Y2Y 2001 Update #1

July 9 -  Back on the trail again! After several days of driving and securing food re-supply connections, John Nangle and I have set out on another leg of the Yellowstone to Yukon journey. We left the trailhead at Mount Robson on this picture perfect morning carrying 15 days of food. Heavy packs, but light hearts. The joy to be starting out again was overwhelming.

We made our way up the wide, beaten trail, passing many hikers along the way. This is one of the most popular trails in the entire Canadian Rockies. We soon found out why. The beauty of Kinney Lake and then, The Valley of a thousand Falls, was truly spectacular. The campsite at WhiteHorn was perfect for our first night out.

July 10 - Hiked up to Berg Lake and grand views of Mount Robson and its glaciers. The trail was absolutely breathtaking. Had lunch in front of the Berg Lake shelter. After lunch we walked over the barely-noticeable Robson Pass into Jasper National Park. Here, the trail became fainter and our campsite at Adolphus was much more rustic. We're getting into the wild country now.

July 11 -  A good storm last night and a rather overcast day. We walked down the valley of the Smokey River on a muddy trail. Lots of good tracks; grizz, wolf, wolverine. Wide views interspersed with nice woods walking. Ended up at the beautiful and spacious Chown Creek campsite where I camped 2 years ago.

July 12 -  Left the main trails today, heading up the south side of Chown Creek trying to keep to the open floodplain. Eventually we hit the old trail up to Bess Pass. This is overgrown with lots of blow downs, but easy to follow. Lots of bear sign. John and I both are good "yellers" and we try to make noise when we can't see too far ahead. Lunch at Bess Pass and the trail becomes a nightmare. Two years ago I had ended my trek here, bushwhacking down to the Holmes River. It was some of the toughest hiking I'd ever seen. I thought this "trail" would be easy. But it plunged us into head high alders and willows. Bears have been all over in there - so many false trails. We beat and pull our way through and then up a steep climb, all the while fighting the dense vegetation. Somehow we stay on the "trail" and get above the trees into the alpine zone, our reward for the day. Reaching a high shoulder of the mountain we have a birds eye view of the vast world of wilderness reaching all about us. A steep descent takes us to an old outfitters campsite for the evening.

July 13 -  We've left the little trail at Jackpine Pass and have begun a high route along the Continental Divide. This first day has us all exited. We wander across a vast open alpine plateau. The size of the mountains, the vastness of the land, shrink us. We feel so tiny walking these high places. Lots of Grizzly Bear signs, but no sightings. We drop into a high basin as it begins to rain. Luckily, after we set up tents. It stops just long enough for us to cook dinner and then comes again.

July 14 -  Rain all night and into the morning. We're each carrying a Clip Flashlight Tent, so we each have our own space at night, but we must try to keep the inside of our tents dry. We wait until a break in the rain allows us to pack up. Then we climb into the swirling clouds. It's a neat day. We walk much on the crest of the Divide, or close to it, through a land of rock and ice and lichen. Clouds lift and we get our bearings. We get a boost from the view. Then the skies fall and we walk through the rain and fog. We end our day in another high basin. A patch of sun breaks through and a rainbow forms over the valley below us. What a simple joy to see a patch of light. We hoot and holler with happiness.

July 15 - More rain! And lots of it. All night and all morning…We hang out in our tents. I'm learning how to play a flute Leslie brought from Nepal and John is learning harmonica. We have a marching band! The rain stops about 1:30. We're packed and hiking by 2:30. This is more rugged along the divide so we go up and over a series of passes. Lots of rock hopping. The peaks come into view and then disappear. It's an incredible landscape we journey through. Late in the day we climb to the crest again and walk the spine of the continent. Chalco Mountain and its glaciers are a valley away; our spirits soar with the views. We make camp by 8:30 and wolf down dinner as the rains come again!

