Friends in high places

For our last day hiking in Whistler we chose the Decker Loop on Backcomb Mountain. It was less of a challenge than our jaunt on the High Note Trail, but in place of physical exertion it offered us stunning vistas and a friendly cast of fellow hikers. Casual ‘good morning’ exchanges that would have been forgotten as they were uttered on a city street felt sincere and full of meaning on the trail. The awe of experiencing nature on a large scale seems to open people up to each other. We had the good luck to run into a few characters repeatedly, and their stories gave us something to think about as we put one foot in front of the other.

We were particularly taken with Anne, a resident of nearby Squamish. She can spend a day in these mountains by hopping in her car, rather than hopping on a plane. She knew the trails well enough to have a favourite (the one we were on) and had an enviable familiarity with the terrain that can only be built by watching several seasons come and go. We lingered for a long time on the shore of a glacial lake that felt idyllic to us, but Anne confided that the water level was drastically low this year. The ground we viewed it from should have been underwater! Her offhand but serious tone let us know that the story was true, and that she cared how it would end. 

A gaggle of moms singing to the bouncing babies strapped to their backs. A couple that was unwrapping a new course of their well-planned picnic each time we met them. Anne and her anecdotes (Anne-ecdotes?). A shared experience can forge connections out of the briefest encounters. Our battered trail map gave our hike structure, but the people we ran into gave it soul.