Heather Trail Trip Reportby Sue W
After completing the 26 Jun mud-spattering, chasm-slithering, muscle depleting Chin to Clinch Gallop with George and Jeff, I decided I was ready to rest my weary legs for a week before embarking on the Brothers Hike in Manning Park with Mike Motek and 8 others.
My 21 year old nephew George from England was with us which necessitated a 3 person tent as tent spaces were like hen's teeth in the camping spots along the Heather Trail. We all set off blithely down the trail humming little ditties along the lines of "the hills are alive" etc hoping upon hope that Buckhorn would have some spaces left as none of us wanted to hike another 8 km on to Kicking Horse camp should it be full. 3 hikers were overtaken on the home stretch was a bit unfair I thought but Eureka we had 4 tent pads on arrival! We erected our tents, filtered and boiled our water, open our pouches of de-hydrated food sat back, relaxed and marvelled at the beautiful scenery.
On awaking next morning I found my sleeping bag was wet, as against all orders it had rained in the night. Not only that but my clean underwear was floating in water which was not a heart-warming sight. After breakfast we all set off to hike to Kicking Horse camp site. The weather was not exactly inspiring which was a shame as I had visions of hot sun, tank tops, shorts, sun-screen and sun-hats. Now the theme was find all the warm items you can and then put on a nylon shell to cover it all. The wind was definitely howling on the high ridges but what a spectacular sight it was. Miles of sub-alpine meadows with gorgeous wild flowers all ready to pop on a warm day.
After hiking all day we arrived back in camp around 5 pm, all tired and ready for our next "3 bean chilli" in a pouch. Relaxation however was not to be. Brough decided he had lost the car keys, probably back up at the first look-out (around 3 km back up the mountain). All I could do was look at him in stupefied horror while rolling my eyes in my head and saying through clenched teeth "oh dear" or words to that effect. He then bravely said he would go back and look, whereupon George manfully said he would go too. Around 7 pm they were back looking very dejected, no keys had been found. We decided to call it a day and thought as it was so cold we would zipper our sleeping bags together (not to include George I would add!). While crouching over the bags attempting this almost impossible feat guess what appeared in the middle of the bags.....yes, you guessed it - the car keys! Much dancing, skipping, slapping of Leiderhosen (joke folks) and general rejoicing was done by us all and I'm sure all of you can just imagine the joys of attempting to get home from Heather Mountain near Manning Park which is sort of near Hope, which is sort of near..........on the July long weekend.
To finalize this little story let it be a lesson to all Club Treaders out there who gaily put their keys in their pockets when setting off hiking BRING AN EXTRA SET OF CAR KEYS WITH YOU ESPECIALLY WHEN BACK-PACKING FOLKS!