Morning Around Camp
Sometimes mornings are the hardest part of camping: prying yourself away from the cocooned warmth of your sleeping bag, putting on cold clothes, trying to make coffee as quickly as possible, digging your morning cat hole. Morning time in the Mint Hut was warm, dry, and peaceful. The first up, we quietly packed away our beds from under the kitchen table and I boiled water for our instant coffee. With just one mug we passed the coffee back and forth across the table, and whispered plans to take it easy that morning.
In the middle of our breakfast, the rest of the hut began to stir. Soon it was buzzing with morning greetings, breakfasts cooking, teeth being brushed, zippers being zipped and the overlapping chatter of side conversations. We shared our plans to hike up to the lakes somewhere in the mountains above and the group told us of their day’s objective. Today was their final day out there and they would spend it on a nearby glacier. Once we finished breakfast, Emily and I decided to escape the hustle and bustle of the hut and go on a short walkabout, to explore and to get out of the group’s hair as they geared up for the day.
We wandered slowly around the lush green fields of grasses and mosses behind the hut. Several streams carved their way through the field, with water so cold and clear I stopped often to take a sip.
Although clouds had moved in during the night turning the sky white, it only added to the drama of the landscape. Early morning mist mingled with the mountains, hanging in the troughs above lingering snow, and now set against the white sky the mountains looked ever more dimensional. I admired their texture and complex color, a dark grey, blue, that paired so beautifully with the green and golden field.
As we moseyed through the green moss field, I noticed thin dirt trails heading in several different directions. One led up towards the mountain pass that leads to glaciers and the next hut in the system. Another trail countered up and over a hill, carving along a ridgeline in the direction of the Mint Glacier, a mountain top river of slow moving ice carving its way down a prominent peak in the easterly skyline.
The group we were sharing the hut with had told us we should hike up to the two mountain lakes hiding over yonder. I didn’t need any convincing to go find an ice cold, turquoise mountain lake, I live for a secluded lake. Luckily, neither Emily nor I felt rushed to start on the nine miles separating us and the car. We wanted to enjoy and take our time in this beautiful place.
We headed back to the hut to change and organize ourselves so that once back from the lakes we could grab and go. The group had finally sorted themselves out and were ready to take off, everyone of them geared up from head to toe, it was going to start raining in a few hours.
Despite our prickly introductions the night before, all was now forgiven. As we said good byes, they offered final recommendations for our road trip and I took several groups of photos of them posing in front of the Mint Hut. I watched them march off, getting smaller and smaller, a colorful line of human ants marching down the trail that lead to the mountain pass. We wouldn’t see them again, they would be out all day and come back for a final night in the hut.
After they were gone, we stuck around longer than necessary, reinforcing we were in absolutely no rush. We made a second coffee, I looked over some maps and then finally we pried ourselves away from the cozy hut to set out and find the lakes.
