I was woken up by my husband playing “Rise Up” from the Hamilton soundtrack. After taking forever to fall asleep with sore legs, I needed to sleep in. While we got a later start at 8:30am, it wasn’t a sleeping in morning. We still needed to hike out.

It was a slow morning as I wanted to rest my head on the picnic table, but I slowly woke up and we packed up the tent. My ankles took a bit of time to loosen up on the trail as everything was tight from the day before.

The hike started out on a quad trail that was mostly clear, except for the odd spider web. There were some taller weeds growing on the trail and a few branches hanging over, but nothing like the other trails we were on,

It was hotter this day and I needed to drink a ton of water just on the flat sections. There ended up being more climbing on the way out than either of us expected. It wasn’t terrible, but I was tired from not sleeping and my muscles were done. Had this been the first day on the trail, it would have been a breeze.

At one point, we heard some rustling in the trees and a martin ran onto the trail toward Oliver, then quickly changed course and ran across the path, out of sight. I spotted a second martin running toward the path before it changed directions and went up into the forest. That was our excitement on this walk.

We were treated to views of the mountains, although not as majestic and they turned into hills the more we descended into the river valley. It was mostly rivers and logs that had been cut away to clear the path.

There was one viewpoint where the land had eroded away leaving hoodoo-like formations below. Someone had arranged stones on the ground to form numbers, although neither of us took a picture of the numbers or recall what was written.

We could finally hear traffic from the highway as we neared the end of the trail. The hoods of vehicles reflected in the sunlight and I hugged our car when I reached the parking lot. My feet were happy when I finally took off my runners, but were unhappy when I put my shoes back on to enter Truffle Pigs restaurant to eat lunch.

We ate all the food we could and then drove to Canmore where we stayed at Canmore Inn and Suites to rest up and clean up before traveling home the next day. For my first section hike, it was difficult, but rewarding. Most importantly, it didn’t scare me off from future hikes and only made me want to do more.

In the morning, we discovered that our lighter wasn’t working to start our Jetboil as it got wet the day before. That meant no hot tea or coffee to start our day on a cold morning. We packed up and were on the trail by 8am with a long ~24.5km day ahead of us. We grabbed water just above the dry creek bed outside of the campground and followed the trail toward Wolverine Pass.

It was a switchback climb with us on alert for mama grizzly and her cubs. Oliver admitted that he did want to see bears on the trip, but at a distance so he knew where they were. He didn’t like knowing they were sighted the day before and not know if they were still nearby.

The area around Wolverine Pass was open meadows with another short climb in the direction of where we were to camp the day before. We had made the right choice to stay at Tumbling Creek because I would have been too exhausted to have made that final climb.

We enjoyed the spectacular views of the Rockwall with the cliffs towering over our left side along the path. There were blue glaciers clinging to the base and a cool breeze was blowing but we weren’t chilly as long as we were moving. We still kept our eyes open for bears and saw nothing.

There were some interesting paths where the trail looked like it had been washed away and we needed to dip into a dry creek bed and back out again. Helmet Falls was beautiful and we had to push through more branches to reach the campground where we ate a late lunch. We were starting to feel that we were falling behind but only because we had an arrival time in mind. I tried to just focus on “getting there”.

We grabbed water at the campground and began to climb up to Goodsir Pass. As we climbed, I was definitely running out of steam. It was getting increasingly difficult to remain positive on push up the hill. I was determined to keep picking away, even with sore feet, ankles, knees, and shoulders.

We encountered our first horseflies on Goodsir Pass and batted them away. There was one for each of us. Luckily, that was all. There wasn’t much to this pass compared to the others. We did find a lovely spot, with views to have a snack before beginning the climb down.

The descent was where I struggled. My body was tired and sore and we counted 30+ fallen trees we had to climb over before we stopped counting. There were also alder bushes we had to push through. My fatigued ankles struggled to keep me balanced on the uneven trail and they bent in many uncomfortable positions. The view of Mt. Goodsir was at least a good payoff for all the hard work.

We reached McArthur Creek Campground at around 8:30pm and searched the blowdown covered campground for the cooking area to eat and hang our food. It was a late dinner and a late tent set up (by headlamp light), but we were happy to get to bed on our last night on trail. The long day resulted in the worst leg spasms I had experienced on the trail, so it was also a long night.

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GDT C – Day 11 – McArthur Creek to Ottertail Trailhead

Oliver woke up to the sound of an animal sniffing around our tent. The women camping nearby also reported the same thing, so we assumed it was a porcupine which had been reported to be in the area and frequent visitors to the campground. I also woke up to my pack falling over in the vestibule, which I had to prop back up as it had been hailing with freezing rain throughout the night.

