We awoke on Thursday to a very cold morning.  It must have been less than forty degrees Fahrenheit, and we were certainly not prepared for it; the weather had been so hot, we figured that we didn't need heavy coats.  As a result, we had to layer up the best we could and keep moving, to try to stay warm. 

John woke us up with a rhyme, around 6:00: "Morning's here, it's cold and clear.  Verleys put on their backpacking gear..."  That rhyme was adapted from the children's book Sheep Take a Hike, by Nancy Shaw, which is about sheep taking a hike.  It was an appropriate reference, considering that the sheep get stuck in the mud during their hike - and later that day, so would we...

Knowing that we had a difficult hike ahead of us that morning, we did our best to pack up our campsite as efficiently as possible, in order to be on the trail by 8:30 a.m.  Even with the cold air working against us, we still managed to get it together on time, and we were on the trail by 8:15.

Although we weren't prepared for the cold, we were better prepared for the elements that were waiting for us on the trail.  In order to get through the mud and the creek crossings better, we put on our gaiters, which we had purchased just for hiking in Canada, but had not yet worn.  The gaiters were designed to keep water from pouring into our boots as we crossed the creek and to keep the mud off of our pants; they were also useful in keeping ticks and jiggers and other biting creepy crawlers off of our legs when hiking through tall grass.

We were also better prepared for the hike, now that we knew what the terrain along the trail was like.  Before setting off, we devised a plan for getting us through the difficult parts of the trail, to prevent the tears and the frustration.  In order for the plan to work, though, we had to make sure that we didn't get that "destination lust" that we typically get at the end of the hike; otherwise, it was going to turn into a death march.

Our hike began with the ice-cold crossing of Utopia Creek.  There's nothing like putting your boots into freezing cold water first thing in the morning; if coffee didn't wake you up, that certainly will!  Lucky for us, though, John had come up with a plan to minimize the amount of time we had to spend in that water.  He had determined that, if we crossed the creek at the kitchen, where the creek was narrow, we could just hop across the rocks to the other side.  That was much easier, because it meant that we only had to put our boots in the water once, not twice. 

After fording Utopia Creek, we followed the trail along the Fiddle River for one kilometer, to the point where the trail began its steep ascent.  Since the trail was mostly flat, and we were fresh and rested, it only took us twenty minutes to reach that point.  That was a good sign; it showed that we were off to a great start.

Before tackling the climb, we sat down next to the river and took a snack break, to ensure that we would have enough energy for it.  Then, we picked ourselves up and started up the steep scree slope, groaning with each step and grateful that our packs weren't as heavy as they had been two days earlier.

Our plan for tackling that steep ascent worked very well.  What we did was, we hiked for two to five minutes at a stretch, then stopped to catch our breath wherever we found flat ground, where we could stand.  We would start hiking again until we were all ready to go, not just when the lead person was ready; this technique worked well because it kept Mary from becoming frustrated, because we were hiking at her pace, not ours.  Before we knew it, we found ourselves at the switchbacks, near the top of the climb!  We had figured on one hour to get there; we had done it in forty minutes!

At the top of the switchbacks, we stopped for another break so that we could start shedding layers.  Though there was still a little bit of a chill in the air, the hike uphill had warmed us up enough that we could remove our jackets and long-sleeved shirts.

It wasn't long before we reached Utopia Pass, where we were bathed in warm sunshine.  The pass was alive with wildflowers and butterflies that morning; everywhere we looked, there was a sea of colors that were much more vibrant in the sunshine, than they had been under the cloudy skies two mornings earlier.  I had fun snapping pictures of the bright blooms and the fluttering monarchs that darted here and there, and Mary groaned when she realized that she should have brought her butterfly net to Canada! 

As we crossed over Utopia Pass, we found that the mud bog was exactly as we had left it - full of goopy, sticky mud - but now that we were prepared for it, it wasn't nearly as bad as it had been two days ago.  In fact, we managed to get through it in five minutes.  John used the GPS to measure exactly how long the mud bog was, and he discovered that it was only 600 feet in length.  So why did it seem so much longer on Tuesday?

Once we were past the mud, the trail began its descent to Sulphur Creek.  Even though my knee was still giving me fits, we managed to make our way down without any problems.  By 11:00 a.m., we found ourselves at the Sulphur Creek crossing.

Instead of taking the bridge across Sulphur Creek, John suggested that we ford the creek, as that would help us wash the mud off of our boots and gaiters.  Like Utopia Creek, Sulphur Creek was easy to ford, as it wasn't too rapid; it was also just as cold against our hot and tired feet.  Once again, we felt like we were in that Sierra Mist commercial; even Mary started singing soprano as she put her feet in the ice-cold water.

