Spring Break in the Canadian Rockies

Never let it be said that the Hurlblums won't take on a challenge. This year for spring vacation we went to visit Nancy's brother John in the Canadian Rockies. He lined up a special treat for us--four days and three nights in a rustic cabin at the base of Mount Assiniboine. We had to fly in to our accommodations by helicopter. The view was spectacular.

Our destination was the Mount Assiniboine Lodge, which has a wonderful view of the mountain, a warm, inviting lounge, comfortable rooms, and delicious meals. We didn't stay there. In fact, the people who own the lodge had no guests when we arrived, so when the helicopter left, they went with it leaving the five of us the only people in the whole valley, perhaps the only people for 20 miles in any direction--and no contact with the outside world. This was going to be a real survival adventure, at least for a couple of urban professionals and their two high-tech children.

Our hut was among a rustic group known as the Naiset Huts located some distance from the lodge, so we donned our snow shoes, slung on our packs, and started walking. The cabin we were to stay in, John had informed us, was rather famous. It had been the home of Ken Jones, the first Canadian mountain guide. Apparently he didn't think much of amenities. The place had four bunks, a table, a few tree stumps for seating, and a heating stove. The nearest outhouse was out of sight from the cabin 200-300 yards along the trail.

It is quite amazing how much time you can spend just trying to prepare a meal in the wilderness. Water had to be fetched, a job Liam adopted because it involved wielding an axe to cut through the ice in the creek. Then it had to be boiled about a quart at a time. By this time you needed some tea to fortify yourself for the next task, actually cooking the food. All the while sitting on the cabin porch and just watching what the weather was doing, how the mountains changed in the light, listening to the conversations of ravens, and trying to stay warm. It may not sound like much, but after a while it became a hypnotic routine.

Late in the afternoon, we'd throw a log into the stove and begin warming the room for the night. Liam and Lucy loved crawling into their mummy bags and huddling around a lantern to play Uno. The sun didn't fully set until quite late and, after a last trip to the outhouse by twilight, we'd be ready to turn in for the night by 9:30.

For recreation we walked. Liam took to snowshoeing pretty quickly, Lucy, never a big fan of walking, tolerated it as long as she could have John as her personal guide. Our longest walk took us about 5 miles through the valley to Sunburst Lake. There, John told us, we would stop at Lizzie Rummel's place--Lizzie being a well-known mountaineering woman who might or might not be at home. Liam and Lucy rather liked the idea that we might be taken in by a grandmotherly stranger with a store of hot chocolate and cookies...well, I can only imagine what they were expecting. When we finally did arrive at the cabin John confessed that Lizzie was there only in spirit as she had died about 20 years ago. Nonetheless, we had a beautiful view from her porch and plenty of snacks and tea to warm us.
On the way back from this trip we had our best view of Mount Assiniboine as the sun burned through and the clouds rose high enough to reveal the full splendor of the pyramid peak. We stopped at the lodge for another break and to admire the view. It is well that we did as the weather took a turn that evening as we were preparing dinner. It began with snow squalls, and by the time we finished dinner and turned it, it was snowing pretty well. We awoke the following morning to nearly four feet of fresh powder, which had completely obliterated all of our trails. We spent the day re-establishing them all and, most important, preparing the helipad for the return of the helicopter the next day.

After we finished our work at the helipad, Liam and Lucy used the Lodge's sled to get a really fine finish on the path down the hill to the Lodge. By the time we finished all this work, the kids were too tired for a walk, so Bill went back to the cabin with them while Nancy and John took a snowshoe hike together.

That night as we were preparing dinner, John said, "you know, the thing I like most about being up here like this is I never think about work." Until that moment it hadn't even occurred to me to think about it, though just a day before we set out I had been in the midst of a very busy season at work. In just a few days I had completely cleansed my mind of it.

The helicopter arrived the next day on schedule and we continued our vacation in Canada with cross-country and downhill skiing trips, but nothing compared with the wonderful days we spent in the mountains alone.