WORDS: CARLA CUPIDO
Our skis felt fast on the warming snow as the sun rose higher on the Callaghan Valley skyline. Our loaded backpacks were being transported to our destination by snowmobile. This allowed for an unburdened cross-country ski to the Journeyman Lodge. Impressive footprints in the softening snow demanded our attention – big dog, or big cat? Our curiosity is soon answered as the Lodge owner and his son stop their snowmobile beside us and tell us of the big cougar they had just seen on the ski track. Our encounter with the fresh tracks puts me in a state of awe for the power of nature. To be skiing up into the snowy wilderness, likely being watched by a secretive cougar with the sunshine warming our backs…it just doesn’t get any better.
We are on a reconnaissance mission to the area around the lodge, with the plan of setting up our camp near the Solitude glacier and sleeping under the stars. We ski among the trees still blanketed by the snow of an unusually cold winter for the coast. Higher up the valley we encounter large and ancient mountain hemlocks and yellow cedars, their gnarled bark adding texture to the green tapestry of this old growth forest.
Our skis felt fast on the warming snow as the sun rose higher on the Callaghan Valley skyline. Our loaded backpacks were being transported to our destination by snowmobile, allowing for an unburdened cross-country ski to the Journeyman Lodge. Impressive footprints in the softening snow demanded our attention – big dog, or big cat? Our curiosity is soon answered as the Lodge owner and his son stop their snowmobile beside us and tell us of the big cougar they had just seen on the ski track. Our encounter with the fresh tracks puts me in a state of awe for the power of nature. To be skiing up into the snowy wilderness, likely being watched by a secretive cougar with the sunshine warming our backs…it just doesn’t get any better.
We are on a reconnaissance mission to the area around the lodge, with the plan of setting up our camp near the Solitude glacier and sleeping under the stars. We ski among the trees still blanketed by the snow of an unusually cold winter for the coast. Higher up the valley we encounter large and ancient mountain hemlocks and yellow cedars, their gnarled bark adding texture to the green tapestry of this old growth forest.
In the warmth of the rising sun we warm our bodies, eat our breakfast and break camp, setting out on skis to the lodge. We are welcomed to the Lodge by warm-hearted hosts. A mug of freshly brewed coffee puts us in the perfect mood for a wonderful ski around Conflict Lake and onwards to Callaghan Lake and our final ski down the valley to the parking lot.
After this second visit to the Journeyman Lodge, we know that the setting is just right. We will straddle the edge between the ancient primitive world of wilderness, and the modern, civilized world of science and technology – to help people navigate life in a calm, connected and intelligent way.
