MOUNTAIN HOME
Halfway Hut.
AUTUMN SKY PHOTOGRAPHY
GHOSTS AND GAMBLING ON THE TRAIL TO SKOKI LODGE Do you dare ski in by the light of the moon? (Holler if you do) According to local legend, the living mingle in the spirit realm along the trail to world-famous Skoki Lodge. The ghosts of long-dead mountain enthusiasts who met their untimely end in the vicinity of the Parks Canada Halfway Hut are said to linger in and around the shelter. Insisting it is not necessary to fear the ghostly encounters, Samantha Welanc of Banff Canmore Ghost Walks says, “Happiness is a strong tethering point for spirits.” By day, the hut is an unassuming, solitary, log structure; visitors’ names are carved into its interior walls and cool, mountain breezes slip through the strip-wood chinking. But, when darkness descends on the valley, the otherworldly encounters begin: the clink of glasses once full of rum, the snap of playing cards, the smell of a woman’s perfume, and smoke from long-extinguished fires billows from its chimney.
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