Sat, Sep 1 2007, Sun, Sep 2 2007, Mon, Sep 3 2007 - Backpack: Tombstone Lakes and area (View Original Event Details)
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The original forcast for a wet dreary camp was not to be, yay!
Day 1 - It dawned a wee bit cloudy, in Kanaskis, the majestic peaks covered in cloud like some kind of mystical Shangri La making the drive in seem somewhat magical. Assembling at the trail head, the sun duly came out (Ben had been doing the sun dance) put on the pack, went woa! didn't realise my pack was so *bleep* heavy.
We had a special guest on this trip, Andy who had joined the club all the way from England and this was his very first event! He marveled at the Rockies although he wasn't as enamoured of his bank (but thats another story by itself). The hike in was uneventful other than the shock of heavy packs up that first km of hill...(huff puff). Eventually reaching the campsite, we dropped the heavy packs and set up camp as well as lunch. Good thing we stopped by ole' Tim Hortons before leaving Calgary as we got in a wee bit later than expected. After having satiated our tummies with lunch, it was unanimously agreed that we take the path of least resistance (ie the least number of squiggly contour lines on the map) to Sheep Lake. However the adventure started when not more than a 100m from the campsite we came across the first obstacle. A fast flowing creek. Brains grinding, good old Canadian Ingenuity and Improvisation popped up (after most of us crossed the creek barefoot (brrrrr...ouch ouch sharp rocks) having taking off our boots or in the case of some with resulting wet boots) somehow we ended up trying to build our very own COC set of stones to step the creek across with. Needless to say the effort put into the project entailed a lot of volunteers (like Ian who got in the creek up to his tushie sans boots in freezing cold water) as well as the usual crowd of supervisors and gawkers. This was probably the most entertaining bit of the whole trip! An adventure by itself. Please see pics for more mirth and entertainment. Fast forwarding, we got conned somewhat by the map (must have been the bridge building) as there was a bit of a climb up to the lake. Upon reaching the lake, everyone en massed decided that the little meadow at the other side of the lake offered a wayyyyy better view of the mountains (as well as a more relaxing place to recharge) and proceeded to Ooh and Ahh at the view. Kim being the Mapmeister pointed out the varying peaks and places to go for the next day. A few people also became Godzillas (Blaine and Ben) and got their very own mountains. In the evening, everyone got merry, ate dinner, used up quite a few dead trees keeping the fire going.
Day 2 - Waking up fashionably late, the group split into 2 groups. One group, Ping, Jason, Brad, Dana, Kim, Andy, Ben, headed towards Tombstone Lakes wanting to take the long way round and the Second group heading to Piper Pass. Group one's hike up to Tombstone Lake was a looong one as the circuitous route was used, taking the bike trail out before heading back on the inside trail back toward the lakes. Reaching the smaller lake, Andy had decided earlier, to take a plunge in a Lake and needed little encouragement to jump in. He also needed very little encouragement to get out ! Brad and Ben having decided that, having an Englishman outdo us Canadians in cold water testing was a no go, did their respective swan dives into the lake. Ben fully dressed in his pants and Brad in his ... er... Fruit of the Loom (I have no doubt the girls were salivating at him). The Canadian Flag still flies high! The bath was rather refreshing though.
Meanwhile, the other group with Fernando, Ian, Arina, Leila and Laurel came across a Horse Rider who told them there was a Grizzly along the Piper Pass Trail. Plan B was put into action and the changed tack and headed towards Rae Lake instead. However instead of following the dotted line as per map, there was apparently was a bit of bashing through to the lake. I think a machete might have come in useful for them. They did managed to come across a magnificent bull moose though.
Day 3 - Four of the group decided to head back to town early for varying reasons. The rest of the gang having been aroused, plotted to either hang around the camp site, take a stroll along the creek or for those who didn't do Tombstone Lake the day before, they also decided to head up there for the plunge. At last count it was still Canada 2 England 1. Some people had chickened out (you know who you are), but in their defense, they did dip their toes.........
After packing up camp, the hike back out seemed a lot longer than it was coming in. The remaining few of us headed to Kilkenny's for dinner only to discover than none of us had a COC card on us...... (co-ordinator: note need to get one!) but the wings were at 17cents...
To sum up, we saw a Moose, A Whiskey Jack, lots of Chipmunks in the carpark, a lot of camper's hairdoes and had a great time.