Skip to content
Boot Wreckers
Menu
  • Home Page
  • Hiking Day Trips
    • Aylmer Lookout Banff NP
    • Mt Allan Traverse (Centennial Ridge)
    • Mt Nomad (almost) – Kanananaskis Country
  • Backpacking – Overnights
    • Baker Lake 2020 Banff NP
    • Exploring Waterfalls with Volcano – Yoho NP
    • Fish Lakes – Banff NP, Alberta
    • Floe Lake/Numa Creek, Kootenay NP, British Columbia
    • Floe Lake (Revisited 2019) – Kootenay NP
    • Grand Canyon Corridor Backpacking Trip
    • Hermit Trail to Hermit Meadows – Glacier NP, British Columbia
    • Howard-Douglas Lake – Banff NP (2017)
    • Leman Lake – Banff, NP
    • Mystic Lake – Banff NP
    • Ribbon Lake Kananaskis Prov. Park 2016 – Ribbon Creek Route
    • Ribbon Lake Kananaskis Prov. Park 2017 – South Buller Pass Route
    • Simpson and Healy Pass – Banff NP (2016)
    • Stenton Lake – Alberta Wildlands Prov. Park
  • Backpacking – Multi Day
    • Arizona Trail Passages 16/17
    • Brazeau Loop – Jasper National Park
    • Egypt Lake Epic – Banff NP
    • Egypt Lake Exploration 2021- Banff NP
    • Grand Canyon Hermit – South Kaibab
    • Grand Canyon – Tanner/Beamer Trail
    • GR20 – Corsica
    • Great Divide Trail Hike – Section C 2020
    • Great Divide Trail Hike – Section E 2021
    • Iceline/Twin Falls – Yoho NP
    • Kilimanjaro – Tanzania
    • Mt Assiniboine Lollipop – Banff NP
    • Rockwall North 2020 Kootenay NP
    • Sawback – Banff NP
  • The Team
  • Contact Us
Menu

Day 2 Arizona Trail Passages 16/17

The feature Emily affectionately called The Thumb.

Wild Camp on Gila River (-111.10906, 33.10830) to Wild Camp on Ridge (-111.13407, 33.19439), 22.5 km, 1070 m Elevation Gain, 448 m Elevation Loss, 8 hrs 25 min.

\

After getting up in the middle of the night to view the stars we slept in a bit. I crawled out of the tent at 7:30 am. Our morning routine is the opposite of the evening. Emily works packing up the tent and everything inside while I make coffee and retrieve our blocks of Logan Bread that we have for breakfast. It was an amazing sunrise and a lovely morning to be on the trail. Being the first morning on the trail we were a little rusty and it took us 1 hr and 15 min to pack up camp. Emily pointed out that I need a better packing system to be more efficient. I carry the tent and I like to have the tent in the bottom of my pack so it has to go in first. But the tent is the last thing to be taken down. So all my stuff is on the ground waiting to be packed until finally the tent is ready. Luckily I have all my stuff in bags so it does not really take too long to pack up but I could probably be more efficient.

Good morning sun.
The sun filling the tent filling the tent with early morning light.
Our campsite snuggled in among the trees and cacti.
Emily and our stuff, little disorganized. You can see some rocks in a ring. No signs of fire but people have camped here before.
All tidied up 8:45 am.

We descend the ridge and hike along in a shaded valley for a few minutes. We climbed up a small bank into brilliant morning sunshine. The sun will be with us all day but never gets hot, just a nice hiking temperature.

Shady start.
In small canyon.
Into the sunshine.
Classic desert scenery.
Cacti and blue skies. Going to be a good day.

The trail is almost pancake flat for the first 4.7 km as we hike along the Gila River. There are small ups and downs but only a few metres each way just enough to keep things fun. We came across a cardinal flying from bush to bush. I chased carefully after it trying to get a good picture. The sun was back lighting the cardinal making it just a dark splotch but I did manage to get one good picture.

Emily off down the trial. Well graded and smooth.
Best picture of the cardinal.

