The day we left the Blaeberry River and headed up to Mistaya Lodge we had no idea it would be so wet. Before the bridge over the Blaeberry we fell into Cairns Creek. Our ski boots were soaked. After the bridge it started to rain. And it didn’t stop. When we reached snow again, Liam’s skins just had had enough – they fell off. So he tumbled, slid, and back rolled all the way down the steep slope into a tree well. With nothing else to do, Liam packed them into his backpack. When putting on his skis again, he fell through the snow, was thrown off balance, and tumbled, slid, and back rolled all the way down the steep slope into a tree well. He stayed there for a few moments. Upside down. Watching Jake plod up the slope…he hadn’t even noticed.

The trail to Mistaya got wetter and wetter. We passed through BC forest – long trees, with few branches. They would be terrible to make a fire from…

On the final head wall the snow got sticky and the mist rolled in. It continued to rain. We almost didn’t go to the lodge. What would have been the point? No-one would be there and it would be all locked up. Nevertheless we wondered what it looked like, so we went. And Thank Goodness we did.

This is what awaited us:

We were cold and extremely wet. A sauna was beyond what we imagined. At best, we imagined we would have gotten an unlocked outhouse. We thought maybe it was a joke…but we looked for the building anyways…

And we found it and fired that puppy up. It. Was. Amazing. Thank You Mistaya! You restored our Souls.