Summer is winding down for us and it has been good and awfully bad.  Of course the bad part is covid-19.  It is decimating the tourism industry around the world and that includes us in BC.  And if there was a light at the end of the tunnel I would be lying.  We have had some guests at Vagabond Lodge but only a few.  How long we can survive is hard to tell.  If there was a light at the end of the tunnel would be the upcoming ski season.  For Canadians, travel is going to be restricted.  We are known for escaping during the winter to Mexico, Hawaii, Florida, and the other warm states.  Well that is not going to happen.  Canadians will be staying at home and we hope they will be heading to the mountains to ski and play in the snow.  And that is the positive.  We have had a lot of time to play this summer which is a good way to take your mind off covid-19 at least for awhile.  BC had done a good job keeping the number of new cases to only a few but that has skyrocketed in the past few weeks.  I would assume it has to do with travel and wanting to socialize.   The one good thing I see around Golden is the increase in the numbers of people wearing masks.  Whether that makes a difference I am not sure but it can't hurt so why not wear one. We do.  
We have been using our kayaks a lot this summer.  We have such amazing places to enjoy the water where it is easy to self distance. We went to Bow Lake a couple times this summer in Banff National Park.  The lake is about an hour and half drive.  The one disappointment has been the lack of maintenance of some of our pristine spots in our National Park.  The toilets and cleaning that is being done in some of our campsites and picnic areas in Banff is marginal to poor.  Very sad.  They are being used by Canadians this summer so there is nobody else to blame.   People can be pigs. 
Enough of my rant for the day.  Enjoy the video from  recently at Bow Lake.  Ski season isn't that far away.  If you are looking for an amazing spot to spend part of the winter, give us a call at Vagabond Lodge 250 344 2622 or email [email protected] 

It is hard to believe we are already into August and finally got some hot weather.  It has been around 30C for the past few days which has been nice for a change.  We have been spending a lot of time kayaking on the Kicking Horse River that runs right through the town of Golden.  The Kicking Horse then empties into the Columbia River at the base of the mountain below us.  We have a great trip we do that takes about 45 minutes with some small rapids and then a nice float once we hit the Columbia River.  The cold water is great with the heat of the air to cool off.  Lots of fun. And we are generally the only people on the river.  So social distancing is not a problem. 
The resort itself seems like they are having a busy summer with a lot of mountain bikers.  More than I have ever seen.  With border restrictions in place the only tourists are from Alberta, and BC with a few from the rest of the country.  We have had to scale back on our operation with only 4 rooms being able to be booked in order to keep a safe distance from our guests and vice versa.  Obviously this impacts our bottom line but not much we can do about that.  I am guessing this will be the scenario for awhile. 
Hope everyone is healthy and safe.  Enjoy the video of some of our kayaking.