Sunday night, after the weekend crew had started their journey back to Vancouver, Dave, Thomas, and I began a separate journey exploring a part of the Stein none of us had previously explored. We wound our way up a lovely trail through the woods with all the majesty one might hope for from a forest walk.
The grade was enough to warrant plentiful breaks which, in turn, afforded great opportunities for parables and rants.
We switch-backed onward into the hills, gaining 650 m over 6.5 km.
We eventually plateaued in a wonderful space with uncounted wonders and under-experienced beauty.
We quickly discovered an amazing array of curiosities, some of which were bewildering and some of which led us to question the bringing of a tent.
After a time Dave reappeared and lets us know there is a sight we really need to check out for ourselves. Words don’t quite cut it.
We definitely don’t need the tent tonight.
Inside it has two wood stoves and sleeping space for four full sized humans, one medium sized human, and one small sized human.
It was to be a comfy night. But first we had to deal with a few days of sweat and chafe. Fortunately there is a beach nearby.
Unfortunately the water is colder than a bastard. I was pretty sure I wanted to go all the way in regardless and Dave wanted to go in waist deep. By the time I had given my undercarriage some glacial-melt attention the degree of cold was causing an exhilaration that did not require perpetuation through greater submersion so I escaped after about belly button depth. Dave lost some footing and fell — almost all the way in — but caught himself mid chest. The real trooper was Thomas who decided to have an “ice bath”. Maniac.
I put on more wool and found other ways to warm up. This is officially a photo of some other place with a delightful fire for warming up Sunday night. Officially not inside the a park. Officially I found this photo on a google image search.
Delighted and refreshed we were a bit bouncy in the morning during the hike out.
When we returned to the car I thought my hiking shorts smelled pretty rank, but as desperate as I may have been to move out of them, a new tenant had already moved in. I’m not entirely sure how long we cohabited, but it seems to have been a friendly enough sharing of my shorts.
If you want to know more about where this cabin is or how to find it, drop me a line and I’m happy to point you at a map!
