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Published: September 29th 2008
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It's hard to believe that it's been a year since we got married! It's been a crazy year, and as an anniversary present, my mum bought us a sign that we've been looking at for a while. It says "Jasper or Bust" on it, and that pretty much sums up our first year of marriage. Obviously not the "bust" part, but for us, the last year has been a crazy challenge and at times we weren't really sure if we could make it in Jasper. But we have!! We've been here for 9 months and we're feeling a bit more settled, and enjoying the experience of living in the mountains.
So we wanted to do something cool for our first anniversary. Jamie's boss has connections at JPL (where we got married) and managed to get us a room there for our anniversary. There was no way we could have afforded to stay there, but she paid for it as a present for all of Jamie's hard work this summer. How cool is that? So Friday (our anniversary) was fantastic. We had to work, but one of Jamie's work colleagues brought us a bottle of champagne, and then another friend came
by my work with a bottle of wine. So sweet and definitely appreciated! After work we headed out to JPL. It turns out that we had a junior suite, with a lake view. Right on the lake, and very close to where we were actually married. There was champagne and strawberries and cheese in our room, which we managed to drink while we were getting ready for dinner. Dinner was at the Edith Cavell room, which turned out to be right next to the room where we got married! It was fantastic, and then to make things even better, our waiter turned out to have waited at our reception! He remembered Jamie's speech and that we had taken everyone up on the tramway. We got another bottle of wine, ate the most amazing meal and sat looking out at the lake as the sun went down over the mountains. It was perfect!
After dinner we went for a swim under the stars (outdoor heated pool) and then took the rest of our champagne down to the lake (very classy). It really was the perfect night.
The next morning we woke up a little hungover, but excited about our
weekend adventure. We had reserved a spot at Coronet Creek campsite, which is at the far end of Maligne Lake (22km each way). The only way to get there is by boat - no roads, no other access. We packed up all our camping gear and headed out to Maligne Lake on the shuttle. We were borrowing a kayak from Jamie's work, so everything was sorted. After various advice from friends, we were good to go! The kayak down to Spirit Island was amazing - we had beautiful weather and no headwind. We made good time and felt very excited once we passed Spirit Island and entered 'unchartered territory'. Not really unchartered, but once you get past Spirit Island there's hardly any people, and none of the tour boats go any further. It was very quiet and peaceful.
About 20 minutes from camp, the conditions changed, and it became very windy and rough. The lake turned from glassy and clear to rough and cold. It felt like sea kayaking! The waves were big enough to be slopping into our kayak and going up the sleeves of our rain jackets. But we soldiered on, and eventually found Coronet Creek. It's
At the entry to our camp
This sign almost made me want to turn around and kayak 22km back home! a tiny campsite, with a maximum of 10 people allowed at any one time. We found ourselves a nice spot to set up our tent and then went to hang around the fire and warm up.
As it grew darker, my enthusiasm started to wear off and I became a bit quieter. Jamie has been wanting to camp all summer, but ever since I read "Bear Attacks: Causes and Avoidances", I haven't been so keen on camping. I read it in the winter and swore we would never sleep in the woods - way too many stories about unfortunate campers being dragged from their tents in the darkness. So all summer I've been avoiding it, and now here we were. Alone in the woods (except for the other 8 campers), no means of rescue if we were attacked. I thought about sleeping in the kayak, possibly mooring it out in the middle of the lake, but it didn't seem very practical. Jamie had already promised not to tell any scary bear stories, and no fake animal noises were allowed. We went to bed, and I armed myself up with our bear spray and a small hatchet. Jamie wouldn't let
me bring the hatchet into the tent (he said it was too wet), but he did allow me to keep the bear spray.
It turns out that after a night of drinking and a day of hard kayaking, bears aren't so scary. It took ages to get to sleep as my arms were so sore from all the paddling, but I wasn't afraid! Except for when someone started snoring and I was convinced it was growling....but apart from that, it was all good. We woke up in the morning, alive and well. And in one of the most beautiful campsites in Jasper!
The mist was still hanging low, and moving across the mountains like a sheer veil. So pretty. As the sun came up, the clouds turned pink, and the mountains peeking out through the mist were reflected in the water. It was absolutely beautiful.
We spent some time having breakfast and exploring our camp before packing up the kayak and starting the long kayak home. We had a full day this time (and clear heads) so we could take our time and explore all the little coves and beaches along the way. We kept our eyes
peeled for moose, but no such luck. We did see a few bald eagles which were very impressive though.
The last hour or two of the trip were pretty hard going - we were tired, our arms were sore and it felt like we weren't making any progress! Jamie wanted to teach me new kayaking techniques (including tipping the boat without warning to demonstrate a brace manouvre), but I can't say that I was a very good student (throwing a small tantrum when he tipped the boat). But eventually we made our way back to the boat house - tired, but extremely happy.
I could rave on and on about our trip, but I think the pictures are better than words....
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