July 16 -  Again we are tent bound all morning. The rain pour stops and we break camp by 1:00 to climb up the steep Perseverance Mountain. It was definitely a grunt, especially with our loads, but we both love it. It's like we're in the highest of mountain ranges and the clouds swoop and swirl all about. We reach the peak and begin following the crest north. The ridge becomes a knife-edge and snow poses a few challenges as we make our way. At another pass we decide to take a lower route. The bench we walk starts out good but leads us into slick boulders and dense forest as it begins to pour. We hike on, dropping toward Loren Pass. Finally make camp about 9:00. We set up tents in the downpour cook in the dark. Both of us are soaked and beat. We need some sun.

July 17 - Rain all night and another gray morning. But we're walking by 10:00 and using game trails to make our way around Loren Lake and its neighboring marsh. As we cross the west side we accidentally find an old outfitters camp. Imagine our surprise to find a note in a plastic bag…to me! It's from Roy Howard a friend form BC who was going to join us at Jackpine. He hiked up here and missed us by a day. It was such a joy to have some news from the outside. He'd heard from Leslie and passed on a hello from her, too. We were happy and there was supposed to be a trail down Meadowland creek. We had it made!!!!

But after 100 yards the trail disappears into the willows. We spend until 8:00 p.m. bushwhacking our way down the creek in a steady rain. We stomp across marshes, slogg through willow, beat our way through downfall and a few times are forced to climb steep rock faces. (What a tough day---sounds like fun, huh??) At last we find a nice bench above the creek where we make camp. I use my ground cloth as a tarp and we built a fire, and a shelter of logs. This works for a while, but then it begins to blow with the rain. We both get cold. The price for "adventure".

July 18 - It poured hard ALL night. This was a big one and with the land already drenched, things have begun to flood. This morning I looked over the edge of the bluff expecting to see the clear little stream we followed yesterday. Instead there was a raging torrent of muddy water sweeping around the surrounding forest BUT…it wasn't raining. I got a fire going and we began drying things out. Felt so good! Packed up about 3:00 and bushwhacked over to a trail that led us up and over Little Shale Hill. This was deep with mud and the trail itself was a stream most of the way. Got over to Pauline Creek, but it, too, is in flood. We have a good camp on a little ridge above the raging water. More rain as we bed down for the night.

July 19 - After rain last night we were smiling at the patches of blue sky this morning. As we set things out to dry, I began to monitor the creek level. It was going down, but very slowly. We are far out here and only have so much food, so we have to continue. The skies cloud up again as we decide to build a raft. It takes a long time gathering logs of dead trees, carrying them to the creek and lashing them together. It's a heavy, bulky thing when we're done, and another job to haul it upstream to a staging spot. Finally it is in position. We tie our packs onto it. John finds a calm, narrow spot upstream and swims across. This is where we should have had the raft, but we couldn't get it that far upstream. He retrieves the rope we have tossed across and secures it to a tree. The raft is tied to the other end; with the idea being the rope will pivot the raft to the other shore once it is released into the current. Our other rope doesn't quite reach across, but I throw it just as I push the raft off. That is the plan.

But as I untangle the rope, the raft suddenly takes off on its own. We have a rope pulling on either side of the river. I'm holding onto the rope, but can't pull it back upstream. John is yelling, "Let it go, throw the rope!" So I let it go and heave the rock with my end of the rope. The raft swings into the rapids and the rope from the other side breaks. Away goes the raft with all of our gear, clothing and shelter. I'm only dimly aware of this as I dive into the churning water and swim after the wayward raft. I, too, go bobbing through the rapids, faintly aware of John running through the brush on the other side. Somehow my hand catches one of the trailing ropes and I grab it with a death grip, swim to shore and loop it around a tree. " I got it!" I yell. Within seconds John is pulling the raft and gear to shore. It begins to rain, but we've made it!

We hug and pat each other on the back, glad to be alive and to have our gear, even though much of it is wet. I got a fire going and we set up camp, reliving those frightening minutes all evening long.

