I don’t think I necessarily wanted to venture into the backcountry by myself: full disclosure. There was no burning desire or hurdle to leap over, a box to check. But, when my go-to hiking partner has made alternative plans, I decided that it just might be the opportune time to give it a try.

Spring shoulder season is my least favourite time of the year. A long cold Canadian winter spent with restless hiking legs and gear collecting dust in basements and storage units finally coming to a close but not soon enough. With a tough avalanche season and lingering snow showers in the Canadian Rockies I decided to take a trip to Washington State for some early season costal hiking.

This iconic backpacking trip covers 22km of trails and includes 7 campgrounds and a suspension bridge. It travels from the south face to the north face of Mt Robson and passes Kinney Lake, Whitehorn Mountain,  Emperor Falls before finally winding its way along Berg Lake to the Robson Pass (and the Alberta -British Columbia border).

This provincial park is home to, and named after, Mount Robson - the tallest peak in the Canadian Rockies with nearly 3,000 metres (10,000 ft) of steep vertical ascent from the Kinney Lake shoreline – something that few mountains anywhere in the world can claim to offer. Mount Robson is also considered one of the most challenging mountains to climb.

Banff is the oldest national park in Canada. Established in 1885, the park is located in the Alberta Rocky Mountains. Calgary is the nearest city, and the main commercial center of the park is in the town of Banff, in the Bow River valley. Known for mountainous terrain and alpine landscapes — including more than a thousand glaciers, ice fields, forests, valleys, meadows, and rivers — the park is part of UNESCO’s Canadian Rocky Mountain World Heritage site. Natural sites around the park include Canada’s largest cave system, Castleguard Caves, numerous glacier-fed lakes such as Lake Louise, and the Legacy Trail — a trail for walking, cycling, and in-line skating. 

Extending over 11,000 square kilometres, it is the largest national park in the Canadian Rockies and part of UNESCO's Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks World Heritage Site. The townsite now known as Jasper was originally named Fitzhugh after an individual who was at the time the Vice-President of the Grand Trunk Railway. It was changed to Jasper in 1913 and the National Park was established as a National Forest in 1907 and gained its National Park status in 1930. The most recent numbers note that Jasper has approximately 4,500 permanent residents. 

The Kootenays or Kootenay (/ˈkuːtni/ KOOT-nee) is a region of southeastern British Columbia. It takes its name from the Kootenay River, which in turn was named for the Kutenai First Nations people. Nestled in the Rocky Mountains of southeastern British Columbia, this National Park is 1,406 square kilometres (543 sq mi) of land of startling contrasts. The park's long narrow profile is packed full towering summits and hanging glaciers that meet narrow chasms, broad forested valleys, arid grasslands and colour-splashed mineral pools.

Waterton Lakes National Park is the fourth oldest Canadian national park, it is in located in the southwest corner of Alberta along the Canadian-American border with Glacier National Park (US) on the American side. The park features breathtaking landscapes and beautiful natural scenery including a unique combination of thick and beautiful pine-tree forests, Prairie grasslands, rolling hills, beautiful meadows, a selection of lakes and waterfalls, towering snow-peaked mountains, a charming and lovely townsite, a fantastic selection of hiking trails from easy to challenging, rugged and unspoiled wilderness, and an abundance of wildlife.