Wilderness Adventures

It wouldn't be a complete summer if we didn't get out into God's beautiful creation, the magnificent Canadian wilderness, for some adventures.

The first adventure was a guy's canoe trip to Murtle Lake in Wells Gray Provincial Park (BC). My paddling partner (Gerhard Hiob) and I left town a few hours behind the other guys and drove the 6 hours out to the start of the portage. The portage was about 3 km and was pretty uneventful. When we put in the sky was clear, the water calm and a light breeze was at our backs. About an hour into our 3 hour journey the sky behind us began to turn dark and there was ominous rumbling. We decided to stay close to shore allowing us to get out if things really turned ugly. The really rough weather never did catch up to us but our decision to stay close to shore led us to get hung up on submerged boulders not once but twice.

Water levels in the lake were a foot or two above their normal levels and there is only one river outlet to the lake. About 5 km from the lake that river becomes a waterfall. With the high water levels this falls was spectacular. I haven't seen many waterfalls to equal this one for sheer volume of water. The hike to get there was through a beautiful cedar forest. One of the guys (Vern Peters) is a university professor and a forest ecologist. He gave us his perspective on a lot of the vegetation we saw including some effects of the pine beetle. Very interesting!

The second canoe trip was a couples trip to Maligne Lake in Jasper over the Canada Day long weekend. The weather was favorable, the sun shining off the mountains and glaciers was gorgeous and the company was very agreeable. It was a nice weekend, 4 days of paddling, and I didn't even tip Mary into the drink (that's pretty cold water).

The backpacking trip was a 10 km hike starting just on the edge of Jasper town site. The trail we had intended to take (Celestine Lake) was closed and we headed off on this trail to Minnow Lake on the recommendation of the Parks office. It was hot (35 degrees), the mosquitoes were voracious, and the Lake was really more of a slough. We did still go for a swim such was the desperation to cool down after a hot day of hiking. We decided not to let the knee deep mud or the leeches get us down. The trip was supposed to involve a hang around camp day but we decided that with the mosquitos and the heat Miette Hot Springs sounded like a better bet. The ray of sunshine on the trip was a Korean grad student for whom this was a novel experience. While the backpacking veterans grumbled she took in the beauty of her surroundings and sang while she hiked. It was a good attitude check.

Coming up soon is the Fat Tire Festival at Frontier Lodge on the August Long Weekend. We're looking forward to heading out there with Mary's brother John and getting in some good trail riding.