Quick sunny jaunt up to a lovely campsite.
Mosquito Creek TH to Mosquito Creek Campsite, 5.1 km, 151 m elevation gain, 2 hrs 7 min.
The weather was favourable for hiking was we prepared to leave Canmore but it was smokey which put a damper on things. Before leaving Canmore we had one last piece of equipment to pick up, a bicycle. The trailheads for the hike are separated by about 11 km on Hwy 93. It is a pretty long walk but very short bike ride. The plan was to stop at our starting point and everyone but Jordan would get out. Jordan would then drive the car to our terminus at the Helen Lake Trailhead and ride back down the road, a net 11 m descent, back to meet us to begin the hike. This way the car would be waiting for us when we finished.
During the drive there was a long discussion about “contiguous”. We ended up having to text Laura to get an answer to our question. I was wondering if Bent was getting concerned about the group he signed up to hike with.
The level of conversation was high as we left the road but the trail heads up steeply for several several minutes resulting in the buzz of conversation being replaced with the sound of heavy panting.
After the initial climb the trail tracks steady but pleasant gradient for the rest of the day. Micah warned Jordan that I may ask physics questions so I jumped in quickly asking him to explain why the Pauli Exclusion Principle exists for certain particles and not others. It was obvious to both Micah and Jordan but I am lacking some of the background physics to full grasp the why. As I write this I have several tabs open on my computer explaining various aspects of my question. It’s a quest.
Even though it was a short hike it is always nice to arrive in camp. It was interesting that neither of the campgrounds on this trip, Mosquito Creek and Fish Lakes, have received any recent upkeep from Parks Canada. On the Sawback all the campsites had tent pads with wood chips but on this trip it was basically set your tent up where you want. There was one tent already set up when we arrived. It belonged to an older couple, like older than me, who had used the campground as a staging area to go visit the flowers in the meadow below Molar Pass. The flowers are worth the trip.
The evening at Mosquito Creek Campground was quiet but pleasant. We had to of course set up our tents and have dinner. But the temperature was very pleasant and the late setting summer sun encouraged some exploring.
We all headed to bed just after 9 pm. Tomorrow was another short day at just over 10 km but it had been a pretty full day starting with the cancelling of our original trip that was months in the planning but our challenges had been very small compared to what was currently facing the people of Jasper.
Later in the evening around 10 pm we all heard voices from across the creek coming down the trail from the meadow. The first voice was a young girl followed by what sounded the voice of adult man. I figured that they must be late arrivals to to the camp but they headed on through and never stopped. I was slightly shocked as it was a minimum 2 hr walk out to the car. We all discussed the family in the morning. The consensus was that they hiked up to the alpine meadows for the flowers (they were gorgeous as we would see on day 2) and mistimed how long the trip would take.
After that bit of unexpected excitement it was time for bed. It had been an easy day on trail but the day had a stressful start but we were in the backcountry and all safe.
Day 2 Molar-Pipestone-Dolomite Circuit 2024