From there, it was an easy walk back to the trailhead. Along the way, we began to see signs of civilization; for the first time in two days, we saw people - casual day-hikers who were only going as far as Sulphur Creek.  The trail wasn't nearly as crowded as some of the other trails we had hiked in the Rockies, but our time of peace and solitude had definitely come to an end.

We soon reached the old pool ruins and the hot springs, where we stopped to take a break and to look for a geocache that was supposedly hidden there.  Looking for the cache was difficult, because there were "muggles" in the area; in the end, we had to give up on it and call it a DNF ("did not find"), as we weren't going to devote the time to a full search of the area.

At 11:30 - only three hours and fifteen minutes after setting off that morning - we finally arrived at the Miette Hot Springs Trailhead, without tears and without complaints.  Moreover, we arrived to find that our rental car was still intact and our possessions were still safe and sound!  Although our hike to Utopia Creek didn't go as well as we had hoped, our trip ended on a high note, with all of us happy and safe, so we celebrated by cracking open a pair of cold beers - and one cold juice box - from the ice chest, right there at the trailhead! 

We stayed at the trailhead for about twenty minutes, drinking our beverages and changing out of our muddy hiking boots and gaiters.  While we sat there on the curb, drying out our feet, we talked about our plans for the rest of the day.  First and foremost, we were going to eat lunch at the Miette Hot Springs Café, located next to the pools.  Then, we were going to spend a couple of hours at the pools, where we could soak our tired muscles in the hot springs.  (Oh, that was going to feel fantastic!)  Finally, we were going to drive...somewhere...

John still had not budged on the location of our lodging for the next two nights.  That morning, he had completely thrown a wrench into my theory of staying at Château Lake Louise, when he gave us our final hint.  "It's NASA-related," he had said.  At that point, I had absolutely no idea what he was talking about!  Was he completely out of his mind? 

After finishing our beers and cramming our muddy, wet gear into the car, we drove up the road to the pool and parked nearby.  Taking our swimsuits and sunscreen with us so that we didn't have to go back to the car, we walked up the stairs to the pool then turned the corner to go to the Café for lunch.  The Café turned out to be nothing more than a small sandwich and gift shop, but they had delicious hamburgers.  We ate our lunch outside, at a table out in the grass, next to a pretty garden consisting of bright purple and pink petunias and red geraniums.

Once we were done eating, we returned to the pool.  Surprisingly, the entrance fee was very cheap; it was only $6 Canadian for adult admission, and $5 for a child - one of the cheapest attractions we had visited yet! 

Miette Hot Springs, as we discovered, consists of four pools, each at a different temperature.  Two of the pools are hot; the other two are cold - and they are all at different temperatures.  The first hot pool is shallow and handicap-accessible; it is kept at a temperature of roughly ninety degrees; the other is deeper and is kept at a temperature of about one hundred degrees (or forty degrees Celsius).  The cold pools - both of which are shallow and popular among the children - are kept at sixty-four and seventy-two degrees.  The pools were designed that way for a reason; the intention is for guests to do them as a circuit.  John tried it out and found the sensation of transferring from very cold to very hot water to be most incredible.

Me, on the other hand?  The cold pools were just too cold for me.  I tried them out, but I could never fully submerge myself in the sixty-four degree pool.  Even the seventy-two degree was pushing my limits on cold-tolerance.  I decided to stick to the hot pools, where I enjoyed soaking my tired muscles and watching Mary splash around in the cold water. 

We spent two hours at Miette Hot Springs, relaxing in the hot pools and talking to some of the other tourists there.  John got to talking to one man who was camped at the Pocahontas Campground with his daughter, who was just a little bit older than Mary (Mary had been playing with her in the cold pools).  The man was originally from Winnipeg but lived in Edmonton; he was spending his vacation camping in the Rockies with his family.  He told us stories about winters in Alberta and Manitoba; we told him stories about summers in Arizona.  Talk about two different extremes!

At 2:00 o'clock, we said good-bye to our new friends and started on our "long" drive to that undisclosed location.  By that time, John was having fun with us and did everything he could to keep us guessing.  First, as soon as he pulled out of the parking lot at the hot springs, he immediately pulled up to the resort and stopped; then, without skipping a beat, he said, "No, we're not staying here.  We just need to get ice for the ice chest."

Next, as we reached the junction with the Yellowhead Highway, he hemmed and hawed out loud about "which way to go" and eventually turned left, towards Jasper.  "Yeah, I think I'll go this way," he continued, with a big smile on his face.

