Wates Gibson Hut

I already know there is too much to write about with this 2 day trip into Jasper so I am going to shorten it with some highlights and low points as well.

Who Went? (Gerald, Morgan (his girlfriend), a German couple (Gerald & Morgan Knew) and a friend of Morgan’s as well as her auntie.

Start: Beautiful drive up to Jasper and surprisingly being an Albertan for 10 years now this was my first time. It was truly nothing short of amazing!! Every turn was something new and the weather was spectacular.

Hostel: after driving up to the wrong hostel trying to check in and then navigating our way back to the correct one, let’s just say we were ready to go back to the other one. I don’t consider myself to prissy or demanding but the hostel keeper was more than a few fries short of a happy meal and gave us the longest intro to a hostel I have ever heard. Not to mention the toilet options were less then awesome and smelt terrible (gross) we quickly had a snack and went off to bed… (or so we thought) it wasn’t but 10 minutes after we crawled under the covers that a train decided to awaken in our room (the worlds loudest snoring) he literally went all night and not one of us in that entire cabin slept except him of course… needless to say we were all a touch grumpy the next morning.

On the way up: We scarfed down our breakfast and went to hit the trail head. Dave and I for some reason (it was my fault) tried to hit a different trail head then everyone else and waited about 20 minutes for the rest of the crew…. With no cell service we eventually turned around in our car and found the rest of the group waiting for us just a few minutes down the road about as confused as we were.

Long story short we finally hit the trail around 10AM and we had about 19klm ahead of us. The rail began with a beautiful wide path for the first 8klm. Then we crossed a bridge which led us to a much narrower trail as well as mosquitos…. (I’m not talking about a few I mean we couldn’t even stop for lunch and were just about running the trail they were the worst we had ever seen).

Note: never hike this trail in July!

Around the 9klm I crossed a creek and thoroughly soaked my feet (cotton socks and all - I would learn my biggest hiking lesson from this – More on that later).

The rest of the hike up was beautiful and the last 1klm you gain quite a bit of elevation but its stunning and you barely start to notice it before reaching the cabin situated beside a little lake (still mosquito infested). Thank goodness the cabin had double doors so we could try to keep them at bay. We scrambled into the cabin and I quickly ripped off my hiking shoes. I had a feeling it was going to be bad, but not that bad… they were the worst blisters I had ever seen about 8 on each foot the worst being on the pads of my feet and the back of my heals were filled with blood. (Yay for cotton socks!!) I was in some serious amounts of pain and about an hour in I popped a perk which made me feel like I was in heaven for just about the rest of the evening.

Dinners: we had decided to split the meals for dinner Dave an I made an amazing but way to heavy beef stew and ended up feeding the whole cabin along with apple crisp for the night and the second night we had a an awesome taco night & crème Brule made by Morgan and Gerald. The meals were delicious!

Second Day: I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to do the hike but I powered through the first 5klm and was rewarded with some absolutely stunning views (Pictures below) the rest of the crew did another few kilometers before heading back to the cabin but Dave and I turned around and it’s a good thing we did. By the time we made it back my feet were again in a ton of pain.

The Walk Out: My feet had only become worse from the second day hike and I was more than worried about the 19klm hike out. Morgan bandaged me up the very best she could (and she did an amazing job truly. I slipped on Dave’s thickest pair of wool socks took a perk and started the long hike back to the car. Literally every step was razor blades and saying I was not a happy camper would be an understatement. About half way through the hike I stepped over a log and the blood blister on the back of my heal burst. I nearly saw starts from the pain (P.S. I never really understood the pain a blister can bring until this very moment) I popped my last perk and hoped that the hike would be over soon. This was far from my idea of a good time not to mention the mosquitos were worse than ever, you could literally see them swarming around you. And of course torrential rain had started because that just adds for an extra element of fun.. it was tough and the last 3klm I won’t lie I had tears streaming down my face and when I finally saw the road I nearly screamed with excitement. New blisters had formed and my sandals were quickly put on. The car ride home was the best ever. I could finally relax and the hike really was beautiful blisters and mosquitos not so much but the rest amazing!

Note: Be sure to do this hike closer to September

What I learned: Never wear cotton socks again & perk are your friends make sure to have a good supply for any hiking emergency