Day 375
Return of the Don
Tom and I had barely surfaced when Don returned from his overnighter. I was very pleased to see him, I had the task of sending a parcel to the UK, yep, unwanted kit, and it wasn’t looking straightforward. Don to the rescue. As it was, I ended up sending the parcel to Mark and Jen in Canada, £80 to send a pair of shoes home was a bit steep! We celebrated by visiting a Canadian institution, Tim Horton's. Tim was an ice hockey player who opened a donut shop. Sadly Tim was killed in a car accident but his legend lives on. Don and I then went to the Farmers’ Market. Lots of fab healthy stuff but I bought a pie. In my defence we needed the pie tin as a base for our cooker. The 3 of us managed to eat the family pie, and yep it was yum.
Chores done, we now had one more day in Jasper and we were in full on tourist mode. Don treated us to breakfast and then we headed uphill to the local gondola, on Whistler Peak. The hill was hell, 1,200ft of climbing in less than 2 miles. Not a good idea after a big breakfast! I thought I hated gondola rides but this was fine. The views of the mountains at the top were awesome. Don headed off to reach the top, wearing his open-toed sandals, ideal for deep snow, not! Tom and I opted for the false summit which actually gave better views. A range of the mountains, Mount Kerr, Mount Kinross, Mount McLean, Mount Pattison and Mount Zengal, were all named in honour of young Canadians from Alberta who were awarded the Victoria Cross in WWI. All survived the war apart from John Pattinson. He had emigrated to Canada from England with his wife and 4 children. When his platoon came under heavy fire at the battle of Vimy Ridge, he took out the attackers and enabled his platoon to continue. Sadly a few weeks later he was killed during an attack on a power station. In Calgary the Pattison Bridge which spans the Elbow River is also named in his honour.
Feeling blessed to be there now, we regrouped with Don and headed back to the campsite. Easier said than done, as our hiker-biker area was overrun with elk. Finally we made it, Don packed up his tent ready to continue his journey we sadly said our goodbyes. I’ve suggested that perhaps he will join us again later in our tour. We really do hope so Don.
Tom and I then set out on our bikes to ride to see several lakes that are just outside Jasper. Our favourite was Lake Edith, it was a stunning emerald green colour, simply breath-taking. Summer had finally arrived too, I even had a paddle to cool down. Then we were off to explore Maligne Canyon. Formed over 1,000s of years, the fast flowing water has slowly worn away the rocks at less than a millimetre a year. It was awesome to see, and even better there were signs say ‘Restaurant’. I didn’t let myself believe it until I was actually sat down, drinking a local cider whilst waiting for yet more food, hungry work all this cycling and hiking!
Back at the campsite and the elk had taken over. A poor camp employee wielding a hockey stick tied with ribbons was trying to move them on, but I think the smell of a fellow cycle tourist, Daniel, cooking macaroni cheese for the 3rd night in a row was simply too much for them. They weren’t leaving until they got some. Several minutes of mayhem ensued but finally the elk departed and peace was restored.
