Sat, May 21 2022, Sun, May 22 2022, Mon, May 23 2022 - Backpacking - Elbow Loop - RANDOM BACKCOUNTRY CAMPING (View Original Event Details)
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If you ask anyone of us who participated in our Elbow Loop backpacking event this May long weekend, we would likely tell you that its not possible to backpack the Elbow Loop on the May long weekend. But we did it!
We backpacked the Elbow Loop in a counterclockwise direction. The trail started out clear from the trailhead all the way to Mt Romulus Backcountry Campground ~10kms. After stopping for a quick break at Mt Romulus, we headed out intent on covering ~20 kms of the ~45km loop on day one of our three-day adventure. Saturday was a very pleasant day, only slightly overcast and midday temperatures were hovering around +7C, perfect for backpacking and exactly as the weather had forecasted. As we distanced ourselves from Mt Romulus Backcountry Campground, the amount of snow on the trail increased with every km. At first, we were walking through a small accumulation of soft wet snow, but eventually, the snow became deeper. In some areas the snow was firm and supported our weight but there were many areas where we broke through. Eventually we were “postholing” at almost every step. As we trekked in the direction of Tombstone Pass, breaking trail became hard work, so we rotated by taking turns in the lead. At about 18kms into our adventure, we were worn out and decided to stop for the night, have dinner and setup out tents. Afterall, the accumulated snow might firm up after a colder nighttime temperature of ~-5C forecasted low. So, after each of us packed down the snow over a footprint sized sufficiently to setup our tents, we ate dinner and retired for the night.
On Sunday morning, we woke up to frozen boots and frozen water. It had been a cold night ~-11C but the daytime warm temperatures were expected to return. After managing to get into our frozen boots and pack up our gear, we set out to cover the ~6kms remaining through Tombstone Pass then on to Tombstone Backcountry Campground. The snow seemed firmer as we started out around 10:00am, but the sun was bright, and temperature quickly warmed and by afternoon we were postholing at almost every step. Everyone took turns rotating in to lead the trail breaking and a few decided to remove their backpacks and drag/slide their packs along the snow behind them. This idea caught on and at one point we were all dragging our packs behind us in the snow. The toughest portion of the trail was as we headed out of Tombstone Pass and as we descended to the Tombstone Backcountry Campground. The snow was so soft and so deep that even our new crawling technique took a lot of effort and wasn’t working so well. Once we made it to Tombstone Backcountry Campground, we replenished our water supply and continued our way. After a few more kms, we came across grizzly bear tracks on the trail. Thankfully the tracks were from a previous day and they were heading up in the direction opposite of us and fortunately, the bear had come up the trail and had unknowingly broken trail for us. We followed in the bears footsteps, which made our movement through the snow somewhat easier. After ~14kms, we setup our tents and made dinner and enjoyed a campfire before settling down for the night.
Monday morning everyone slept in some and it was 8am by the time everyone was up and about. After breakfast we packed up and trekked out along the trail, continuing in the bears footsteps. As we descended in elevation the snow eventually all but disappeared. We were all quite happy to get back to the dirt & gravel trail like what we’d experienced when we began our trek in on Saturday. Tired and feeling accomplished, as we arrived back at our cars we recorded that we had trekked some 50kms over the May long weekend hiking the Elbow Loop.
Thanks everyone for joining in and participating and contributing to the success of this adventure! Everyone did their part to make this such a memorable backpacking weekend!