I can't believe it's not Photoshop* ... ...

After a sunny arrival day in Whistler, a rainy night followed, resulting in a cool morning. Saying goodbye wasn't particularly difficult because the clouds hung equally in the mountains ...

An elaborate parking system keeps vehicles outside the city center, so after a few hundred meters on foot our 'compact car' became the storage place for our belongings.

Our first and only intermediate travel destination was Joffre Lakes Provincial Park. Here our first hike of this vacation awaited us. Equipped with hiking boots, multiple layers of clothing, and hiking pants purchased specifically in Canada (following the motto: I'm on vacation here, I'll buy here), Thorsten received a lifetime membership at MEC, a member-based purchasing cooperative, regardless of his nationality.

The distance indications on the hiking sign would have confused us if Thorsten hadn't read beforehand that it wouldn't take 3 hours to cover a distance of 4 km. That's what was written. Here they also estimated a time of 15 minutes for 200 meters. So it's all nonsense.

Having to overcome a climb of 500 meters over the 4 km route to the Upper Lake quickly left us out of breath. The top lake was reached from the Lower Lake via the Middle Lake. The path from the Lower Lake to the Middle Lake was really arduous and exhausting, and at some point you're just walking... But then came the reward: after one of the felt 498 bends, we finally saw WOW, and with our eyes and mouths wide open and a restrained BOAH, we were overwhelmed by the breathtaking view of the Middle Lake and the Matier Glacier behind it...

The emerald green lake illuminated by the sunlight, along with the glacier, made us forget the ascent. Cute little birds ate out of hikers' hands, which tempted Thorsten to donate a few crumbs of our dry cookies...

A little further along the lake, there was an old tree trunk that protruded into the lake from end to end. This is a recommended 'must' listed in many travel guides, to walk or better balance as far as possible on the tree trunk in the lake. Whole hordes of Insta-girls from the Far East had the courage to move on it and have themselves photographed...

But even as a non-Insta-addicted person, the attempt is tempting. And so again here with Thorsten, who, however, walked along the log rather awkwardly... The difficulty level also consisted of getting back. The 180-degree turn is not the easiest... but we did it.

Finally, we went to the Upper Lake, which wasn't too far away. However, the Middle Lake won the beauty contest among the three lakes.

The descent wasn't as sweaty as the ascent, but it took its toll on our thighs and knees.

In the end, we managed the one-way 3-hour hiking trail with a break in just about 3 hours there and back. Practically in half the time it apparently takes the average Canadian...

Already on the way to the Middle Lake, we thought we saw bear tracks on the trail twice. Large claw-like paw prints... One doesn't want to imagine what would happen if a grizzly bear crossed your path here... After all, as is noted everywhere on the way, we are in the land of grizzly bears...

After seeing the lakes and the glacier, the remaining landscape photos on the drive to our destination for the day, Kamloops, only elicited a slight yawn from us...

By the way, something I've been wanting to mention for the past few days: Our navigation lady often makes us laugh with how she pronounces the English street names. For her, abbreviations like Ave, Dr., St., or Hwy are pronounced exactly as they are written. Even the street name itself is not pronounced in English. Examples:

Belleville St. = Bellewille Sanct

Marine Dr. = Marine Doctor

Trans Canada Hwy = Tans Canada Haweypsilon

St. Charles St. = Sanct Charles Sanct

etc...

* Based on the advertising slogan of an American margarine brand 'I can't believe it's not butter'