We were up around 7am for breakfast and chatted with a few folks. Taking pictures of the sunrise on the mountains was a challenge as there were a group of young women skinny dipping in the lake nearby.

With our packs ready to go, we set out for Wolverine Campground. The path went up almost immediately and I was in shock as I understood we had a nice easy exit from the campground to warm up, but we were straight into the climb up Numa Pass. It was tough to get up the switchbacks, but felt easy compared to the climb ahead with Tumbling Pass.

On the descent down Numa, my knee was getting sore again, so I strapped on the knee brace, which I found helpful. It was also helpful, mentally, for me to understand that we were on the Numa Pass ascent itself and not an extra climb before the pass, which Oliver had mistakenly told me when he looked at the map. I was worried as I was quickly running out of gas on the climb and thought I still had to do Numa Pass and Tumbling Creek. It didn’t feel doable. Once the correction was made, I felt better. There was only one more climb to do, which felt manageable.

The long descent took us to Numa Creek Campground. There was a pile of scat on the way to the campground and no more. There was a young woman staying at the campground and she was using it as a base camp for other day hikes. We stopped for lunch and the trail running family from Floe Lake arrived after us. They were going as far as Tumbling Creek where they were ending their weekend trip.

We continued on and began the climb to Tumbling Pass. The climb was terrible. That’s an understatement. There was lots of incline through overgrown alder trees. One SOBO hiker we met along the way lost his bear spray in the tangle on his way to Numa Creek. It wasn’t surprising as the branches snagged our packs.

The final climb was steep and we walked sideways up the hill. Once we reached the top, we had a beautiful view of the famous Rockwall. The teenagers from the trail running family caught up to us at the pass and we walked with their mom for the descent into Tumbling Creek where I decided I was not prepared for a third climb to Wolverine Pass. We were also warned of a mother bear with two cubs on the trail out of Tumbling Creek to Wolverine Pass and we didn’t want to encounter them. Giving them time to move on felt like the best move. That meant added 3km to the next day, but was smart. We set up camp at Tumbling Creek and quickly fell asleep.

Read more:

GDT C – Day 10 – Tumbling Creek to McArthur Creek
GDT C – Day 11 – McArthur Creek to Ottertail Trailhead

We repacked our bags, checked out of our hotel, and were picked up by our trail angel by 9:00am. After a drive, and a chat we were on the trail at Floe Lake Trailhead by 10:15am. The parking lot was crowded with cars and we were unclear if they were all day hiking or if they were people camping and making their way back to their vehicles. There were not many parking spots available.

We gathered water at the bridge, but there was another accessible spot further down the trail. The climb started almost immediately, with no cover. The trail went through an old burn area, which would have been hot in higher temperatures. We were lucky to have an overcast day.

There were parts where the trail was rough and washed out, making some of the steps challenging. We also reached a point of the trail where we were on an old creek bed with no signs of where the trail went other than the odd ribbon tied to a branch to guide us.

We encountered a few groups coming down from the lake who told us that there was no one camping there yet, so all sites were open. It made me want to push harder as we had heard about the best camping spots at the lake that were to the left of the campground and we wanted to reach them before they were taken. We didn’t see anyone else coming up behind us and that meant only those going SOBO could get there before us.

One family we passed by were interested in our adventure and said we were the “first true backpackers” they had seen. As someone on her first section hike, I was pleased to be called a “true backpacker”. I guess I had earned the title by that point.

The final climb was tough. Brutal. So many switchbacks and not great places to step. I also didn’t give myself much recovery time as I really wanted to get to those campsites and knew time every minute took to catch my breath, someone was getting closer in the other direction. I felt discouraged and struggled to find my legs. We finally crested the hill and began the drop to the lake.

The prime camping site was already taken, only a few minutes before, but we got the second best spot. The women who were there before us said they sent their fastest partner ahead to secure that site. I stayed at the campsite while Oliver scouted for any other sites and also locate the eating area and washrooms.

While he was on his scouting mission, a teenage boy came running down the trail from the same direction we had hiked from. He was a trail runner and his family had sent him ahead to try to get one of the two sites that were now taken. That was how popular these two sites were and we had all arrived within minutes of each other.

After dinner, we played a quick game of chess. Somehow, I won. We then decided to take a quick nap because it was too early to go to bed, and then woke up at 9pm. Oops. We were more tired than we thought. So, it was time to get properly ready for bed and end the night, just in time for what we thought was rain beginning to fall.

