Assiniboine Loop

Mt. Assiniboine

 Aug 2012

It's been nearly a year since I posted last - Its amazing how fast time can go! I know there are a few people out there that still check back here now and again to look for updates, so here it goes.

This was our other big trip of summer 2012- a 4 day backpacking trip into Assiniboine Provincial Park with my Dad.  Its a 53.6 km loop, starting and finishing from Mt. Shark. 

 

Dad and Paul about 5 km into the trail

  

The trail is well trodden and follows Bryant Creek all the way to Assiniboine pass.  Despite it being a heavily used trail, we saw only two others on the way in.

Assiniboine is very close to grizzly territory, and some of the trails are closed to reduce grizzly/hiker conflicts. Our path took us right on the border of restricted zones, so we made our presence know by shouting, singing, chanting and otherwise talking very loudly.

 We didn't actually see any bears; though we certainly passed by each other without noticing. We found a pile of fresh steamy bear scat on the trail that appeared sometime in the 10 minute gap between two large groups on their way from Wonder Pass, and also talked to a couple staying at the McBride campground (where we spent our first night) that had been watching a Grizzly Bear not too far up the valley that same evening. 

 It was a eventful trip for other wildlife though!  It started off with this guy ^ and overly friendly grouse of some sort.  He (or she??) popped out of the brush and got so close we could of reached out and pet him.  He let us take a bunch of photos and then proceeded to follow us down the trail begging for handouts.  He stuck with us for a ways before he figured out we were not going to give him anything and then stood at a high spot on the trail watching us walk way.

 Cameron, Day 2


 Playing on Grandpa's backpack

Family photo!  Assiniboine pass is just around the bend behind us.

 Our first view of Assiniboine.  It was pretty hazy because of wild fire in the area, so its hard to see in the photo, but just take my word when I say it was an AMAZING site!! Paul was pretty stoked. Good photo of Dad and me/cam despite the washed out background!

  Cam and his Grandpa taking in the view!

 Real life Truffula's

 Our packs infront of Assiniboine lodge, where we enjoyed a well deserved (and expensive) beer.

 No rest for the wicked, after just one night up in the park, we are on our way again.

 Assiniboine

 The whole family

Summiting Wonder Pass with Assinaboine park behind us

 Wonder Pass

This is a view of a glacier across the valley from Wonder Pass.  Wonder pass and wonder lake  itself was probably one of the visual highlights of the trip, but it didn't photograph well.  The photos just don't give it justice at all.  Its a steep drop down into the valley bottom - nearly 500m of elevation loss, with no water and boy was it killer hot when we ended up taking it on.

 Resting in the shade.
Carrying the baby and the angle of the trail was not good to my ankle and we had to stop half way down the decent so I could rest, tape my ankle and we could transfer some of the weight to Paul's not so small backpack (the grey one in the photo). Thanks Paul!

 Nature Baby, in his element

This deer was another WAY to friendly critter.  We suspect this was the deer that surprised us with a very friendly visit at our cook site, and then was doing all the rustling in the brush around our tent the first night (a little nerve racking with all the bear warnings fresh in our heads).  She was there to welcome us to our final campsite on the way back.  Unfortunately, Cam was not a fan. In fact he was VERY scared of this doe and would scream in panic when ever she showed up. 

 Cam doing his bear noise duties

 Finally, Cam does a bit of hiking himself

 Searching for wild strawberries

Sayward Forest Canoe Circuit

 Photo spew!! Okay, here is the last 24 days photo-journal style....

 One of the first stops of the trip as at Moraine Lake, near Lake Louise.  Neither of us had ever been up there before and WOW was it spectacular! Definitely a gem in our own backyard! There is a lot of climbing and hiking up there as well, so I am sure we will be heading back there in the near future to explore it further. 

 Moraine Lake and the Valley of the Ten Peaks

  

Cam getting his exercise doing stairs on the trials around Moraine Lake

 Cam helping with dinner in the Camper.   

