Put on your hiking shoes, lets go...

We kept walking. It seemed like the trail ahead had no end. Turning back was not an option. We had to keep going in order to reach anywhere near civilization. Every now and then someone cracked a joke which created ripples of laughter amongst us. Our tired legs begged us to stop for a while, but we had to keep going. It would be sunset soon and we did not want to be stuck in the middle of nowhere. Our legs were getting heavier. Then three of us stopped and sat down. They were exhausted. The rest of us kept going. After some time two more gave up and stopped to catch their breath. The two of us kept waking. After some time we couldn’t take it any more. We lied down on our backs. The sun shone on our faces. Sweat trickled down my forehead. I closed my eyes and smiled. My mind was drifting into an empty abyss…

The alarm rang sharply at 6 in the morning. I woke up and rubbed my eyes. Didn’t really feel like waking up this early on a Sunday morning. We were supposed to go hiking; our destination was Gatineau Park, a large 360 sq km camping and hiking area located in Quebec. We planned to leave home by 8 am, but as usual we got late and left by 9 am. We reached Rideau center and then decided to have breakfast before leaving (One of the best decisions that day). After having a nice cup of French vanilla and a bagel with butter, my stomach felt relieved. We packed 7 bagels for lunch. We were ready to leave. There were seven of us. We took 2 taxis and reached our destination in about 20 minutes. We were at the edge of the park near the parking lot. We walked about a kilometer to look for a trail map, which could give us directions. We finally found one and decided to take the trail leading to pink lake. It was some 7 km long.

With backpacks on our shoulder and camera in hand we started out. It was a concrete trail with dry grass and weeds on both sides. A lot of cyclists and joggers could be seen on the trail. We kept walking, cracking jokes, taking pictures and generally having fun. The trail seemed to be very long. Every now and then a cyclist would cross us or a jogger would run past us. After walking for about 2-3 km’s we reached a sign which said pink lake was 4.5 km away by the concrete trail and about 3.5 km by the forest trail. We decided to play smart and took the forest trail. The trail led us through muddy roads and fallen trees. Occasionally we came across a pond with turtles or water snakes. There was pin drop silence apart from the sound of the wood peckers. The trail didn’t seem too end. We were going up an incline and it was getting difficult. It was 2 hrs since we were walking and pink lake was nowhere in sight. We were getting frustrated. After walking another half hr we saw a parking lot in the distance. We were shocked, had we taken a wrong turn somewhere? We were supposed to reach the lake by this time. As we neared the parking lot, we spotted a huge water body glistening in the sun. We had reached pink lake at last.

Pink lake was not pink really. It inherited its name from a family who settled in the region in 1826. The lake was surrounded by steep cliffs on all sides with lots of greenery surrounding it. A hiking trail ran all the way round the lake. We didn’t have the energy to explore that. It was almost noon and we were very hungry. We found a nice spot in the shade and started eating the bagels we had carried along. We were glad we had carried enough drinking water as there wasn’t a single water fountain along the trail. We spent almost an hour near the lake. It was very quite and serene. We took a lot of pictures too. After sometime we decided to leave but couldn’t figure out the way out of the park. We didn’t have a map with us. After asking a few people we concluded that the only way out of the park was going back to the place we had started from. This meant walking back 7-8 km’s. Our legs were too tired for another long walk. But we had no choice. We kept walking for another 2 hours, but the exit was nowhere in sight. We were really exhausted by that time.

…I opened my eyes and looked around me. The other people in our group had reached near us. We got up and started walking again. We kept walking for another half hr when we spotted a lot of buildings on the horizon. We were close to the exit now. We felt rejuvenated and started walking faster. Finally after some time we reached the place we had started from. Now the question was how we get a taxi to take us to the place where we could take a bus to go home. Since there was nothing around we had to walk another 1 km on the highway to reach a food mall from where we could call a taxi. But before doing that we decided to eat something. Everyone was feeling starved. I had a juicy chicken burger with fries and a large cola. It tasted like heaven. After sometime our taxi arrived and we left for home.

This is how our hiking expedition ended. We reached home extremely tired and barely able to move. After taking a hot shower and having some food and a tablet of crocin, I slept off. Sleep came easily that day and was very sweet. I had to wake up at 6 am next morning. It was going to be a tiring Monday morning. If you have managed to read this blog till here, your effort is by no means less than my hiking experience.