Read more:

GDT C – Day 9 – Floe Lake to Tumbling Creek
GDT C – Day 10 – Tumbling Creek to McArthur Creek
GDT C – Day 11 – McArthur Creek to Ottertail Trailhead

Today was the day for chores and shopping. We had a great buffet breakfast at the hotel and then went to the basement of the Cascade Mall to do our laundry. While we waited, we searched for a light weight massage tool to take with us on trail and foot care supplies for Oliver. We also grabbed a knee support sleeve at the pharmacy for me to try. I was willing to try anything to get through those downhills.

After flipping our laundry into the dryer, we searched for a game we could play when stuck inside our tent during the rain. We found cloth 3 in 1 game set for checkers and chess that we felt wouldn’t add too much weight.

As we had extended our reservation at the hotel, we had to switch rooms. We moved our packs to a storage room and were passing the time while we waited for our new room to be ready. For lunch we went to a Thai Restaurant where I got a stir fry, I had been desperate for vegetables all morning and the stir fry hit the spot. We then stopped at Cows for ice cream and stopped by the Visitor’s Centre in search of activities we could do that wouldn’t involve a lot of walking. We were looking to rest our bodies.

Out of luck, we went back to the hotel and drank coffee and tea at the lobby café until our room was ready. It had felt like a long day even though we were “resting”. Our muscles were tired and we still had a few more trail days ahead of us.

With our packs in our new room, we set off for Old Spaghetti Factory for dinner where I was thankful they seated us at a bar height table so I could dangle my feet from the stool. Now all that was left for the night was repacking our bags, thinking through what we would need in the morning and what needed to be accessible once back on the trail. Finally, it was time for bed to have another good rest.

Read more:

GDT C – Day 8 – Banff (Floe Lake Trailhead) to Floe Lake
GDT C – Day 9 – Floe Lake to Tumbling Creek
GDT C – Day 10 – Tumbling Creek to McArthur Creek
GDT C – Day 11 – McArthur Creek to Ottertail Trailhead

It was another cold night and everything felt damp in the tent from the dew and condensation. I was half asleep when Oliver smacked the side of the tent to scare away a mouse sitting on top of his backpack in the vestibule. With both of us now awake, we got up at 6:30am to frost on the ground and frozen water filters. We were glad we had filtered our water the day before.

We stepped off at 7:30am and the fireweed was still frozen, saving us from getting soaked feet first thing in the morning. The climb out of Porcupine was challenging and slow. It took about an hour to reach the Citadel Pass junction and there was still more climbing to reach Citadel Pass. We still never saw any bears and continued to make noise to keep them away.

It took a long day to reach the Howard Douglas campground where we stopped for lunch. The outhouse was filled with mouse droppings but someone had created a lock with a stick, so there was that going for it.

Next was the climb up Quartz Hill and it was one of the steepest climbs up the shortest distance. We also heard something thumping around in the bushes across from us and pulled out our bear spray. The noise went away and we assumed we must have started a deer or some other animal that took off, but it got our hearts racing.

When we reached Sunshine Meadows we were excited to see some flat trail ahead but there was still some uphill in our future. When we reached the ski lifts, there were benches to sit on. Of course, we sat. Sadly, the Gondolas weren’t running at Sunshine Village, which is the usual mode of transportation when heading into town for resupply, so we had a road walk ahead of us. My knee wasn’t feeling great coming out of the meadows and definitely flared up on the long winding road. It was also a hot day and we were feeling the heat.

Maintenance vehicles from Sunshine Village and Parks Canada were driving the road, kicking up dust in our faces. Due to insurance issues, they weren’t allowed to give us a ride to the bottom of the mountain. One truck stopped and offered to take our packs and leave them at the building at the bottom and gave us directions to a shaded ski trail that we could take to get us out of the sun. We were appreciative and took them up on their offer.

We eventually got to the bottom, found our bags, and rested before walking up to the parking lot to wait for our trail angel who agreed to bring us in to Banff. We stayed at the Banff Aspen Lodge and decided to take a zero the next day, which allowed us to coordinate with our trail angel for a ride to the Floe Lake trailhead. It did mean shaving off a bit of the trail, but there was a closure at Egypt Lake campground because of bear activity and we would have needed to walk back up the ski hill road to get back on trail and we weren’t excited by that idea.

Once at the hotel we quickly realized we never packed town clothes, so we went to the thrift store and found some clothes to get by while we did our laundry. I spent a long time in the shower taking off layer after layer of dirt as the heat soothed my aching muscles. We also stopped at an Indian Restaurant where I experienced hiker hunger for the first time. I believe I entertained the folks sitting nearby as I practically inhaled a shareable portion of coconut rice and butter chicken. All I can say is, it felt so nice to be in a nice soft bed for the first time in six days and I knew it was only temporary.

