A Cheese Sandwich Never Tasted So Good

As I've written, I'm not very athletic, except when it comes to competitive eating. I've never even skied before! But the promise of a charming teahouse 1,000 feet up a mountain was incentive enough for me to attempt a 6.5-mile hike.

A friend and I planned to visit the Plain of the Six Glaciers Teahouse, where food supplies are trucked up by horse. Granted, if there hadn't been a meal involved, you wouldn't have caught me hiking away while munching on dry trail mix. And if I'd known what was involved in this excursion, I might have stayed at ground level and sipped tea at the Chateau Lake Louise!

It was an overcast day. I was dressed as if I were about to walk down a New York sidewalk instead of hiking up a snowy mountain. On my feet were Dansko clogs, not hiking boots. My attire consisted of a T-shirt and a leather jacket, for I was totally unaware that temperature drops as you ascend a mountain. Even worse, I wasn't carrying an umbrella.

Walking around the lake, I marveled at its gorgeous aqua hue. The scene of the lake between the mountains was so picturesque that I ignored the drops of rain that were beginning to fall. For some reason, I was certain that the drizzle wouldn't intensify.

How wrong I was. While I navigated the sharp stones with my clogs, the clouds opened and the rain began to pour. The trees provided no cover; instead, they acted as colanders. The ground turned to mud, painting my black clogs brown. Since it was the very beginning of the season (and a very rainy day), the mountain was almost empty of hikers. So, I was glad to pass a rare group of seasoned hikers, although I envied their umbrellas, rain ponchos and walking sticks. "How much farther do we have left to go?" "What do you want to hear?" they laughed. "Well, you're probably about one-third of the way there."

They didn't tell me that a large part of the trail was covered with snow. As I haltingly ascended, I tried to avoid the melting ice streams, thinking that snow would provide a more secure surface on which to walk. Unfortunately, in one instance I miscalculated, stepped on a snowbank, fell, and got a legful of water. Then, I tried not to slide back down the mountain as I walked up a slippery, snowy hill. The footprints of the few earlier hikers provided footholds. My hair was now soaking wet, and I was freezing in my wet T-shirt and jacket.

In the middle of my ordeal, I wondered about the teahouse. What was the menu like? My friend opined that only tea and bread would be available. We were both extremely hungry (although, in lieu of trail mix, I had my trusty Belgian chocolate bar). Would there be souvenir sweatshirts available so that I could change my wet clothing?

The rain eventually stopped. We slowed down to appreciate the abstract designs the snow made on the dark grey mountains. The air was the cleanest I've ever breathed.

And then, we turned to the right and there it was... the teahouse! A two-story log cabin, it could have been the Ritz-Carlton as far as I was concerned. Our tired legs carried us up the stairs and we deposited ourselves at a red wooden table.

There were no sweatshirts for my shivering frame, but there were T-shirts. And fortunately, there was more than bread on the menu (although there was homemade bread). There were tuna, cheddar, "handmade hummus," and PB&J sandwiches, vegetable soup, chips and salsa, fresh scones, chocolate cake and apple pie, fair-trade coffee, tea and hot chocolate. According to the menu, all food was made fresh on a propane stove and water came from a pristine underground stream.

The tea arrived lukewarm, but the coffee was strong and hot; I asked for seconds to try to warm up. The vegetable soup was hearty and filled with pasta. Corn chips and salsa were store-bought and lackluster, but I really enjoyed my sharp cheddar sandwich on thick fresh bread. (It more than made up for the gummy apple pie!) I downed all food with abandon; it's amazing what hiking can do for your appetite! (As if I needed any help in that department.)

The Plain of the Six Glaciers Teahouse: Lake Louise, Alberta, Canada.