Traveling with a camper is soooooo easy! It's really great to be able to pull over whenever we need to and make a meal or just let Cam work off some energy before we continue on our way. We've ran into a lot of rain this trip as well and having a dry place to hang out is a blessing. 

 Along our way we passed a new development area called "Regal Ridge" that had huge metal statues of animals at each entrance to the community.  There were elk bulks, cougars, eagles, moose and.... a Sasquatch?!?!  We couldn't help but stop for a photo with arguably one of our countries most regal creatures.

 When we got to Penticition we finally got really good weather and we were able to bask in the sun at the beach and get some great climbing in!

 Teddy and some laundry hanging on the line to dry off the side of the camper in the Skaha parking lot

 About to start our fateful hike in Skaha

The Sayward Forest Canoe Circuit 

We did an extended version of the Sayward Forest Canoe Circuit, adding 14km and a 1km portage to that start and end  of the normal circuit.  In total we paddled over 80km and did about 30 km of portaging trips (we had to do at least 2 trips with gear for every portage).  Kyle, Lisette and their little ones had to leave after day 4, as Finn was quite sick and not having a good time, but the rest of us continued on and finished the rest of the loop in record time, paddling over half of the circuit in just 3 days.  In total we paddled for 7 days. We had several days and nights of rain but some lovely warm and sunny weather as well.

 After meeting at Strathcona Park Lodge the evening of the 14th and getting a good nights rest squatting up the road to the bog walk we (Jason, Jen, Kyle, Lisette, Finn (3), Lily (1), Paul, Cam and Myself) spent the morning of the 15th getting boats ready and doing some last minute packing for our trip. 

 Jason loading the boat

 Reloading and casting off after our second portage (1.1km, uphill the whole way - of course!)

 It had been a long time since most of us had done any paddling and portaging was new to most of us. We all were feeling the strain of the unusual body motions and hauling heavy gear at some point in the trip.  A casual pace for the first few days seemed to help ease us into it, but as we kicked things into a higher gear towards the end of the trip the fatigue set in.  Thankfully we had no injuries aside from a few blisters!

 Pace setting was interesting with little ones in the boat;  Often there was only one person paddling as the other took care of the kids.  We were not out there to set any speed records. The trip was planned for ten days to accommodate a slow pace and give us a few extra days in the case of rain or just needed a day off, so we could take as much time as we needed!

Saying that, the kids really did great in the boats!  There were moments of tears, but for the most part they were stoked to play and take in the views.  Paul and I found that putting Cameron in the baby backpack was a sure way to get him to nap and keep him happy while we tried to cover some good distances. 

 At the start of the trip we were pretty sure Cam would wiggle himself overboard at some point, however we had no wet babies and no flipped boats!

 Lawson Lake

 Portaging went great, but was a lot of work!   We had a lot of gear to haul, 3 boats and the 3 kids that had to also be carried/convinced to hike and then looked after while the rest of the gear was brought to the next lake. At the start of the trip our big green haul bags must have weighed nearly 80lbs each - I needed help getting them up onto my back before I could slog down the trial.  Paul somehow managed to carry both at the same time though... crazy!

 A group photo before the group split in two on day 4. 

It was really too bad that they were not able to continue on with us,as we had a great time having them with us!   There are already other trips in the making that we would love to try together, so we will have more adventure together again soon!

There were a lot of small lakes/ marshy ponds with yellow water lilies, reeds and Labrador tea covering much of the water surface.   It was really beautiful to paddle through. 

 About to go up the wrong creek... oops!  Definitely added a few new scratches to the bottom of the boats with this wrong turn...

 The fist few days were rainy but as the trip went on the weather got better and better. 

 Jason and Jen on calm waters as we head up Upper Campbell Lake in our final stretch of the trip.

 Paul and Cam both caught the same flu that Finn had.  Cam thankfully didn't get hit hard from it till the last day of paddling and has been pretty ill since then. However, Paul wasn't so lucky and was feeling rough for the last half of the trip and was particularity ill on the last day of paddling