Read more:

GDT C – Day 7 – Banff (Zero Day)
GDT C – Day 8 – Banff (Floe Lake Trailhead) to Floe Lake
GDT C – Day 9 – Floe Lake to Tumbling Creek
GDT C – Day 10 – Tumbling Creek to McArthur Creek
GDT C – Day 11 – McArthur Creek to Ottertail Trailhead

It was a cold night and I shivered whenever I woke up. I did manage to stay warm if I snuggled up against Oliver to steal some of his body heat and then didn’t move. I also found it helpful to pull my buff over my lips to keep my face warm. I certainly found it difficult to sleep while cold.

We got out of Magog around 8:45am, but not before we had an amazing view of Mt Assiniboine during breakfast. I can understand why people, like the couple we hiked with the day before, made this location their destination and didn’t continue on down the trail. There are many day hikes to do in the area so may people either hike in or take a helicopter Magog Lake and spend a couple of days there.

Being a chilly morning, we kept extra layers on at the start of our hike. The sky was clear, giving us great views of Mt Assiniboine, but it was cold.

The hike started across several meadows. We were told the grizzly had been seen in that area as well at to keep a watchful eye out for the bear as we passed through. Of course, we didn’t see anything. We were far too noisy, and that was intentional. A close encounter with a grizzly was not on our wish list.

The terrain became a little more rocky as we arrived at Og Lake, which was another stunning spot. It was the only outhouse, besides Magog Lake, that was supplied with toilet paper. It also had a latch on the inside. Probably my favourite outhouse on the trip, if I was ranking them.

The lake was small but beautiful, with a great view of Mt Assiniboine. It was also sunny and anyone camped there had dry gear to pack away – unlike us. We snacked and filled our water bottles before carrying on toward Porcupine.

On our way, we passed through the Valley of the Rocks and it was evident how it got its name. It was full of interesting rock formations and many up and down hills. The valley went on for some time with uneven ground and was a fascinating area to hike through.

The descents irritated my left knee again. Whenever I could do a run/hop/bounce down the hill there was less irritation, but because I wasn’t sure of my footing under the weight of the pack, I was always resisting on the downhills. Plus, whenever I would get confident, I was sure to find that one loose rock that rolled under me to knock me off balance again.

There were more climbs this day that I had understood there would be, but it was the downhill into Porcupine that was the worst. It was a long descent into Porcupine. We met groups going up around 11:30am and 1:30pm and they had a long walk ahead of them to get to Magog Lake.

We got into Porcupine around 3:30pm and could pick whatever site we wanted as the campground was empty when we arrived. A bear locker was full of garbage and stored supplies for someone who had labeled the bag for pick up on Jan/Feb 2021. It was now August.

We filled our water bottles at a nearby creek and basked in the sun before the clouds rolled in. There was a muddy creek behind the campsites but down the path there was a lovely little spot, with a bench, where one could relax and fill up without any mud.

Once again we were at a site with an outhouse without toilet paper and we were running low. Luckily, another couple arrived at the campground. They had discovered they hadn’t brought any toothpaste. Since Oliver and I had our own mini tubes, we did a little trade and found ourselves with enough toilet paper to get us through to when we got to town.

After dinner we climbed into bed and tried to get as much sleep as we could knowing we faced a long climb out of Porcupine the next morning.

Read more:

GDT C – Day 6 – Porcupine to Sunshine Village
GDT C – Day 7 – Banff (Zero Day)
GDT C – Day 8 – Banff (Floe Lake Trailhead) to Floe Lake
GDT C – Day 9 – Floe Lake to Tumbling Creek
GDT C – Day 10 – Tumbling Creek to McArthur Creek
GDT C – Day 11 – McArthur Creek to Ottertail Trailhead

It was a later start to the day as the couple got ready and packed up. We all had to put wet gear away and they needed to figure out what to do with all their canned food and garbage.

The start of the trail was generally easy with wide trails even though it was steep. Then it turned into a “proper” trail with rocky, uneven paths. We found grouse family along the way, which upset the mother who wanted to distract us from her little ones. We also startled a moose, which was far enough away and it ran into a lake to swim across to the other side. We had made enough noise to give it enough warning to make a departure from the area.

The climb became more challenging, but the trail brought us to some amazing snow-capped mountains and turquoise lakes. As we climbed, there was snow on the ground which was deeper as we reached the top of Wonder Pass. The Pass was spectacular and it was hard to believe I was standing on a trail, surrounded by snow. It is a indescribable feeling to stand on top of a mountain pass looking back at the ground you had covered, wondering how you managed to find yourself there.

