Eric Praetzel - West Coast 2015 Trip

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Diary

2016 Kia Rio 5 1.6L 137 hp rated 6.3 / 8.5 L/100km average 6.09 L/100km from 10100 to 13000 km  GDI

 2 weeks hiking 

 Food - 8c water, 4c oats breakfast + dates & raisins
 Food - aprox $500 food, $2k flight, $1k car, $1k camping / entrance fees

 Aug 11 fly out - overnight in Calgargy missed flight

 Aug 12 

 Aug 13 31C outside - not too hot - dry - Qualicum Beach, Deep Bay Marine Field Station

 Aug 14 North Island Wildlife Recovery & Edu Center

 Aug 15 Eric in Victoria, hiked Mt Douglas

 Aug 16 Cathedral Grove McMillan Prov. Park, Horn Lake Caves 1.5 hour tour, 2-string kite on beach

 Aug 17 Nanamiao, ferry Enterprise rental like sitting in a bucket - see over dash?

 Aug 18 Tuesday, Vancouver Aquarium, horrible driveing in city

 Aug 19 hard time finding Golden Ears Park, , Klahanie Campground was hard to find in the dark  around Squamish

 Aug 20 Thursday - some light at 5:30am, 9 min to heat 7c water for oatmeal, almost missed the 2km road to Garabaldi trailhead - hiked to Garabaldi lake campsite (1/2 full) with gear, then pushed to the Tusk - nice cooking cabins at Campsite

 Aug 21 - packed out -sunrise over the lake was nice - right knee pain bad, stunning shoulder pain from the duffle-pack, drove to Lilooet, twisty slow road - views around Lilooet are amazing, Steelhead Prov Park 
 nearely 150 pictures up at Garabaldi nearly drained battery.  Whistler was horrible to drive in - would have liked to do Wedgemont and Singing Pass
 Water levels everywhere are very low, cold morning

 Aug 22 - Saturday


Aug 22 - Sat - desert country - lots of sprinklers growing hay?
 we don't see cattle and only a few horses
 - no real grocery stores since vancouver - no fresh fruit
 @Garabaldi someone tried to pry the passenger door
 Mt Revelstoke - we stopped at most viewpoints and hiked 1km to top and did hte fire tower trail
 - moleskin is helping with blisters but knee pain is a given on downhills
 - stunning view of valleys and mountains at top - but strong wind
 - no camping here - so we stayed close at the KOA
 - trying to find a grocery store in Kamloops was hard - tons of big box stores were easy to find but not grocery

 Aug 23 - 9C
 - Railroad loop at Glacier NP - easy 
 campsite @Illicilliet campground
 - drove to Rogers pass after find that hikes require 4 adults due to bears
 hiked Balu Pass - rated 4h 12.8km 788m
 - visability got progressively worse - due to USA fire smoke
 4pm at campsite - trying to figure out what to do tomorrow and beyond
 - trying to get trail information is difficult - there used to be a national park newsletter that covered all trails
 - now there are various maps with bits of information on one and bits on another
 Okanogan vally has lots of smoke apparently


Aug 24 - cool night, still hazy, 6C nights - 
 end of day Golden Municipal Campground
 insane amount of misquitoes
 took short loop of the fuins of Glacier House
 Perley Rock trail 10.8km 1143 elevation gain - smoke got worse during the day
 Golden had IGA with good prices and met park warden from Jasper with info about good hikes
 the hike we hoped to do only went 3.3km before it was loose scree and is no longer recommended - but we'd hiked that part via the trail we did
 Groups of 4+ for bear protection required


 Aug 25 - Tuesday
 8C overnight, ripe peaches via IGA - yea
 The smoke forecast is bad - so we're going to Jasper - but an Info center gave us bad news so Drumheller
 Drove to 11 Bridges Campground at 1:30pm
 Atlas Coal Mine 90 min mine tour
 Hoodoos rest area - lots of people and destruction 
 Rosedale Suspension Bridge
 27C - neat how in the big flat area all of a sudden Drumheller is in a channel cut in the landscape

 Aug 26 - Wednesday
 5:30pm Chrimson Lk Prov.l Rec. Area panorama - looks like Ontario
 Tyrell Museum 9am to 2:15pm and that was enough - information overload
 John Acorn not credited in movies at Tyrell
 - ground squirrels tame enough to touch 
 stayed at Fish Lake Prov. Rec. Area $32/night with a "gov. mandated wheelbarrow of firewood"
 coal seams are 18" to 5' thick and they only mine out the coal

 Aug 27 - Thursday
 getting potable water here is a long walk, no misquitoes
 4:15pm Wabasso campground
 - tried Pobnoktan hike - but it was hard to find and very unused - a bridge was gone and we thought that the trail exists on the other side of the river - but at that point we gave up
 - Sunwapta Falls, Athabasca Falls
 - saw bighorn sheep by the road
 - with rain in the forcecast we're doing a big hike tomorrow
 - icefieldcenter hiked the glacier toe trail - saw video feed from Lk Louise  and nope - not going there yet
 - last night we saw a small wolf or very large fox cross the road
 - had enough of camping - back doesn't like it
 - Park Ranger from Quebec - semi-retired .... with good hiking info

 Aug 28 - Friday
 15C overnight, sky partially clear
 - Medicine Lake, Maligne Lake, Opal HIlls hike 8.2km 460m gain - nice hike, short steep, easy start
 - we went clockwise so had a forest hike before the alpine meadow - and some light rain.  Then rain and
 heavy rain on the last 30 minutes - found a dead animal in a hole
 - Fire Tower hike - about 1 km in - green forest then burnt - amazing mix of death and life and it's 7 weeks after the fire
 - Valley of Five Lakes 8.5km, not remarkable, the long loop was pointless
 - campsite had a shower - yeaaaaa
 - elk cow and calf in campground




 Aug 29 - Saturday
 7am 9C light drizzle
 the day depends upon visibility
 I slept in a sweater with long pants and socks - that helped

 Mt Edith Cavel - light rain - hints of views
 The hike had some great views - stable screen and wind, a mix of sun, rain, smoke and cloud
 -0 drove to Peto lake to hike upto a where a fire tower was - light rain towards the half way point then medium rain and heavy rain as we drove away
 - drove towards Lake Louise, stayed at Misquito Lake CAmpground - cooking shelters!
 - we had a brief hailstorm

 Aug 30 - Sunday
 5am 7C, rain bursts overnight 
 - bits of snow at higher elevations
 - hiked about 4km towards Lake Helen with some great views - we headed to a high meadow where we thought the lake might be and then turned around.  Rain started 45 min from the start and we had medium rain the last 30 min - heavy rain when we got into the car
 - hiked the paint pots - it's getting run down - interperative trail
 - visitor center in Banff  - we're cold, mostly dried out
 - drove to Banff Hotsprings for a dip - really nice - then more driving rain and back to Lake Louise campground
 - hiked along Lake Louse - good views - two more blisters on my feet - wet running shoes are great for blistering me!
 - a cold night is in store - but it's our last one!
  
 Aug 31 - Monday
 6am 5C = cold night with rain several times
 - my back is sore from this camping - I'm glad it's over
 - the 450g Primus fuel canistor ran out at supper last night - but recent suppers have only heated food to warm
 - hiked Big and Little Beehive and 6 Glaciers trail - about 21km
 - the 6 Glaciers Trail had nice views- but rain and lots of wind
 - some light snow at higher elevations adding a nice frosting onto peaks