You can see that the trail has had a lot of thought put into it during the building process. The trail never climbs very steeply. To avoid the steep inclines the trail weaves in and out of the little valleys that come to the river in an attempt to find a nice gradient to climb up the other side. As opposed to taking a more direct approach that would result in steeper climbs. This practice of finding nice inclines increases the length of the trail. At one point I had measured the distance that we had traveled in a straight line to be 9 km, but my Viewranger app had said we had hiked 14 km!

A well graded trail.

There is a lot of mining activity in Arizona and we can lots of evidence along the trail. There were numerous holes dug into the ground and into the side of hills. We also lots of green rocks caused by oxidized copper.

Good morning desert. The hole in the foreground appears to have been dug out by someone. It was very round and about 5 feet deep.
Closed off tunnel.
Copper.
Another tunnel.

We stopped for a few minutes for Emily to attend to her feet. Emily’s shoes were quite worn out and the lack of cushioning was bruising the back of her heels.

We continued hiking along the river but never coming down to the river itself. The valley becomes quit wide and the area beside the river has been fenced off for the cows keeping us up and away from the river.

Looking east, double sun star.
The valley has widened. Emily is dropping down to walk in the trees.
One final time in the grass before turning north towards the canyons.

After 90 minutes of hiking and 4.75 km we come to the junction where we leave the Gila River to head north into the canyons.

Trail junction, turn right.
Heading up a jeep track. We will be cutting across the slope to our right. More elevation in our future.
Looking back from where we have come.

The trail is continually uphill for the next 4 km only rising 200 m, so a very pleasant 50 m/km grade. After less than 10 minutes we come to our first junction. Staying to the left we left the jeep road follow a trail around the side of slope and up a small valley. We are entering a canyon and have tall cliffs to our west and high hill to the east (right).

Looks like a good camping or lunch spot.
Cliffs of volcanic rock capped by classic red sedimentary layers.
Off down the trail.

I am still lagging behind as we hike. Taking pictures as the desert landscape continually changes. The trail does undulate a little but we continue to gain elevation. The temperature is warming up but only ever gets to a very comfortable hiking temperature.

Nothing like low morning sun.
We are rising steadily on excellent trail.
Does hiking get any better?
Emily called this “The Thumb”
Well, we still have some hiking to get to The Thumb.
Looking back. There are large mountains on the distant horizon.

We took a break on a north facing slope after 2 hrs 20 min and 7 km of hiking. While we enjoyed the view I had some fun taking photos of our hiking mascots, Horace the Hedgehog (Emily) and Frosty Paws (me). The mascots are great at holding still while I photograph them but Horace did have an adventurous tumble down a very steep slope from which Emily made me do the rescue.

We started off again heading towards the Thumb. In a straight line The Thumb is 1.9 km away but it will take us 2.3 km of hiking to get to our closest point which will be still 500 m away.

As we start hiking The Thumb is 1.9 km away. Photo shot with a 47mm focal length.
Zooming in with a 70mm focal length The Thumb appears much closer but was only 5 minutes since the last photo. Note the hill and trail in front of The Thumb.

As we continue hiking we come across more blocks of quartz. We follow a jeep path for a short way. Where the trail leaves the jeep path there is a large camping area with an amazing view of The Thumb (-111.14410, 33.13623).

Well used camping location.
View north of the camping location of The Thumb.
View south of the camping location.
Panorama of The Thumb.

As we pass by The Thumb is is noon and the trails flattens out for a couple of km’s. We have been hiking primarily on the west side of the valley. We have been trying to guess what ridgeline we are going to hike over and as usual we got it wrong. Just before crossing the valley Emily spies some more cows. Back home we have to make noise on the trail to alert any bears in the area. So we continue the practice of making noise to alert wildlife but now the wildlife is cows. As we yell the cows did hesitantly run out of the way. I am not generally afraid of cows but they are large animals and if one was to run at you serious injury could result.

Emily spies a cow.
Cow
The tree is the giving the golden pincushion an hug.

We head across the valley while carefully dodging the cows. The stream at the centre of the valley contains a small trickle of water. With all the cows walking through it we decided it not worth filtering to top up our water supplies. The rocks the stream is cutting through where a dark green and very different from the other rocks in the area.

