Day 7 - Patricia Lake & the Stanley Cup...

I know, I really wasn't expecting hockey to factor into this blog, but it was an important part of my day.

I was going to wait for the shuttle into town, knowing that I would be hiking later and walking back to the hostel after the hockey game. Instead my luck improved: two Australian sisters offered me a ride into town as they were leaving, so I didn't have to pay for the shuttle or wait in the cold for it to arrive. I bought my bus ticker to Calgary for tomorrow morning.

After stumbling over people's things in the blackness of the dorm late last night, I am feeling a bit nervous about getting up at 5am and trying to get my things out without disturbing anyone too much…or hurting myself in the process.

Patricia Lake

Cottonwood Slough

I planned to hike to Patricia Lake this morning, after discovering last night that Maligne Lake is probably way too far away to walk and too expensive to get shuttled there and back. I was expecting a two hour hike to Patricia, but it took me just over an hour; although, I didn’t end up going to the main beach, or following the road for that matter.Instead I followed one of the trails up through the woods and passed the Cottonwood Slough. I was hoping to spend the afternoon sitting lakeside and catching up my writing. The weather had other plans. Instead of clearing up by the afternoon as it did yesterday, it continued to lightly rain. It was freezing up by the lake, but still beautiful despite the weather. I have never seen water look so clear and green on a cloudy day. But, because it was so cold, I left after an hour to head back to town.

I spent part of my afternoon at a café that advertises itself as an “internet-free zone” where conversation is encouraged. My postcards are now caught up, as is my journal at this point.

I later returned to the Dead Dog to watch the Canucks game. I was happy to see Canucks jerseys and t-shirts on even the Germans who were sitting nearby me. And I just realized that I never mentioned the fellows I was speaking with on the train from Vancouver. I was in quite the international train car as my neighbours across from me were from the UK, there was a couple behind me from Spain, and I was speaking with a guy from the Netherlands and another from South Africa. The South African was headed to Edmonton before heading back to B.C. for work. The two of them were drinking and tried to get me to join them, but mixed drinks from strangers are not my thing. The reason I mention all of this now is that I later ran into the South African at the Dead Dog during the Canucks game. I had not expected in the least to see him ever again, yet there he was. We chatted for a bit before he headed off to go join his friend.

I left the bar early to make sure I wouldn’t be walking up the mountain to the hostel in the dark. And it seems I didn’t miss much in the way of the hockey game. Thanks to Jen, I got kept up-to-date on the score as I headed back. Along the way, instead of getting lost, I ran across an elk by the side of the road. The rest of my walk was uneventful, it was only when I returned to the hostel and had prepared my things to make a quick getaway in the morning that Ing, the South African, showed up at the hostel, too. I was not quite as surprised to see him the second time that night because there are only so many places to stay in Jasper.

For more photos from Jasper