The Cabins: There are four backcountry cabins in the park, built and maintained by a local ski club. They are available on a first-come-first-serve basis and the fees are by donation. Three of the cabins are located near lakes: Edwards Lake, McNair Lake and Bachelor Lake, while the fourth cabin is situated high on Mt. Steele, just below the peak. They are all spacious and comfortable, with a loft for sleeping. They are rustic, wood stove only and the sink empties into a bucket which you have to empty. No electricity, no running water. The Bachelor Lake cabin is quite run-down, probably mainly because it is the closest to access.

We awoke at 6am to a warm, sunny morning, a four-day adventure on the Sunshine Coast lying ahead of us. We caught the 7:20 ferry and arrived at Langdale just after 8am. There was a 10 minute delay to the crossing as crews performed a mandatory safety drill of launching a rescue boat. A large, grey zodiac was lowered into the water carrying two survival-suit clad men who, once on the water, promptly raced off out of site while the ferry continued on to Langdale, only a few minutes away.

All About Bugs

Normally bugs don't bother me so much. I kind of survive by ignoring them and letting them feast off Andre, whom they always prefer to me. I very rarely have to apply bug spay. Here, however, I made an exception. The sheer number of mosquitoes, black flies and worst of all, those eyeball-sucking-inner-ear-crawling gnats was enough to drive most people back to the car, down the hill and to the beach. We, however, lathered ourselves in special natural lotions available only through certain retails in the States and for which we made a special trip to Bellingham. These lotions, unlike any natural stuff available here, actually work very well. I've used 90% DEET before and not had it work, and frankly I don't want to risk having it enter one of my usual bloody bush-wounds and crumpling up in seizures in the middle of the woods.

The Edwards Lake Cabin

So we thought, here we are at the lake, the cabin should just be around the corner. In your dreams. It was a good 20 minute hike further on, all gradually uphill, and not even close to the lake. Most often this would not phase us one bit, but it was at least 32 degrees, humid, and we had these psychotically heavy packs. We had a two-person dinghy, two extra-heavy marine-grade folding paddles (we broke the lightweight ones on an earlier trip), a 10-pound tent (we didn't know the cabins would be so luxurious, some backcountry cabins can be pretty nasty), a 2-pound telescope plus its tripod, and some crazy heavy food for the first night. Lets just put it this way, I carried about 8 pounds less on the 10-day trek later on that summer (South Chilcotins and Big Creek Park)!

We were very surprised to find such a quaint cabin. It was nice and cool inside, and the upstairs loft even had a little balcony accessed through a small window over the front porch. We made ourselves comfortable at the picnic table in the shade of the porch and settled in for a long-overdue lunch.

After crossing Chapman Creek on a well constructed bridge, the trail wound through the forest, eventually opening up to a large meadow and boggy area just below the outflow. The creek itself became as wide and calm as a small lake (below).

We weren't able to see much of the lake because it makes a corner, and were a little disappointed at the sight as we'd originally planned to camp somewhere along Chapman Lake (thus the dinghy). Making the best of it, Andre inflated the boat while I purified about 5 liters of water from the lake for drinking.

Once inflated, we took off our boots, heaved the packs in and settled our tired bodies into the boat. More like on top of the packs in the boat! Andre took the front, while I sat up high on my pack on the back and we slowly began to paddle to the middle of the lake.

Once on shore, Andre deflated the boat and packed it back into his pack. We made our way up through sub-aline meadows, climbing gradually when all of a sudden the cutest little cabin we'd ever seen poked over the trees. Crossing our fingers to have the place to ourselves, we made our way up the slope through the trees and berry bushes up to the front steps of the cabin.

Finding the cabin empty and very clean, we set down our packs, changed out of our boots into sandals and headed down the slope on the opposite side to have a look at McNair Lake. The shores themselves were about a five minute walk away, and we tossed around the idea of pitching our tent in the wide meadow along the lake. The comforts of the cabin beckoned, however, so we just opted for a quick wash in the lake, then settled in for a relaxing evening.