| Camping, camping and more camping Let's see... I guess this post starts last Thursday when I started coming down with a cold and my neck cramped up again. What!?!?! I have plans!!! I took lots of drugs, used lots of Tiger Balm and went to bed early. I'd booked Friday afternoon off, but I ended up calling in sick and sleeping late. Then it was more drugs, more Tiger Balm before Stuart and I loaded all the gear in the car and took off for Calgary. We got to the industrial district with perfect timing for his third interview. I sat out in the sun while he was gone for about an hour. It turns out that it was more of a tour of the plant, a chance to meet the plant manager and time to take the HR mandated exams, since they seem quite happy with him. When that was done, we headed across town to Kay and David's new house. Honestly, I don't see much difference, except that it's bigger. *shrug* Still nice though, if you like those mix n' match cookie cutter style things. Not my choice, but it suites them nicely. We went out for all you can eat sushi and hung out for a bit before bed time. In the morning, we repacked our stuff and I decided that I was well enough to attempt our planned trip. However, we had forgotten the trekking poles and I knew I was gonna need 'em, so we swung by Mike and Angie's to borrow theirs before finally hitting the road to Banff. Banff Ave is still a total mess, but we managed to find parking and head to the Park Office, because the other thing we forgot was the camping pass. Doh! Parks Canada really, seriously needs to join at least the 20th century - when we explained our problem, the clerk went away and came back with a stack of about 300 carbon copies, not in any discernable order. We stood while he went through them one by one, looking for ours. It was an intermittable wait, but eventually we had it. Then it was up to the Sunshine parking lot (Sunshine Village is a very popular ski area.) We geared up and headed out, completely missing the trailhead sign and beating our way about a km down the wrong path before getting ourselves straightened out. Finally though, about 2 hours later than planned, we were on our way; the weather was perfect for hiking, the path was well maintained, if much more "up" than I was happy with and it would have been lovely if I'd been feeling better. Unfortunately, most of it just felt like a slog. It was worth it though, because Healy Meadows were beautiful - in full bloom with mountain lilies and other flowers. Healy Pass was still under snow, but the view was spectacular everywhere you looked - mountains and streams and lakes and sunshine and no sign of humanity except for us. Wow! From the pass, it was a fairly steep drop into Egypt Lakes, where we were camping. The wardens were in and the pads were full. It's a fair large camp area, having about 15 pads and a little ski lodge that holds 10 (on sleeping platforms, nothing fancy!) There are several paths into Egypt Lakes and people had either started earlier or move faster than us, so we got the last pad on Saturday night. It was obviously still free because we had to dig out the ice in one corner. Stuart got up Sunday morning to run to Shadow Lake and I slept until about 11:30. Bliss! Less blissful was waking up to discover the tent covered in itty, bitty black bugs that were actually small enough to fit through the mesh of the tent sides. They didn't bite or anything, but there were just thousands of them and everytime you moved you left a black smear. Bleah. By the time Stuart was back and we'd eaten, several groups had packed up and left, so we emptied the tent, shook everything out and moved to a new pad. Voila! No more black bugs. Phew. There was a full moon which was great when getting up for a mid-night outhouse trip. It was like a spotlight on the mountain and made it more like walking through the twilight - just beautiful. We were back on the trail by about 10:20 Monday morning and I wasn't sure about the 3.5km climb back out of the valley to the pass. It was the only way out though, so I put my head down and just did it - surprisingly I made it to the pass in about an hour and twenty minutes, much better than the 2+ hours I'd mentally allotted. It was the hottest, clearest day so far - about 28C, so the view from the pass was even more spectacular and a new species of flower had bloomed in the Meadows, where we stopped (along with everyone else!) for lunch. Then it was just 10km of tramp down hill. It was hot and a big damp, but all in all a nice walk down. My legs just aren't that strong yet, so I was being careful of my knees. (Continuous downhill with a 25lb pack is hard on the joints!) The most noticable result was that everyone on the trail passed us on the way. Oh well. Even at that, I was starting to drag by the end and when I caught sight of the Lodge roof I was sooooo happy. In what has fast become tradition, we hit the Banff hotsprings and the Grizzly Paw for dinner before heading home. The Paw has great food, but the service is so bloody slow... we always get home about an hour and half later than planned and it's because of that. Fortunately, our trip this weekend is to Jasper, so that temptation will be gone. Yes, today after work, we head west instead of south. Stuart is going to run Skyline from Maligne Lake about half way up and back. The plan was to run the whole thing, but it's still snowbound at the higher elevations. I think I'll do the Bald Hills loop while he's off being crazy. On the interview front - we still haven't heard back. Stuart was going to call them today, if he hadn't heard by lunch time or so. More when we get official word. Ciao! | 
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