This past weekend I went on my first hike of the year.

With it being the first one of the year I didn’t really want it to be overly strenuous.

I looked up some possible hikes that would be easier to do and settled on heading to Lille Ghost Town.

A couple of friends joined me and we began our trek to the site.

We made some mini detours at waterfalls and took some photos of the beautiful areas we were in.

Eventually we made our way to the site.

It was such an interesting experience seeing these old structures and reading about the history of that area.

We paused there for lunch and enjoyed exploring that area for a while before we decided to keep following the trail past the Ghost Town.

We had no idea if we’d find anything else to explore or not but decided we weren’t done hiking for the day.

We ended up following a path into the trees that eventually disappeared.

We weren’t exactly sure where we were headed but decided to forge ahead until we found another path to follow.

The path we ended up following didn’t really lead to anything but instead just weaved through the forest and meadows eventually having us climb much higher up then we ever planned on going.

After contemplating how long we really wanted to make this hike, we decided to turn back once we hit another creek.

The way down was much more enjoyable as we were able to stay on a set path the entire time that eventually led us back to the Ghost Town.

Once we were back at that area, we simply followed the same path all the way back to the vehicles and made our way back into town.

What I was expecting to be a nice simple first hike of the year turned into an 18km, 26,000 step adventure that I wouldn’t have changed anything about.

It was a great first hike of the year.

I’ve already planned my next hike that will take place later this week with another friend of mine.

We’ll be heading up Saskatoon Mountain, which will be another first for me as I’ve never done this hike before.

I’m looking forward to that hike and so many others as the weather continues to warm up and the summer arrives.

Man, do I ever love living here.