And we are back! Tucked into the tent at Boulton Creek campground in Kananaskis, in Peter Lougheed park. A busy day but all went well!
Even though everything was ready and packed, I somehow had a hard time sleeping last night. Not sure why!
All I had to do in the morning was get up, have a coffee, shower and get on the road. And that’s what we did. After just a few chores, we left the house at 9AM. With a stop at the bakery in Canal Flats and for some gas we made good time and arrived at Paint Pots trailhead around noon.
After carefully picking a spot where the car would wait for us for a week (it is a common thing to leave a car here for most people who hike the Rockwall Trail) we were ready to start our adventure.
Our friend Martin had gracefully offered to drive us from Paint Pots to Kananaskis but it also made sense to try to cover some of that distance going east on our own to save some time.
So I literally walked along a few cars in the parking lot, saw a guy changing into Birkenstock after putting a bigger backpack into his car and asked him if he was heading east. Jackpot! David was going back to Calgary after two nights of backpacking and was happy to drop us off in Canmore. We had a great chat about trails and campgrounds (and the thick smoke that was sadly hanging around the mountains!) and were glad to save Martin a chunk of driving!
Soon we were at the visitor centre in Canmore and happy to see Martin arrive! After a quick car change, we were on our way to Kananaskis. Great to catch up with our friend and sharing stories from our adventures.
We went straight to Elk Pass trailhead where my food box was waiting for me in a locker. I had used a service promoted by the GDTA that delivers a food box to the trailhead so that hikers don’t have to leave the area to resupply. I just had to mail my box to Calgary.
After a bit of searching for the lockers, we found them off the parking lot in the trees and happily retrieved our food box. It’s kind of weird to see your stuff sitting in a remote place and just waiting for you! There’s also a hiker box where one can leave extra food, and a GDT log to sign.
After that we made the quick drive to the Boulton Creek camp where I had decided to spend the night. There are multiple campgrounds in the area, but Boulton Creek has showers and Wi-Fi and is generally convenient.
While I was getting my campsite registration sorted out, Martin chatted with some bike packers who I ended up spending most of the evening with. After the registration, we drove to my campsite and I was able to give some of my extra items to Martin, to be picked up the next time we see each other. It was just additional stuff since I had planned for a rest day here in Boulton Creek and I didn’t need all the heavy rest day food for myself and the dog.
Promptly just after Martin left and I had started to put the groundsheet up for the tent it started thundering and spitting rain. I guess I’m used to it by now! So I quickly set up the tent, put everything inside and was hiding out for a little bit to wait out the worst of the storm.
When it let off Ksanka and I had some food, then packed up dog and human food and headed over to the bear boxes. We dropped all food except for some snacks that we were still working on, and made our way down to the Trading Post again. This campground is very spread out so it is a hike to get there, maybe 15 minutes.
After we arrived there, the storm got worse and there was quite a bit of rain and thunder which Ksanka did not like at all. I was just hanging out using the Wi-Fi and trying to charge my phone which was a little tricky because the outlets are in the open around the common area so it was difficult to protect it from the rain.
Chris and Dean also arrived sorting out some of their own needs. At around 6:45pm I made my way back up the hill, stopped at the washrooms to get ready for the night and then headed to the tent. I spent some time hanging around the campfire at Chris and Dean’s and had a great time talking about gear and their bike packing adventure. It’s now 9PM and we’re ready to sleep. Tomorrow is not an overly long day for hiking so there’s no need for a very early start.
Happy trails!