Theme |
Rockwall – Kootenay National Park
TripMaster |
Jason Tolton
MVP |
Big Jay
So this was Tolton’s year, and what a great job he pulled off for our 40th trip around the sun! The destination was Kootenay National Park for 3 nights over 4 days in the backcountry.
Big and Little Jays started the week prior with a motorcycle tour via Revelstoke/Nakusp, Whitefish and back up via the Going to the Sun road in Glacier National Park. Then the rest of the trip began after Mark and Ian joined us on Wednesday night at the Ghost reservoir then onwards to Kootenay the next day.
The plan was to enter at Paint Pots, get to Helmet Falls camp the first night, over Limestone Summit and Rockwall Passes the second day and camp at Tumbling Creek the second night, with an epic day the following day to get to Floe Lake over Numa Pass, then stumble out the final day to the highway. As luck would have it: the rain started just as we were walking away from the parking lot at Paint Pots and effectively didn’t stop until we packed it in after the second night and exited stage left via Numa Creek. Our feet and gear were soaked with no hope of drying out, and we had several messed up joints and internal organs indicative of how old we were!
It turned out to be the right move, but put us in Banff townsite on the Saturday night of a long weekend in August. With no hotel prospects in Lake Louise, Banff, Canmore, Kananaskis or even Calgary, we ended up in my basement to the surprise of Jody. After a hot tub, pizza and beer we all settled into what we all agreed was much more comfortable accommodations. The final day – Sunday had us doing a bit of a tour-a-la-Tolton around Cochrane with a round of 18 holes at Glenn Eagles in great weather.
We all came away with a new windproof jacket embroidered with a new trip logo – hopefully the start of a new tradition. A great trip.
Cole, unfortunately, couldn’t join us this year as he was busy finalizing his first multi-100,000 dollar purchase on Vancouver Island. The good news is next year is his to plan – can’t wait to see what he comes up with. Thanks guys, for a great trip. Happy 40th.
