Day 14 – Mount Edith (The ULTIMATE MONTICLE CHALLENGE!)

Day 14 – Mount Edith (The ULTIMATE MONTICLE CHALLENGE!)

As mentioned above, we climbed Mount Edith. The mountain is named after Nurse Edith Cavell who freed allied soldiers in World War I, who were captured prisoners of war. She was executed by a firing squad when she was found out. This mountain was named in honour of her bravery in face of obvious danger.

The mountain was as big as her heart. So obviously, it was a tough climb. The terrain was rocky and steep, but in the end, that’s what made it worth it. Having to work so hard, then reaching the top makes you feel even more accomplished. The entire climb (round trip) took us 7 hours. That’s pretty good considering we hiked almost 11 km, 820 m…and uphill…and downhill…

We started off at the bottom of the glacial valley, where a lake had been created from the meltwater. This lake’s water was a mesmerizing mint green. (It seems like all of the lakes that we visit, or rivers that we see, their colours are all uniquely beautiful and beautifully unique!)

We began our long journey up to the top. Soon, we left the KFCs behind. What are KFCs? Well, what is KFC’s main product? No more chickens where we were headed! We passed many people who asked us if we had seen the bear. The grizzly was apparently at the same place that we’d been taking photos! And we’d just missed it as well! There was another grizzly higher up the mountain, apparently digging a hole to catch its lunch. We finally discovered where it was a while later. It was pretty high up the mountain where you wouldn’t expect to see them. But many people had seen it chase its prey and madly dig up the hole.

We also saw three groundhogs, several chipmunks, and an elk. We saw the elk as we were coming down. It was so far away that for a bit, we thought that it was a moose. (It’s okay Viv, I’m sure we’ll see a big LIVE moose soon enough!)

We ate our own packed lunches in the middle of the mountain. Classic peanut butter and jelly sandwiches tasted extra good, since we were cold and hungry.

As we were climbing, about every 100 metres or so, the temperature dropped by one degree. We climbed about 820 metres in total, so it was pretty cold at the top. The wind was strong, adding a wind chill factor onto the already frigid temperatures.

There were vast changes in the vegetation; the higher we went up, the lower-lying the plants became. There was even a clear tree line! We learned that to tell where the subalpine zone begins, you look at the rock. It’ll be like slate-like sheets of rock.

The view from the summit was…I’m still speechless over it. Climbing just about 250 metres higher revealed mountains that had been hidden out of sight. We were actually up above the clouds, even higher than the glacier that we had been admiring.

There was snow on the ground, and there was even a mix of snow and rain. But mostly, the sky was a clear blue when we finally got up to the top. We stayed there for a while, because, really, how often do you get to climb the tallest mountain in Canada?

We headed back down on a different trail…that is…when we met back up with the trail again (we went about 3 km off the main trail).

We were all so tired. Billy was somehow able to keep driving. (Scary…but he was very safe) We’re staying in a hotel in Hinton, Alberta. We’ll be staying in Edmonton, Alberta for the next two days! (That means pro shopping at the West Edmonton Mall, the biggest mall in the entire world!)

Tired, dear readers. Tired. Forgive the briefness of this post. Brain is so muddled. But we still did it! We climbed the great Mount Edith Cavell! It really challenged us mentally and physically. We’re lucky to have had training for the last few days in preparation for today’s strenuous hike.

Goodnight everybody! Hopefully we’ve impressed you all with our completion of our ultimate mission! :D