I Damn Near Died

Went hiking again today with my friend J. and her little one, and her golden retriever. We drove to the end of Fish Lake Road, and then began the ascent...I didn't realize how much ascending there would be until my lungs informed me that it was too much. I forgot my puffer too...so there I was, gasping for air on the way up...stupid me. It was a lovely hike, but about 3 kms uphill, which is more than my poor out of shape body is ready for...so we didn't make it to the summit, only about 2/3 of the way before I began feeling nauseaus, faint, and rubber legged...ok, time to turn around. We hiked for about 2.5 hours as it was, so I am fine with that, and I certainly got a work out...my bandanna was soaked when we arrived at the bottom again. I wish I could have made it to the summit, but having an asthma attack was not on my schedule for today...better luck next time I reckon.
And I nearly forgot to mention how busy the trail was with folks going up and down, including a group armed with shotguns, and .22 rifles. They claimed to be hunting for ptarmigan, however I suspect they were simply on the lookout for bears, heh heh...and 4 of the 5 were women - only in the Yukon! We had our bear spray, and hoped for the best, along with a big dog and a chattering baby, so also hoped they would both deter the bears. We didn't see any...good!