Definitely not quiet backcountry here at Big Springs campground! From Kananaskis on, there has been a lot of plane noise (probably from the busy Calgary airport), day and night. It sounds like a 2min long thunder every 10-15 min; Ksanka even mistook it for that in the beginning. Now add to that the Assiniboine helicopter madness and you can guess the noise level! At least the helis won’t be flying at night …
The trail is also very busy here in the park, so many people hiking into or out of Assiniboine! It was a bit of a shock (and no longer possible to chat with everyone).
The night at Burstall was good, no disruptions and no condensation. In the end there were 5 other people and two other dogs there. We were the first ones out of camp (at least one other party was just doing a day hike today) even though we had a short day ahead of us.
Of course as soon as I had the tent empty and started packing it up, it started raining! Literally only for 3 minutes while I quickly folded up the tent and the groundsheet … after that it was fine! I think the weather is teasing me … 🤔😆
Only 14km were to be covered today, to Big Springs. And it didn’t even have any passes or steep sections, it just meandered through the forest and through meadows.
At times it was a bit overgrown and gave us the “car wash” kind of treatment (wet pants) but overall no big effort. It’s too bad it’s so difficult to lengthen today a bit and shorten tomorrow (about 30km I think) but that’s just how the camps work out. The weather held, half the day was overcast and half sunny. Overall dry and perfect; just the smoke was worse today than yesterday.
We only met one couple early on, and then another 3 people just before we hit the junction with the main trail. It’s such a highway, nice to be striding out! And lots of signs!
So we were able to set up early at campsite 2 … it has a cute camp host 😆
Who is obsessed with sticks!
The camp is right by the bridge over a rushing creek and the water is ice cold! As before, the eating and food storage areas are quite a ways away, all the way down the hill.
The camp is slowly filling up with 3 other pads occupied now (there are 5 official ones). One is a GDT section hiker (C) who came late. As opposed to Waterton, the pads in the parks here have soft wood chips 👍🏻
Despite the shorter distance today it still feels like a full day! We have been dealing with some minor gear issues (water bladder, the hiking app as mentioned, gaiters) but it’s nothing serious. I think the rest of the way here in the parks can be found with signs alone! And the pants have been patched … gotta love Tenacious Tape, highly recommended for many applications!
I prepped everything for an early start tomorrow: breakfast drink ready to go, dog food portioned out, I even left my contact lenses in. I hope to get up by 6am and leave quickly to have enough time for the bigger day.
There are two options to get into the Assiniboine core: Wonder Pass and Assiniboine Pass. Everybody has been recommending Wonder Pass so that’s the plan (longer and higher up but must be worth it).
Happy trails!