Well, my summer is shot. Not in a bad way, though.

On July 14th, we (Dad and I) depart from the south end of Yoho National Park on our back-packing journey. We head north through Yoho and then east into Banff and farther east into Siffleur Wilderness. Heading north again, we end up in the Cline River area in the Front Range. Then it's west again into The White-Goat Wilderness area. From the White Goat we head over the Cataract Pass into the southern end of Jasper National Park. From here, we head north-west along the Glacier Trail through Jasper, along some well-traveled routes and some very remote routes. We end the journey along the popular, but super-scenic Skyline Trail just outside the Jasper townsite.

We arrive in Jasper townsite on August 12. Along the way we'll bag some peaks, ford some deep rivers, climb some passes, slide down scree slopes, beat off horseflies and avoid bears. We will be totally self-contained for the entire journey. Close to 400km's of the journey has no established trails and we expect to see little or no human contact. During the month we'll probably see rain, hail, snow, electrical storms, sun and frosty mornings. Hopefully we'll also see bears (not too close, though), moose, caribou (rare, so I hope so!) and tons of other wildlife. Almost 150km's is above treeline, so tenting is a must. (Ultra-light hammocks don't work so well without trees)

As there are no trails for a bunch of the trip, route finding will be challenging and fun.

Two months to study maps! Can't wait!!

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John Shellenberg
1998 C230 "Black Betty" 240K

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Oh, yah! Nice. can I come along?

You said no contact with peeps for a month. Are you carrying month's worth of food from the start. Ouch! The trip does sound super nice though. Will you be taking pictures and would you post some here? Man, I just don't get my timberline exposure here in flat IN.
Do you fool with bear repellant?

Good luck and have fun.

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72 W114/M130

RedMeat cartoon

Heading out to WA to climb Ranier on June 22nd. Ground to top in 3 days, no tenderfoot vehicle ride to Camp Muir, walking all the way up. I'll be 1,000 ft higher than I've been so far. Can't wait...

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1982 Mercedes-Benz 300CD
1982 Mercedes-Benz 240D - stick

How very cool. Even cooler that you're doing it with Dad. How I wish mine were around....

Have fun, take lotsa pics, and try not to feed the bears!

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You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows - Robert A. Zimmerman

Yup, we're heavy at the start, but as we eat, the load gets lighter. 45lbs at the start, 13 at the end. No crampons or ice axes, so I hope the snow is gone from some of the high passes we have to go over. By August it usually, and the highest passes are all after August 1. We thought about going over the Abbot Pass and through the Death Trap from Yoho to Banff, but carrying the glacier travel gear for the rest of the trip would be a hardship. Also, Dad wasn't keen on dodging school bus sized seracs that tumble constantly through the Death Trap. (hence it's name...)

Ranier looks like a blast. 14,xxx feet. It's close enough that I might give 'er a go sometime. I hear the glacier is one of the fastest around and therefore the crevasses are huge (like 200' plus deep) and the ice unpredictable.

When I get back, I'll waste a bunch of MB-Shop bandwidth and post some pics, for sure. Here's a teaser from my conquering an un-named peak last October. We got a weekend of unusally warm weather, so I whipped out and climbed!

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Usually, no. In areas where there is only a few people a year travel to, bears are really scared of people. They RUN if they spot you. I've been face to face with black bears and grizzlies, and never been harmed yet. In the Kootnays a grizzley sniffed me from head to toe before moving on.

However, the Brazeau Loop and Skyline are busy areas in Jasper, meaning that the "local" bears are more used to people. We'll probably take some bear-spray and bear bangers. Bangers usually work very well, and mean keeping your distance. The spray only works up close and personal, and is last resort kinda stuff. Also, since those two parts of our trip are busy, there is bound to be some MORON that cooks some salmon or bacon and brings some human-savvy bear RUNNING to the camp sites. One morning in the Tonquin Valley it was raining and these people cooked bacon inside their tent. We packed as fast as humanly possible and ran away. Sure enough, a bear "visited" them in their tent shortly after.

With 1200km's of trails in Jasper alone, I've got lots of summers of fun left. When my daughter gets older, we'll thru-hike the Great Divide Trail from Montana to northern Alberta. It's about 1300 km's, which is short by AT or PCT trail standards, but since most of it has no real trail, it's a tough task.

The 13lb pack and the picture seemed familiar and now I remember, you were the one who posted on your trip to Monshees.

I just wondered about the bear repellant because a lot of people in the western states seemed overly freaked out about them. I ain't skeert. I'd rather go by bear then by a drive by anyday.

The great devide trail sounds like something I'd love to do since I am not that big on hiking maintained trails.

Have you ever done the Conaly? (sp?) I read about it a while ago and thought that it would be a nice wilderness experience too.

Anyway, keep us posted...

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72 W114/M130

RedMeat cartoon

Sounds like a totally awesome adventure!

As far as bears go, the way you're gonna smell after the first week, I'm sure they will keep their distance....:p

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Dean Albrecht
"Lead, follow, or better yet, get out of the way!"E500 owners motto

LOL! Originally my wife was going to pick us up at the end, so as not to leave a car for a month. When she realized that we will not have showered for nearly an entire month, she suddenly declined. We'll do our best to keep clean, but let's face it, we'll be pretty rank by the time the trip has come to an end. At 2500M of elevation, the lakes and tarns are not far from their glacier origins, so the water is COLD. REALLY COLD.

Also, soap products are environmentally bad, as well as carry a scent (all soaps do) that is really attractive to bears. So, soap is out.

To save weight, we carry no spare clothing but for socks. By wearing fast drying fabrics, it's possible to even ford a deep river or withstand a serious storm and be dry very quickly. Socks are the one thing that you really need dry, so a spare pair to dry while moving is essential, in my opinion. Fording is done with boots/socks off to keep footwear dry. If the bottom is too rocky or rough, then remove your socks and ford with your boots on and no socks. Shoes/boots dry quick, but socks stay wet inside your boots for ages. Slip some dry socks on, and your feet will be comfy even if your boots are soaked through.

The one "luxury" I'm taking this trip (and the ones prior, this year) is my new GPS. I'll still carry paper and compass, but having a GPS track for future reference will be neat. I've been playing for the last few weeks, and it looks like a valuable addition to my gear. Frankly, I was reluctant, as I have seen it as a toy, not a real navigation tool. I have changed my mind about that.

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John Shellenberg
1998 C230 "Black Betty" 240K

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