Hiking Out In The Rain
As we stood by the lake at the base of the Mint Glacier, quiet rain drops began to fall, so discretly they were only noticeable on the surface of the lake. It was no great surprise, all morning the scent of pending rain lingered in the air, fresh and chilly. The clouds sank ever closer until they sat right above the mountain peaks, shrouding some in a dramatic layer of moody cloud. A more literal confirmation of approaching rain existed in a distant mist that inched slowly up the valley towards us.
The scattered drops became more frequent as we hiked back down to the Mint Hut, our sanctuary. We backtracked along the ridge, offering views straight down the valley, it would be a very different hike out. Yesterday had been blue skies and sunshine, today would be cold and wet.
On the way back the tiny red Mint Hut looked especially tiny. Approaching it this time was just as exciting as the first time, the enchantment and excitement of this structure doesn’t wear off. If we didn’t have a place booked for that night, a place with a hot tub, and a glacier trek booked for the next day, I would have suggested we just hold up in the hut for one more day.
Back at the Mint Hut I took photographs while Emily read through the guest book. She read some of the more touching accounts aloud, written by people who like me had dreamed of spending a night in this hut for months. Then Em added our names and a brief story of our road trip to the collection of entries.
We pottered around for a little while, had some snacks, made sure we had all our belongings and then got ready to head out. Earlier in the morning I had offered to pack out some trash for the group we had shared the hut with. They had been there for seven days, working through a mountaineering course, and created several large zip lock bags of waste, mostly food wrappers. It was the volume of gear they had with them that inspired me to offer, since we had only come for one night my pack was light. Emily helped me pack the trash inside and outside my pack, we said a final farewell to the hut and closed the door. We placed a plank of wood across the door as extra protection from hungry bears, and then hopped onto the trail we would walk for the next nine miles.
Hiking out in the rain was cold. A mile in we were both drench, from the waist down. I had forgotten my rain pants in the car and so rain dripped down my legs pooling in my boots. With every step my feet squished and swished the pool of water in my boots around.
We met a fair few people hiking out to the hut on our way back. We stopped to answer their questions about trail conditions, the hut and other random pleasantries. At about halfway I was growing colder and slightly miserable, but Emily even soaked through was a champion companion. She played the Hamilton soundtrack on her phone and sang our hearts out until finally, the parking lot came into view.
