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In my more lively and animated moments, I managed to get myself into an upright position and sit at the computer. I was there whining and complaining to Val, my favourite Internet buddy one day. I felt quite secure and self righteous since she is a perfect couch potato so not someone who is likely to challenge me. I misjudged her! She had this moment of nostalgia and remembered once when she was 9 or 10 when her family, including her grandmother, hiked the trail to Lake Helen McKenzie on Mount Washington. She thought she could handle this and confronted my complaint that I would do something if only I had someone to go with. She said she would join me if I wanted to try this one. With one excuse down, it did not take long to determine that if it was only a walk of an hour or two we could do it late in the day when it was beginning to cool down. All the insurmountable problems having been surmounted we arranged to meet at about 5:00 P.M. the next day.
Mount Washington is situated about 26 km north east of Courtenay on Vancouver Island. It is best known as a winter ski resort but during the summer it provides trails for hikers of all levels. The trail head is the parking lot for the nordic ski trails. The easiest route is the Paradise Meadow Loop which is a stretch of board walk about 2 km long that passes through beautiful sub-alpine meadows.
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When we stopped at Lake Helen McKenzie, Val pulled some bread from her back pack and began eating it. Dry bread. From our on line discussions, I knew her taste in food tended to be on the dull side but I thought she might have managed a little butter or peanut butter, a slice of two of cheese.....just dry bread...and half a loaf of it at that??? What ever could she have been thinking of. I did not associate her unusual snack with the occasional comment she made about remembering whiskey jacks up here when she had come as a child.
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Val who normally protests if she has to walk to the mail box at the end of her driveway, suffered a couple of blisters and complained that there were moments on the up hill stretch when she thought she would die of cardiac arrest but did make it. She did not even complain at the time. She has managed to maintain the family tradition and do the hike her grandmother did a decade ago at the age of about 60. She will be offended but I really must grade this as an easy hike, suitable for all ages and fitness levels.
This of course would not do. TOO easy. I saw grubby, sweaty people coming onto the trail. They were linking into it after doing longer hikes. I knew I would have to return. So if you are interested in something a little longer and would like to see what Val and I missed at Lake Helen McKenzie click here for a hike that expands on this one, the hike to Kwai Lake.