There was no sign of Bruce the grizzly, even though people we passed had reported seeing him on the trail not long before we crossed through. There were plenty of signs of Bruce, with scat on the trail and plenty of mounds where he had dug up ground squirrels.

The path ended with a stretch of boardwalks leading to Mt Assiniboine Lodge. We had made it in time for Happy Hour at 4pm which campers and hikers could enjoy. We were 20 minutes early, so we sat around at the lodge and imagined what the view of Mt Assiniboine would have looked like if it wasn’t hidden behind the snow clouds. It was actively snowing and when Happy Hour started, we sat with tea and wine while we rested our tired feet

Magog Lake was busy. Many of the bear lockers were already full when we arrived, but there was room on the bear hang. This was the first campground that required campers to set up on the tent pads. Campsite 39 was close to the washrooms, and was in a corner away from the noise of the rest of the campers.

The night, I froze and put on as many layers as I could and stole Oliver’s quilt while he was at the cooking shelter playing board games with other hikers. Sadly, he took his quilt back when he returned to the tent.

Read more:

GDT C – Day 5 – Magog Lake to Porcupine
GDT C – Day 6 – Porcupine to Sunshine Village
GDT C – Day 7 – Banff (Zero Day)
GDT C – Day 8 – Banff (Floe Lake Trailhead) to Floe Lake
GDT C – Day 9 – Floe Lake to Tumbling Creek
GDT C – Day 10 – Tumbling Creek to McArthur Creek
GDT C – Day 11 – McArthur Creek to Ottertail Trailhead

We got up around 7am or so and had our site packed up by 8:30am. It was raining while we were packing, which made it difficult to keep things dry. We said our goodbyes to the Quebecers and got water near the bridge crossing before the campground and set out.

Not too long into the hike, my shoulders were in pain again and were excruciating by the time we reached Birdwood. It was the first time that I was worried about being able to finish the hike as I couldn’t picture being able to endure that much pain for several more days. We spent a significant amount of time adjusting my pack and I took some Ibuprofen. The time spent making the adjustments was a good investment as it worked and I was much happier.

Our feet were very wet today. Both pairs of socks were damp so we chose the least damp pair to start off our day. They were quickly soaked in the rain and the water from the damp brush. Oliver changed his socks part way through the day, but I kept mine on as my spare were too damp for it to have mattered.

The trail was pretty flat with some short climbs, but nothing that would have drained my energy. We sang songs as we passed through meadows and walked through the denser forest to alert any bears of our presence. There were no creek crossings that needed to be forded today and any water in our path we could easily jump over or it had a bridge.

There were more signs of moose, but saw no wildlife. Outside of Birdwood, was an unoccupied ranger cabin with a Canadian flag blowing on the flagpole. It was shuttered, but clearly well maintained.

As we walked, we sent a message on our Garmin to family to ask for help to make a reservation at Big Springs as we were ahead of schedule and would need a permit to stay at the campground. Luckily, they were able to secure a site for us and we were all set for our arrival later that day.

It rained off and on keeping us slightly damp. When we reached the Spray Lakes area, the trail changed to wide and graveled paths, with the odd trail cam strapped to the trees. This was when we started to see people and those we talked to were coming from Mt. Assiniboine. We were cautioned about “Bruce” the 3 year old resident grizzly in Wonder Pass that liked to hang out beside the trails. They told us he was used to people, but you needed to navigate around him as he dug up nearby ground squirrels.

With permits to Big Springs in place, we got campsite 5 (the best one, in my opinion) and started to dry everything out after our arrival around 2:30pm. It was time for a nice, restful afternoon. Camping spots were spacious and we were right next to a creek. Food lockers were all the way down the hill and not a climb you want to make often with sore muscles. With the afternoon to do whatever we wanted, we took a short walk to the spring that fed the creek, which proved to be a little challenging in crocs, which I had changed into at the campsite.

We had dinner with a couple were on their way to Mt. Assiniboine and we decided to hike together tomorrow to increase our hiking party to four for when we ran into Bruce the grizzly. The rain hit and we all retreated to our tents by 7pm.

Read more:

GDT C – Day 4 – Big Springs to Magog Lake
GDT C – Day 5 – Magog Lake to Porcupine
GDT C – Day 6 – Porcupine to Sunshine Village
GDT C – Day 7 – Banff (Zero Day)
GDT C – Day 8 – Banff (Floe Lake Trailhead) to Floe Lake
GDT C – Day 9 – Floe Lake to Tumbling Creek
GDT C – Day 10 – Tumbling Creek to McArthur Creek
GDT C – Day 11 – McArthur Creek to Ottertail Trailhead