Day 210 - Road Trip Time

We had a very early start to the day as we wanted to make the most of the hire car for the few days that we’d have it and so got to the car place for 07:30. We picked up the Nissan Versa and thus began another road trip to explore the wilderness.

We had a fairly scenic drive to a place called Hinton which is about an hour away from Jasper. Hinton is just outside the Jasper National Park and so the accommodation was reasonably priced as was the local food. 

We checked in to our motel and then picked up a local map. Danny was feeling pretty tired as he hadn’t had the greatest night’s sleep last night and had driven for quite a while. We thought we’d go and check out a nearby walk and so it was back to the car for a short drive.

We reached the Beaver Boardwalk and then went to explore. This place was a maze of boardwalks and trails that went all over the place. We had no map of this labyrinth and so just picked a walkway and then went on a mystery tour of the marshlands and woods. We passed lots of evidence of beavers (dams and gnawed trees) so the walk was living up to its name; though we never actually saw one of these animals out and about. Deep into the walk we could see the distant cracks of lightning and the low rumbles of thunder growing ever nearer and so picked up our pace. As we finally began to feel the first of the raindrops warning us of the impending storm we thought it best to find a quick route back to the car. This route, however, came at a price; the path was partially flooded yet this was clearly the quickest way back to the car. Corrie was good in her flip-flops but Danny had $100 trainers on and was not keen on ruining them here.  It was this 40 or so metre submerged path or a good 20 minute walk the long way round. Corrie jokingly proposed an offer which rapidly was decided would be a great idea. Corrie was up for the challenge and so we made our way to the drowned walkway. Danny donned Corrie’s back pack and then hopped up onto Corrie’s back. Corrie then tentatively started to make her way through the water soon picking up the pace and splashing her way through the wetness. We did make a stop or two where the path had been spared total submersion which was good as we were both in hysterics and this made for poor balance! With a final sprint Corrie carried Danny safely across the last patch of water and we could both powerwalk to the car before the bad weather arrived.

The last bullet points are the best.

Back at the motel we had been given a brochure to peruse by the lady who works at the place. This booklet offered a walk about an hour’s drive away and we both decided to think on it for half an hour first. During this time though Danny crashed on the bed and was lost to the world for the next couple of hours. When he woke Corrie was hungry and so we went out for some food before managing a bit more planning before bed.