In the morning twilight I walked out onto the deck toward the dining room when I heard the clear cry of a wolf in the distance. A fitting farewell for our last day in David Thompson Country.
After breakfast and lunch-packing, we thanked our hosts, loaded the cars, and headed to Fish Lake for our last hike.
Fish Lake has been popular for fishing, camping and day use for more than half a century. Today, nobody was around.
The trail that circles the lake runs is on the edge of a mossy forest where most of the tree branches are draped in grey-green threads of lichen and you see mushrooms everywhere you look. Along the way, we spotted a loon nonchalantly preening its feathers, a woodpecker engrossed in its business on a tree, and small yellow birds, probably warblers.
We ate our lunch either in the shelter or on the floating dock on the still and silent lake.
Over the four days, the twelve of us had become fast and dear friends. We look forward to doing this again. Until then, we have our memories, assisted by photos and journal entries, to look back on.
Many thanks and much appreciation go to Anita for her superb work in organizing the trip and scouting and leading all the hikes.
See Flickr for more photos.