/3 cup milk, I found it is a little more moist)

1/4 cup - cooking oil (I used a canola oil)

3/4 cup mashed banana (I used 2 large bananas, which is slightly more than suggested)

1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Diections:

*Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl, include the chocolate chips

*Combine all wet ingredients in a bowl, include the banana

*Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl with the dry ingredients all at once, stir until just combined

*Do not use baking papers for this kind of muffin, grease muffin pans with cooking spray

*Bake at 350, for 15 minutes.

*This recipe will make 12 muffins

Monday's Muffin

This week’s Muffin is: Blueberry Lemon. I again started with the basic muffin recipe and added my own touches to it. I generally don’t use whole wheat flour when I bake, but I am starting to introduce it slowly. One of the reasons we came up with the muffin idea was to have a healthier option for lunch. Over time I will be experimenting with larger portions of whole wheat flour, and I would like to try other flour varieties too. At the suggestion of someone, I am including the recipe for our Monday Muffin this week.

Ingredients:

1 ¾ cup – unbleached all purpose flour

¾ cup – whole wheat flour

2/3 cup – Sugar

4 tsp - baking powder

½ tsp – salt

2 beaten eggs

1 ½ cups - milk

½ cup – cooking oil (I use a canola olive oil blend)

2 cups - frozen blueberries

1 lemon, which I grated off the rind

Directions:

*Mix all dry ingredients on one bowl, include the lemon rind.

*Mix all wet ingredients in another bowl, except the berries.

*Add the wet to the dry all at once and mix about 10 times, add the blueberries and continue to mix until just combined.

*I use a cooking spray to grease my muffin tins, but you could line them with baking cups.

*This will make 24 muffins. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes, I have an old stove so this works for mine, keep an eye on the muffins during the last 5 minutes of cooking time, the tops will not brown, so use a toothpick to check the centers