Black Tusk memories

Photo taken from the Callaghan Valley at dusk

As a young woman, I hiked up to camp in Black Tusk Meadows. At the time there was a lot I didn't know about the mountain. For one thing, it was the original choice as a ski hill for what later became Whistler Blackcomb.

Also, I lacked a clear understanding of how the tusk itself was formed from the hardened magma of an extinct volcano. This magma never escaped the chamber. The surrounding rock, far softer, eroded away over a long period of time.

However, on that trip, I learned other things of importance when we left too late and had to traverse the last part of the trail to Taylor Campsite in the dark.

That nocturnal journey up the forested switchbacks was a wonderful experience. When visual perception is limited by darkness, other senses compensate. That night it was sound and the quality of the air that kept me on the right path. 

That unique trip to the alpine meadows in darkness afforded me a mysterious glimpse of things lit, but not by light. The memory has stayed with me for forty years.