Sunday, December 9, 2012

Off the Grid in Nipika

For my friend Brooke's birthday, we traveled to British Colombia to an eco-resort called Nipika for the weekend.  We arrived Friday evening and settled into our lodge.  There were 15 of us total so we had a large cabin that slept about 12 and another smaller cabin that slept about 6.  The lodges were beautiful and very eco-friendly.  The entire resort ran on very limited electricity and we had to leave our hair dryers, computers, and other plug-ins at home.  With no TV and no cell service, it was nice to relax and not worry about anything.  The first night we met everyone and told stories by the fireplace.  Some people took a dip in the firewood-heated hot tub, but Matt and I opted to stay inside by the warm fire.
The hot tub and sauna
Saturday morning, we woke up and had breakfast.  We had assigned meals ahead of time to groups of people so Brooke and a few others were in charge of breakfast for Saturday morning.  They made scrambled eggs, bacon, and pancakes.
Shauna, Adrien, and Brooke preparing breakfast
Matt "living the dream" after breakfast
After a hearty breakfast, we decided to go for a hike to a natural bridge over the Kootenay River.  Normally, Nipika has snow at this time of year and the trails are used for cross-country skiing and snow-shoeing.  This particular weekend, though, there was no snow so we made the most of it and hiked the trail to the river.  The scenery was beautiful and when we reached the river, the colors of the water were amazing.
Top view of the natural bridge over the river
Limestone which lines the bottom of the river, giving the water that amazing blue-green color
After our 3 hour hike, we headed back to the lodge for some lunch and rest.  We were all on our own for lunch so Matt and I heated up some soup and sat by the fire.  We played Scategories and Scrabble to pass the time.  Later, the group on dinner duty prepared chicken and veggie skewers, pork tenderloin, and rice.

The next morning, it was our turn for breakfast.  Matt and I, along with another couple, made bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs, and french toast.  While preparing and eating breakfast, it began to snow outside, just in time for us to pack up and head home.  It was still really pretty to see though.
As we packed our things and got ready for the 2.5 hour drive back to Calgary, we took a peek at the guest book.  This was the first entry:
Sounds like they had a great time...and so did we!