The West Commences: Hiking in Alberta

It’s Wednesday, August 27, 2014, another sunny warm morning in the Okanagan. The temperature is supposed to go to 30c. again today and then get cooler tomorrow. Mo who spent most of her life in small towns in Alberta often sings the praises of the weather in this valley. I am usually less exuberant about it, but after spending last week in Waterton Lakes, Alberta, I’ve joined her chorus. Waterton Lakes National Park is a wonderful place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there. The VOC’s plan for ten days of hiking had to be altered. As the first two days were the only ones for which rain was not predicted, we did big hikes on each of them. This took a toll on my feet, but I’m really happy that I did both hikes.

On the first day we took a boat from the Waterton marina to the trailhead for the Crypt Lake hike. It’s one of the longest I’ve taken since I was in Lake Louise in my 20s. Near the top, you climb a short metal ladder, crouch through a tunnel and crawl out onto a narrow path along a steep talus slope. At this point, there is a cable that has been bolted into rock at many places. People like me cling to it for what feels like a lifetime in the hope of reaching the easier path that seems to be miles away but isn’t. The only reason I wasn’t ecstatic to have finished this part was that I knew I would have to do it all again in reverse on the way down. The rest of the hike was wonderful. As we soaked our feet in the cool waters of the lake while waiting for the boat to take us back to town, we saw dark clouds approaching over the mountains across from us. Riding back in the boat, we felt the wind increase and watched as a curtain of rain was drawn across the water toward us. We got a little wet running for our cars. What luck! The next day the same thing happened but with slightly less luck. We were within site of the cars parked in the campground but still had a short walk to end the hike when the wind really started to whip and the rain to pelt. We got drenched. But the hike had been magnificent, one of the best of my life. It’s called Carthew-Alderson after the names of two of the lakes you see from the top. The land you hike through and the vistas that you see are worth every bit of effort that you expend to be there. When we got back to our room at the Crandell Mountain Lodge, we were cold and wet and our feet were sore. So we changed into warm clothes and soaked our feet in ice water. I had a big blister on the underside of one toe and another toe that was turning blue and becoming very sore. Fortunately, one of my roommates, Dianne, was a nurse. She helped me bandage them. It rained constantly for the next two days, so we walked around town, shopped, visited the Prince of Wales Hotel and had hot tubs, saunas and steam baths. Some people stayed on and did a couple of hikes, but Mo, John and I left on Saturday; we drove back to BC and into the sun.

Nobody was able to take the Goat Haunt hike in Glacier National Park, Montana. I would not have been able to go on it in any case because in packing for the hiking trip I discovered that I couldn’t find my passport. I spent a long time searching for it but never did find it. Fortunately I found this out in time to do something about it before leaving for Korea. As it is, I spent yesterday in Kelowna filling in forms, declaring my old one lost or stolen and applying for a new one. This process was not without the usual bureaucratic hitches, but I think all went well. I should be able to pick up my new passport on Sept. 10. I had to change the name on my passport to Janet Shirley from Jan as the woman in the BC driver’s license office had predicted I would almost four years ago. What a mess. I had bought my ticket to Korea in the name of Jan so had to change it there too, at a cost of $200.00. But all is in order now. I don’t expect any hitches on my trip, at least in that respect. I loved the Monty Python skit that included the lines, “Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition.” I think I’ve learned if not to expect it at least to be able to face it a bit better than I used to. Or have I?????

Now I’m looking forward to Jay’s arrival in two weeks.