July 20 -  Nearly lost the tip of my finger with the rope yesterday. It'll be a long time healing. Awoke to more rain. It weighed on me this morning more than ever and I was dragging bottom as we packed up and headed up a muddy stream, like the trail to Big Shale hill. We will be on a trail from here to Kakwa Lake, our first re-supply point. We climb and climb and as we get higher, my mood lightens and brightens. We begin a long traverse above treeline as the sun begins to break through occasional patches of blue sky. I can't feel down any longer as we crest the ridge and the expansive views stretch all around us. What a joy to be here and experience this place. We drop off the ridge and walk a series of meadows lush with wildflowers, camping at Morkill Pass. NO rush to set up in the rain because it isn't raining. We even have a bit of sun!

July 21 - No rain last night. But a gray misty morning as we went off into a high open alpine basin. We've been in and out of the Willmore wilderness as we criss cross the Divide between Alberta and British Columbia. Now we come across a big sign on a Moose paddle (antler) in the middle of the basin. It seems so out of place to me. The land has been one continuous wild and here is a sign demarking a man made boundary. It's so critical that the Y to Y project looks at this region as a whole.

A few sprinkles before we walk into a dense cloud as we get higher. Our world shrinks to a hundred feet of visibility and we marvel at the beauty of the mystical land we wander through. Coming over a shoulder of Mount Morkill we see a Fox running across the basin below. The clouds open and scatter giving us occasional sun as we reach Fetherstonaugh Mountain. Here we get incredible views and must force ourselves to move along. Camped at a horse camp with more sun for drying things out.

July 22 - Our feet have been wet for days. The ground is very boggy so even when it doesn't rain we often get soaked footgear. John's toes have gone numb. I'm loosing nails. A sunny morning was heavenly. We were singing as we set off down the vast meadows of Caskett Creek. Lots of wolf and bear tracks. Beaver lodges, too. We searched for a cut-off trail to Sheep Creek, but couldn't find it, so we took the well-traveled trail all the way down Caskett Creek to Sheep Creek, and then up Sheep Creek to its vast, open valley-wide meadows. Walking across the open expanses with mountains looming at every turn is majestic. We missed the trail we were looking for and ended up doing a short but intense, bushwhack to find it. Then a long, but glorious ascent into higher basins to climb Surprise Pass, Bastille Mountain rising above on one side and Mount Cote on the other. What a place!!

July 23 - Both of us are excited about reaching Kakwa Lake today. We set out early and make good time. Cecilia Creek is raging, but we find a good place to ford. Then climb to Providence Pass. The trail gets more obscure as we approach Broadview Lake. After eating a hasty lunch, a storm blows in and it begins to pour again. Soon the trail disappears in a series of boggy meadows. Eventually near Kakwa Pass we find the trail again and follow it to Wapumun Lake. So close to Kakwa Lake but a huge Beaver Pond blocks our route and we plow through willows and wade the streams to get around it. We ford the broad river flowing into Kakwa Lake and walk up to the BC parks cabin on the shore of the lake. No one is here. There are 3 cabins and a sign says they are open for public use. We look at each other and whoop!!

As it begins to rain again we have a roof over our heads and a woodstove to dry things. I look over and find our food packages. Rick Roos from BC Parks has left them where he promised! Tonight we speak of him with reverence! What a beautiful spot. We are so thankful to be here.

July 24 We spent a wonderful night at Kakwa Lake. The reflections in the smooth surface are captivating. After cranking up the wood stove, we jump in the lake, wash clothes and dry them in the cabin. It was like Christmas opening our food buckets. There is a letter from Leslie. I was overjoyed to hear from her and start to cry as I read her words.As we were getting ready to leave I was so bummed I couldn't send a note back out. Stepping out of the cabin, though I heard an approaching plane. A floatplane buzzed over, landed and headed our way. The pilot, Keith Monroe, was dropping off his brother, Norm and wife Barbara. They were coming in for 2 weeks as caretakers. It was so fun to see people for the first time in nearly 2 weeks. I sent a letter out to Leslie. Now we head into the next leg of our journey. John and I started this journey having met briefly only twice before. We've become good friends through these daily adventures and are a great team. Knowing we can depend on each other and learn so much from each other we are ready for more!

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