September 05, 2004
A Long Walk
I walked 30km. This was almost my record for one-day hiking.
I went with a hiking guide. I needed a guide to take me to the trail, because the head of the trail today was more than 20km from the village. Before we started, I expressed my wish of the day. I wanted to go “as far as I could”. I knew this was a challenging request. But my stay in Canada was only for three days. The guide fulfilled my wish by making a flexible plan that had several exit points. Of course, I went to the farthest point. A volunteer assistant joined us.
The Lake
Our first destination was Garibaldi Lake, the core area of the Garibaldi Provincial Park. The trail started in a deep forest of Black Tusks. They can be seen only there.
I talked with the guide while we were walking. He was an adventure lover. He experienced deep mountains and steep rocks. He was going to go into South American mountains that had no trails.
As we talked, the trees got shorter and shorter. Finally, the lake appeared in front of us. The water was emerald green. He told me that the color came from particles brought by a glacier. Indeed, a great glacier was at the opposite bank of the large lake. We ate lunch in front of the lake.
The Summit
After lunch, we started toward our next destination, the summit.
The big climb started from a small lake in front of the summit. The trail became steep. Trees disappeared soon. We walked through debris, from where high pitch calls of marmots came.
After about 40 minutes, we arrived at the summit. Nothing blocked our view. In front of us was the green lake that we left a few hours before. Behind us was the glacier. The water of the glacier was gathered in a pond and then flowed into a creek. All of these were in one view.
The Meadow
The time to return came. We walked down in a peaceful meadow. We went by flowers, streams, and marshland. Everything was lively thanks to the mist yesterday. After a while, we came back into the deep forest again.
I asked the guide how hard the trip was. It turned out that it was not hard for him. He could walk up to 50km a day. Me? I was also all right. The trail was too great for me to get tired of.
We finished our trip at 6 o’clock. Once I felt asphalt beneath my foot, I began to feel pain in my leg. So, my ability limitation was still there. I went to the bed early, hoping that I recovered enough to enjoy cycling tommorow.
