8 September 2016, Thursday It is a 3 degree C morning, and of course it is raining. We were warm overnight in the tent and, thankfully, someone had already started a fire in the cooking shelter. When we arrive it is just warming up. We eat our breakfast. Outside it is very cold and wet. We know the only way to keep warm is to move. No reason to carry
7 September 2016, Wednesday Awake, showered, then breakfast and we are on the road just a bit after 8 am. We proceed back over Kicking Horse Pass. Clouds hug the mountains and in some places the road, as dense fog. We arrive at the Lake O’Hara parking lot a bit after 9. We have a wait for the bus, but the time passes quickly as we converse with park attendants
6 September 2016, Tuesday We awake this morning clean and refreshed. After a breakfast of blueberry pancakes, we say goodby to our Rose Cottage hosts and head for Irvin’s Campground to do our laundry. The time it takes to launder everything is just the right amount of time to reorganize our other camping gear and pack three days of meals and snacks for our Lake O’Hara trip in Yoho national park.
5 September 2016, Monday We went to bed last night hoping the clear skies would persist into morning so we could pack the tent dry, but it is drizzling when we wake. We pack up the inside tent contents and go to the shelter to cook breakfast. We are the first up, but other campers soon emerge. There is friendly chatter all around. By 9:30 we are on the trail
4 September 2016, Sunday We wake this morning to 2 degree temperatures and emerge reluctantly from the tent. The ghostly peak of Mt. Robson glows in the golden mist above, while the base of the mountain is obscured by clouds. It seem enchanted! The calls of robins in the bush seem a bit incongruous. By 9:10 we have eaten and struck camp. We begin our hike downward towards Emperor Falls
3 September 2016, Saturday It rained all night but we remained snug and warm in our tent. We sleep in until 7:45! It is still 5 degrees when we emerge, a good morning for enjoying hot food and hot coffee. We are in no hurry to strike camp. The tent and tarp are sodden, but we’ll be setting up again soon anyway. We finally strike the tent during a break
2 September 2016, Friday We had no rain overnight, but it did get pretty cold. O and I stayed warm under our quilt. We are surprised to find it is not raining when we wake. Today had been forecast to be the worst weather day of our trip. Although it is cloudy, some of the mountain tops are visible. As we pack for our hike it begins to sprinkle a
1 September 2016, Thursday We had lightning, thunder and rain on and off through the night. This morning there are patches of blue in the mostly cloudy sky. Mt. Robson’s peak is obscured. We cook our veggie-sausage frittata and enjoy our breakfast. It’s a long walk to the wash station to do our dishes and brush teeth. We are ready to tackle the Snowbird Trail by 10:20. There are breaks
31 August 2016, Wednesday By 6:45 the shelter at Whitehorn Campground is a flurry of activity as hikers cook breakfast on every kind of camp stove imaginable and people stuff gear into packs for the day’s hike. O and I cook up our grits souffle, dry the tent fly as best we can (it rained during the night) and pack up. We depart around 8:45. Today we gain almost 500
30 August 2016, Tuesday We postponed our breakfast from 6:30 am to 7:30 am since we were up late packing. I was also busy posting the blog until after 11 pm. Maurice cooks us a breakfast of bacon, eggs and toast. By 10 am we are at the trailhead after a brief stop at the visitor center to try to catch Mt. Robson without cloud cover for a photo. It