Letters to John — From Canada — Letter Four

At the Frozen Lake in Joffre Lakes Provincial Park

Wondering about the fate of a missing couple; it surely would be easy to get lost in this snow-covered bear country…

When I went to Canada in 2016, I wrote John a letter (email) every day. In this way, we felt as if we were travelling together. This is part of my fourth letter to John, which I wrote on the third day on my way from Whistler to Lillooet.

If you missed the previous part of the letter you can find here:

After I left Pemberton, I continued driving on the Duffey Lake road until I came to Joffre Lakes Provincial Park. Piles of greyish-looking dirty snow surrounded the parking area. I was going to reverse my van and park in a position with an easy way out, just in case more vehicles would arrive later and restrict my movements.

I have no idea how I did it, but I ended up stuck between a motor home (again, the cute little one I told you about earlier) and a mountain of snow. The entire space I had available to move was about a metre in front and a metre behind me. In this situation, the reversing cameras were absolutely useless.

I was about to get out of my van and assess the situation when a polite Canadian gentleman got off his motorbike and suggested that he would help me by navigating me. And it was how I could get out of the troubles and park in a position I wanted. Canadians are very nice, friendly and helpful people.

By the way, I parked next to the cute compact van that is definitely shorter than mine — if I had that one, for sure, I wouldn’t struggle with the parking (okay, John, I know you are laughing at me again — I can even hear you here. I’m not that bad in parking… well, it definitely could be worse!)

Anyway, I went for a walk. It wasn’t very cold, definitely not frosty. The mild temperatures caused the snow to melt, turning it into a very wet and heavy mass. I couldn’t resist the temptation to go to the lake and enjoy the winter scenery. I was too lazy to change my footwear, and my runners got wet pretty soon, but this didn’t bother me the least.

I read that Joffre Lakes is one of the most beautiful hikes in British Columbia. It passes three lakes, and there is a campsite next to Upper Joffre Lake, where you can admire the impressive Matier Glacier.

The return hike is about 10km, so I definitely couldn’t do it today. It was much too late in the day, and also, at this time of the year, everything is still covered in snow; therefore, it would be very easy to get lost. I think the trail is only open (and safe) in the summer months between June and September.

Crossing the parking area, I noticed an old abandoned camper van. The bottom part of the vehicle was painted forest green, the top part matt-black as if someone sprayed it with aerosol paint, and the roof was as white as milk. I was wondering for how long the vehicle was resting there. The mirrors were broken off, the windows smashed, and the interior shattered. Only a lonely sleeping bag, some empty cans and a bed-sheet spread on the floor indicated that at some point somebody lived there.

I continued walking on the snow-covered trail through the forest to the first lake. About 30m before me, there were two German girls, probably students on holiday, travelling in the only other motor home here.

The path was marked with small diamond-shaped signs placed on trees here and there; however, if you missed one of the markers, you could easily get lost there forever. During the summer months, you would be able to see the walkway on the ground, but in winter, everything is perfectly white, appearing the same wherever you look.

On one of the trees, there was a note about missing persons, a couple who disappeared in September 2010. She was 25, and he was 34. They came to the woods and haven’t been seen since. I wonder what had happened to them. Was this the place where they came for hiking and disappeared? Or did they go somewhere else in this area, and the police believed that while getting lost, they could end up here?

What about the abandoned car there? Was it their vehicle? Where did they go? Were they prepared and experienced hikers, or they just tried their luck and… It didn’t go the way they hoped it would. Did they have an accident and die? Did they freeze to death? Were they killed by wild animals or vicious people? Or maybe they are still alive, hiding somewhere away from civilisation… Maybe they went somewhere else to start a new life? No, this seems pretty impossible; I watch too many movies. The most probable version is… accident and death… Scary…

I walked through the forest, sinking from time to time in the deep snow. The walk was relatively short, and I made it to the first lake. The scenery was mesmerising — a frozen lake surrounded by mountains covered with a blanket of dark- and light-green pine trees, with alpine summits emerging from behind them. The ice on the lake wasn’t thick and mostly melted on the edges; however, in winter, the ice for sure is thick enough to go for a walk on the lake. Wouldn’t it be enchanting to walk and play here together?… I remember when I was a child, we used to go skating on a frozen lake near our home with my parents. This was wonderful.

The German girls were at the lake too, but we didn’t talk. After taking a few photographs, I walked back to my car.

For a minute, I stopped at an intersection with a path leading to the next lake. I closed my eyes and slowly turned around a couple of times before I opened them again. This made me truly comprehend how wild, powerful and… dangerous this place is. If I didn’t stand next to a tree with a marker, I would not have a clue in which direction I should go to get back to my car. Everything looked alike… It is so easy to get lost in this snow-covered bear country. I am not a city person; I love nature and the wilderness; I know the mountains quite well, at least the European counterpart of it; nevertheless, this here is… much more powerful than anything else I have come across so far.

It made me feel like tiny plankton close to a whale’s mouth. You don’t pay attention for a second, and it will engulf you, and you end up inside its enormous belly without the chance to get out. Yes, I love nature and the wilderness; nevertheless, I also respect its power, and until now, it respected me back.

And I believe that as long as I obey the mother-nature rules, it will continue to respect me, and I am safe… I would love to one day come back here, either in winter and go for a walk on the frozen lake or in summer and hike on the trail to the last lake; however, I would need to be prepared, much better prepared than I am now and most probably I shouldn’t do the hiking on my own… I hope, John, one day we will do it together.

I came back to the car and drove off.

This story is from my unpublished book called “Letters to John — From Canada.” One day I hope to publish the entire “Letters to John” series, but until then, I decided to share snippets of my books on various social media and writers’ platforms.

More articles relating to this book and my adventures while driving across Canada you can find in the following collection/list

Every article starting with “Letter X” is a collection of posts that together create the given letter. So, if you want to travel with us across Canada, go through the “Letter X” — articles. I hope you will enjoy the travels as we did! Happy travels!