Be sure to bring your toque, eh?

Because your head will definitely be cold without it! Even better if it comes with a free bottle of Big Rock Honey Brown Ale. As we discovered, apparently Big Rock Brewery feels that everyone will enjoy their beer (and probably ski/snowboard better) if they get a free toque as part of the package so the oh-so-stylish blue toque joined us on the trip after our stop at the liquor store in Banff.

Good thing too, because we definitely did some outdoorsy stuff, which is what you SHOULD do in Canada's winter wonderland! In addition to a couple days of snowboarding and skiing (and only one semi-serious head injury resulting in temporary memory loss), we crammed in some winter hiking and exploring in White Swan Provincial Park and some snowshoeing in Panorama's back country.

We spent an afternoon exploring the frozen lakes in White Swan Provincial Park, which is a bit south down the highway from Invermere & Fairmont. We didn't really know what we'd find there in the middle of winter, but we virtually had the entire park to ourselves, save for a couple of diehard ice fishermen who were perched (no pun intended) on their snowmobile in the the middle of the frozen lake. We also agreed that ice fishing has got to be one of the most boring sports on the planet, although probably a great excuse for escaping from the family and drinking beer.

After a few hours and some excellent action shots on the ice, we discovered these awesome natural hot springs (Lussier) on the way out of the park, set down beside a mountain stream. It was pretty cool (well, hot actually) because it was totally au naturale - just three small pools of boiling hot water sitting right in the shore of the stream, which was glacier fed and freezing. We even ventured from hot to cold, although I was not as successful at doing the full dip - the water in the stream was painfully cold and apparently I'm a bit of a wimp!

There were some interesting characters at the springs though - there was this older hippie guy who I think was totally wasted - and definitely could have used a good meal because he was a bone rack. Anyway, he was obviously a regular - he even carried his own thermometer with him and was quite happy to share his knowledge about the springs. By the way, he was SANS toque.... He must be from the US or something...?

FYI

Toque
Pronunciation: 'tOk
Function: nounEtymology: Middle French, soft hat with a narrow brim worn especially in the 16th century, from Old Spanish toca headdress 1 : a small hat without a brim made in any of various soft close-fitting shapes2 : TUQUE3 : a tall brimless hat worn by a chef -- called also toque blanche