Brewer Lake

 We did this hike a couple of times. The first with Hart. We left at noon thinking we had plenty of time but the road took us a couple of hours to navigate. I asked Nicola get out of the car a few times to ensure that we could clear some of the ruts in the last couple of kilometres. Fortunately, I don't believe we scraped the bottom of the car once. We've always wondered if our Toyota Highlander Hybrid was four-wheel drive however the way it pulled us out of some of the ruts, I'm beginning to believe it is. 

The parking lot was surprisingly full. A young couple arrived just ahead of us. A couple in their late forties, early fifties were just heading up the trail and a couple of dirt bikers arrived just ahead of us. They had planned to ride up the trail but, seeing that motorised vehicles are prohibited on the trail as well as mountain bikes, they decided to find another way in. 

Like the road going in, the trail rises constantly and in some places, steeply. About 500 metres up the trail, Nicola appeared to stumble quite innocently yet when she to her knees and turned to face us, her glasses were gone a large lump had instantly appeared under her right eye. She said that her walking poles had prevented her from using her hands to protect her face from the fall. I immediately suggested that we return to the car however she thought otherwise. Her regular glasses that were now broken in two along the nose piece were replaced by sunglasses and we were on our way. 

At about the three kilometre point, we reached a meadow which, earlier in the summer must be extremely boggy. We walked through a few muddy spots but nothing that caused us to slow down. On our first attempt at the trail, we had turned around at the end of the meadow after Finian had lain down in mud hole filled with a decomposing black substance. I shudder to think what it might be. 

On our second attempt up the trail, we didn't start any earlier but we did bring our tent, sleeping bags and camp stove so that we could stay overnight when we reached the lake. So, from the meadow, we continued on a constant upward climb. At higher elevations, the larch began to take over from the spruce and fir and strange human like objects appeared at the edge of the trail. Nicola figured that, in a couple of weeks, the trees will turn yellow and the walk would be even more beautiful. The air was five or six degrees cooler than the valley, so her supposition seemed very plausible.

Like many other mountain lakes, mountain peaks frame one side and a meadow appropriate for camping on the other. We found a spot with a fire pit that had obviously been used by other campers. We thought there was a chance that the young couple who had arrived at the parking lot just ahead of us might be camping as well. That turned out to be false. We were on our own. 

Finding a flat spot to pitch the tent was easy. Cooking dinner was not. I'd just purchased a lighter at our local grocery store and our plan had been to purchase water proof matches as a backup, however these could not be found. Of course, we couldn't get the lighter to work. After banging it against my palm in various ways, it eventually lit. Dinner consisted of a flavoured rice with the addition of cheese and chorizo. Nicola did not care for it. Nor did she think it was sufficiently filling. 

That said, we did have a cocktail and hors d'oeuvres before dinner. Our cocktails were pina coladas made from a powder combined with rum. And for dinner, we enjoyed a couple of glasses of wine so Nicola wasn't feeling too bad when she says she didn't enjoy dinner. We also enjoyed rum with our coffee.

The temperature at night reached close to zero and, although we weren't cold in our cosy sleeping bags good to -12, the dogs were. They were a constant worry that did interrupt our sleep. At about four in the morning, Nicola convinced Finian to join her in her sleeping bag and Pippa was wrapped in a down sweaters.

Breakfast was a failure. Our camp stover ran out of fuel and our attempt to attach a full one resulted in gaz spilling everywhere. It evaporates instantly causing it to freeze skin. The glacial water of the lake felt warm in comparison. That meant we had cold porridge and no coffee. A couple of Advil were required to combat a headache caused by withdrawal.

Before packing up and leaving, we walked to the other tarn a little lower down than the one where we camped. It's located on the ridge just above the valley we'd followed in. We hiked along the ridge which provided spectacular views of the valley and east toward the Columbia Valley and the Fairmont Ridge. We ended up at a bowl consisting of compacted slate where guys had obviously enjoyed riding their dirt bikes and I wondered if the dudes from the previous day had found their way here.

Our Alltrails app indicated that there was a trail that looped around Brewer Lake so upon our return, we attempted to follow. This turned out to be impossible as it doesn't exist. Instead, we followed another trail up to a third tarn which proved of equal beauty to the other two. Marmots peeping in the rocks above the tarn just about drove Pippa crazy. I put her on the leash as soon as I was able to convince her to come down. She couldn't even be bribed with treats.

 

The trail up the ridge above us would have taken less than a half hour but Nicola was feeling woozy she thinks due to a lack of sleep from the previous night. So, we returned to our camp, packed up and walked back to our car. Of course, Finian returned to the very same mud bowl she'd lain in last time we'd passed through the meadow. Unlike our walk in, we saw no one and only one other vehicle shared the parking lot when we returned.