The hike up to the campsite was easy enough, 8km of switchbacks on a wide trail through the forest over three hours. And thankfully the clouds were around for the first time since Dave arrived, so the temperature was in the 20s rather than the 30s. The still, damp air brought out the forest's earthy smells.
At Taylor Meadows campsite, the meadow areas between the small alpine trees were teeming with grasses, mosses and flowers. We pitched our tent, had dinner with a few others in the hut and saw the sun break through the clouds just before it set. The hut at the campsite had an excellent view of the Black Tusk - a hard, jagged tooth on the top of an otherwise eroded volcano. We'd been thinking about climbing it. It looked scary.
The next morning, we woke to a few drops of rain and a dampness in the air that set the mood for the rest of the day. After a sociable breakfast, we packed a day bag and headed towards Mount Price. On the way, we went past The Barrier, a colossal natural dam. It was misty and when we first arrives at the rocky hillside used as a viewpoint, we could see only a section of the barrier and a valley full of cloud. The sound of falling pebbles filled the valley as the barrier eroded away, slowly, slowly. Then the cloud started to disperse and the view opened up. The full scale of the dam became apparent, a humongous wall of rock deposited by a volcano so long ago. A stream erupting impossibly from its base. Tree covered hillsides all around and glacier-capped peaks in the distance. But no sooner had the cloud cleared than it was back and the view was nothing more than a grey drop-off.
We continued to Garibaldi Lake for lunch and watched the intensely blue water from inside the hut as its surface was disturbed by raindrops. Past the campsite, past the ranger's hut and into the woods, following a well trodden but narrow and overgrown trail marked by flagging tape. This was the first route we'd done that wasn't marked by signs and maintained for public use. The further we walked from the perceived safety of the campsite, the more isolated we felt.
The trail wound its way through forests and across boulder fields with the occasional comforting view of the blue lake showing us how far we'd come. The drizzle continued and we ducked, climbed, crawled and hiked through wet plants along the trail, hot in our waterproofs. Once we got out of the dense forest and into a moss-covered valley, we packed up the waterproofs and the mosquitos started to bother us. But the little valley was gorgeous. The forests in Canada are so wild and alive compared to those managed woodlands back home. You can see the stuggles and the cycle of life in action. Fallen trees lie slumped on the ground, great trunks bent to conform with the shape of the land where they came to rest, the wood turning to dust by the action of insects and fungi, the trunk half swallowed by the earth and half somehow intact, some bark on top still perfectly formed as it was when the tree was standing, even as the wood underneath is returning to the soil.
Then we were out of the trees and into the rocks, a steep, barren slope ahead of us with a tree-lined ridge to the right. Clinker Peak. We couldn't see the top for the cloud but we had to go up it to cross over to the slightly higher Mount Price further up. We started up the sandy path that hugged the relatively stable vegetated ridge. The higher we got, the less stable the ground, until we were sliding back with each step forward. We past a boulder field, the mosquitos still following us, and paused to admire a view of the lake from between the cloud and mist.
When we got to the top of Clinker Peak, we turned to find the view of the lake replaced by cloud and the fog closing in on all sides until the nearby rocks and dwarf trees we shadows against a grey-white backdrop. No lake, no sky, no ground. Just 30 meters of rocky slope, then nothing.
We gave up on Mount Price and descended Clinker Peak, skidding our way delicately down the scree slope into the mist horizon until we could see the trees again. At least the change in the weather meant that the mosquitos had gone into hiding and we could make the return trip in peace.
Back at the campsite, we made dinner in the hut and exchanged tales of the day with the other campers.
No comments:
Post a Comment