At last, lastly, our last day of hiking

On the Monday of our trip, we got up early because we knew we had 19km ahead of us.

It froze overnight, which I, usually the cold one, didn't even realize, I was sleeping so soundly! We had oatmeal for breakfast, as usual, and shared a cup of hot chocolate before leaving.

By ten oclock we'd already hiked 8km and reached the bridge crossing the Maligne River.

This was our first crossing of the river, after having hiked along side it for many many km. Our only other crossing of it was as it exited Maligne Lake over a paved and cement bridge with interpretive signs along the way...a far cry from this bridge which was replacing a preceding washed-out suspension bridge!

After the bridge, we hiked for a llllllllong time until we decided to finally stop for lunch in the trees. After hiking for another long time, we reached another campground. Then we knew only 5 more km until the lake. In the 2 to last km we met a man on his way in. He had a HUGE pack with stuff hanging from it, and looked incredibly weathered--like he'd done a lot of hiking in the past! Reaching the lake was anti-climactic--we had to walk down a paved road, across a parking lot and down another paved path to reach it. I was looking forward to a wild natural lake but that is not what is there. However, it was beautiful nonetheless!

We walked around the lake to where we expected to meet Brent's parents, who were picking us up. We pulled out the GPS to check the time and discovered that it was only 2!! We hiked very very quickly, obviously. So we pulled out our little stove and made a cup of tea right there on the side of the lake, a bit of a daydream that I'd had earlier in the trip.

We chatted with a couple from Boston who bestowed on us "the prize for being the best outfitted hikers". :) Brent's parents came around five and we headed (drove!) back into Jasper for pizza! (yay!) (Thanks Dad and Mom!) Jasper has a fabulous pizza place, and we were not disappointed. Then they took us back to our truck and we drove the five hours back home, arriving at twelve that night. Trip over, back to the reality of civilization. Two things Brent missed when we were in the wilderness: 1) music 2) Reading books Two things Brent appreciated about the wilderness: 1)No cars 2)No people Two things Kirstin missed when we were in the wilderness: 1)Toilet paper 2) Originally didn't have a second but when Brent said music, I heartily agreed! Two things Kirstin appreciated about the wilderness: 1)Far from financial worries 2) No computers or writing to be done. Female 1/2 out.