Almost immediately, we came upon an animal jam.  This one was one of the better animal jams; just off of the highway, on the rocky crags of the mountain, was a family of big horn sheep.  There were also sheep on the side of the road, but it was much more fun to see the ones perched up on the rocks!

As we got closer to the town of Jasper - and as we passed by the Jasper airstrip - John slowed down started checking his watch.  It was only 2:45, and he made it a point of letting us know that we were "early".  Now I was wondering if we weren't meeting someone at that airstrip - was it John Coffman?  He was one of the only people we knew who had a private plane...but no, that was crazy!  Why would John Coffman be in Jasper, for our vacation?  Of course, I realized that John was just doing that to keep me guessing.  When he said that we were early, he meant that we were early for check-in, which typically starts at 3:00 p.m.

To kill time, John took for a little drive on Snaring Road, just to see where it would take us.  It didn't take us far; once we passed by the campground, the paved road ended at a construction zone; beyond there, it was unpaved, but we decided to give up there and turn around.

When we finally returned to the Yellowhead Highway, just outside of Jasper, John asked me if I had figured out the NASA reference yet.  "Of course not!" I snapped.  "I have no idea how NASA even relates to where we're going!"

"Okay," he said, "well, tell me this.  Do you know what the name of the company is that provides all of the NASA photography that is published?"

"Um, not off the top of my head," I replied.  I knew what he was talking about, but I didn't remember the name of the company.

"The name of the company is Jet Propulsion Laboratories," he explained, and at that moment, it dawned on me.  "JPL" not only stands for Jet Propulsion Laboratories, but it stands for Jasper Park Lodge!  Now, THAT was quite the stretch!

So it wasn't Lake Louise and it wasn't Banff Springs, but it was a Fairmont and it was a five-star resort!  John had reserved a cabin for us for two nights at the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge, where we could spend time relaxing in luxury during our last few days in Canada.  I could hardly wait to check in!

As we approached Jasper Park Lodge, John checked his watch again and saw that we were still too early, so he took us for a short drive to Lake Annette.  Along the way, we found a herd of female elk grazing in the tall grass, off the side of Maligne Lake Road.  That was just the diversion we needed to kill those last few minutes before check-in!

The Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge, as I mentioned a few days earlier, is one of the three major five-star resorts in the Canadian Rockies, established by the Canadian Pacific Railroad.  Unlike the other two - Banff Springs and Lake Louise, both of which look like European châteaux, Jasper Park Lodge has the appeal of an old rustic hunting lodge, but with an elegance fit for a Queen.  (Even Queen Elizabeth II herself has stayed at the JPL; there is a display in one of the corridors, commemorating her visits there.)  Instead of hotel rooms, guests stay in cabins or bungalows located throughout the property.  Visitors to JPL have a wide variety of amenities at their disposal, including a spa, a pool and recreation center, horseback riding, tennis, bicycle rentals, boat rentals, golf packages, and so on. 

Moreover, the JPL is kid-friendly - surprisingly kid-friendly, for a five-star resort!  As we checked in that afternoon, the agent immediately handed Mary an activity book that included an amazing scavenger hunt.  During our stay, she had to visit nine different places on the property and collect nine stamps; if she collected all nine, she could return to the bell desk and select a great prize from the giant treasure chest!  Mary was so excited that she could hardly wait to begin.

After we got settled in our room, showered, and changed clothes, John and Mary and I walked to the lodge, to check out the amenities that were available to us.  John had already made reservations for us at the Moose Nook Restaurant, inside the lodge; but our reservations were for 6:30, so we had lots of time to kill.  Of course, we each had our own idea of how to spend that time.  Mary wanted to collect stamps from the various shops; unfortunately, only half of the shops were open, so she managed to get just four of the nine stamps that she needed.  I, on the other hand, was in serious need of a massage, so I made an appointment at the spa to have a full, sixty-minute massage done in the morning.

And John?  Well, he thought that it would be fun to sit on the terrace at the Emerald Lounge and have a beverage before dinner.  Now that was the best idea of all, especially since it had cooled down considerably outside - it was even sprinkling a little bit, which was lovely.

At 6:30, we went to dinner at the Moose Nook, which was absolutely exquisite.  The food was amazingly delicious, and the service was wonderful.  While we ate, we were serenaded by a soft jazz quartet that took requests.  It was a perfect ending to a great day; as we left the restaurant that evening - after a fantastic dessert - we were all smiles and happy as could be.

That night, once we were back in our room, we tucked ourselves into our luxuriously soft bed and settled in for a nice sleep.  We even turned on the TV for the first time in nearly two weeks...

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