Bedwell 3: Mission Accomplishedby Ron Armstrong
Two BC Day weekends in a row?2001 and 2002---I had tried to reach Cream Lake as a day hike from Bedwell Lake in the heart of Strathcona Park. Both times I had been thwarted by mountain weather: the south Island baked in August sunshine, we were drenched in rain.
This spring Bob Crane scheduled the trip for Labour Day Weekend but offered it to me knowing my obsession. I declined, hoping the deception would fool the mountain gods!
I knew I was less fit than three years ago and I was eager to get to our trailhead. I worried that we were 15 minutes late leaving Victoria and worried some more when we stopped for breakfast at Barb?s Kitchen in Chemainus and stayed for more time than I thought we could afford. Bedwell Lake is a 4 hour hike in from its parking lot, so I thought I needed to leave there about 1 p.m. to make camp before dark. However, we didn?t arrive at the trailhead until 2:45 p.m. We set out half an hour later under cloud and drizzle (of course!).
At the top of the switchbacks I stopped to rest and adjust my 40 lb. pack. Sitting on a rotting log I tried to slip my arm through the straps but hit the tank instead and over it went, tumbling 25 ft. down a bank! Luckily Bob had brought his nautical cord. I tied a double bowline to a nearby tree, rappelled down to the pack and lashed the cord on to the pack. Bob hoisted the pack back to the rotten log, which subsequently erupted with wasps! My trusty companion was stung five times before he got the pack on to the trail. Now I had to haul myself up through the angry beasts, and I got stung five times too! Thanks to a down bound hiker who gave Bob and me some antihistamine pills the stings proved to be no more than an aggravation. Time to go! I checked my pack and only one of my sandals was visible so I left it behind assuming its mate to be close by. Twenty minutes later Bob spied its' mate in my pack flaps but I was too tired and stressed to retrieve the other. Aaron kindly offered me the use of his pair.
At the same break out of the deep forest, as on previous treks, we were "monsooned." Finally we reached Baby Bedwell about 6 p.m., too late to continue further, but perhaps a blessing in disguise...as we found two good tent sites closer to the water than any at Bedwell Main. A hot and filling dinner restored my spirits.
About midnight the rain started. The hard platform and the stings had kept me awake and I lamented Fate's cruelty in denying me a third time. But by morning it was merely soggy mist. We opted to carry on. We climbed the famous(or infamous) steel ship's ladders and clung to the loose cable beside a rock bluff. At Bedwell Main we stopped for a snack. I bit down on a banana chip and broke off a piece of a lower molar! What next?!
A large cairn in the middle of the falls draining Little Gem Lake confused us. Finally Aaron found the correct path leading round the lake's south shore to a huge wall of rock like the Giant's Causeway. Cairns dotted the landscape and an inukshuk stood prominently on a massive boulder. Sue was next to find the path, upon which we met a German family coming in the opposite direction. They assured us Cream Lake was only 40 minutes away.
Leaving this rock strewn landscape we beheld to the south an awesome and rarely seen sight - Della Falls tumbling in full torrent from its' feed glacier to the dark forest valley below - a feast for Bob's and Aaron's cameras. From here a small copse led on to a stony slope. Ahead rose another pass. I felt close to my objective and strode on. I summited and then rounded an alpine lake and looked joyfully at the lower flanks of Mt. Septamus which borders Cream Lake. After lunch I called back to my fellow hikers with my report, urging them on. Bob responded though he was still skeptical. We trotted down the trail and there she was, in all her aquamarine glory, Strathcona's own miniature Lake Louise!! Bob took a picture of me in triumphant pose and I made a quick sketch, which I intend to transpose, a la Churchill, into the third watercolour of my life.
The sun emerged after lunch and shone in deference to my long sought victory. Back at camp we had a hearty meal of Aaron' superb lasagna and Bob's casserole and that night we were treated to a glorious canopy of stars.
The sun was still with us next morning as we returned to the cars. My sandal, however was not to be found either at "Wasp Corner" or the parking lot. Was it the lone sandal that appeased the mountain gods? We enjoyed a magnificent lunch at Moxies in Campbell River, then drove leisurely home.
So endeth the saga. Thanks to my companions for their patience and support in the clinches. Bedwell and Cream Lakes will not see me again----there is an Island of destinations out there!
And my lone sandal? I'm saving it for my next trip.