Cutting across the valley bottom.
A very small flow of water.
Such a dark, deep green.

Once across the stream we head up. This was about the steepest section of trail as we rose 100 m in 1.4 km. We switchbacked up the hillside. As we come around the corner of a ridge we are afforded an expansive view of the valley and Emily decides that this is a good place to have lunch. It was just before 1 pm. We had been hiking for 4 hrs 15 min and covered 12.2 km.

Emily passing through a forest of teddy bear cholla.
The view across the valley looking east.
The saguaro have returned.

Lunch was the same as yesterday minus the tomato. I had two tortillas and Emily just one. We added some sweetness by having some chocolate Aero Bubbles for desert.

Lunch day 2.
It tasted delicious!
Our view at lunch.
More green rock interlaced with the red sandstone.

We spent just a bit less than 30 minutes on our lunch break. Emily took the time to tend to her heels which were sore. As we started up again we followed a contour running along the slope on the west side of the valley not gaining much elevation. We could see a trail in the distance cutting up alongside a slope at much the same elevation we are at. We are not sure if the trail in the distance is our trail but it was. It took us about 30 minutes to arrive at the trail and it was there that we started to climb out of the valley.

You can just make out our trail on the brown slopes in the distance.
Panorama of our view as we start to head upwards and out of the valley.

Once arriving at the trail we spied in the distance we started to head upwards towards a pass. After a few minutes we came to a flowing stream. Emily suggested we stop and fill a water bottle since we were not entirely sure of where the rainwater collector was located.

Desert scenery.
We are now headed up. We cut across the centre and around the little outcropping on the left of the picture.
Filtering some water.

After filling one bottle we continued hiking. As we turned right around a rocky outcrop there was a flat section of ground that provided a view point of the entire valley. I snapped a picture of Emily looking back over the valley. It is my new favourite photo of her.

Emily surveying where we had come from.

We continued on up. We crossed over to the other side of the pass and could see out to the flatlands of Arizona through a new valley. We stopped for a few minutes to enjoy the view. As we traveled clockwise around the peak of our pass and could see that the trail headed up very similar to earlier trail had sidesloping up to a south facing slope to a new high point.

Heading up to our first high point of the day.
View to the south west. I believe that the mountains on the horizon are the Table Top mountains due south of Phoenix, about 100 km away.
An indication of the low rate of erosion is the ever present lichen on the rocks.

We follow the trail around and up the sideslope. It appears that we should head up and over the grassy pass but the trail takes a hard turn left across the slope. Later we would find why we could not just head over the pass as there is a large cliff on the other side.

Emily hiking past a new plant, very tall.
Plants fighting to survive.
We thought we should head up and over the pass at the centre. You can see the trail cutting across the bottom to the left. We would go around the large peak on the left. There is a large cliff on the other side of the pass that we will pass under a little later.

We hiked up and between two peaks. The area at the top was a pleasant little plateau. As we head around the other side we hug the cliff on our right. We wrapped right around the cliff turning a complete 180 degrees.

View looking south east. I believe that is Sombrero Butte(1688 m) on the horizon about 80 km away. Our elevation was 1050 m.
The plateau at the pass.
Heading over and into a new valley.
Stay close to the left. A little skinny here.

The trail through the next valley stays close to our cliff before swinging left and heading up the valley. There was very little elevation change as we are already quite high. The valley has some interesting rock outcrops, remnants of volcanic activity. We make very good time through the valley. We are still not sure where the rainwater collector is and the day is starting to get late so similar to day 1 it is time to find water and a flat place to camp.

Our trail starts on the right and cuts across the far slopes staying high all the way to the end of the valley.
The cliff that was on the other side of the grassy pass. It was a good plan to hike around. This would have been an exciting scramble with packs on.
We momentarily come to a low point where we had a view of the first valley we had hiked up. We had been hiking on the trail at centre about 90 minutes previously.
Emily checks out the cliff we walked over. The cliff we walked beside is on top, if you zoom in you can see the trail. The cliff Emily is looking at is a few hundred feet high.
Up the valley we go.
The rainwater collector is just coming into view at centre of photo. Now we know where the water supply is.
This was an amazing piece of rock, and for scale can you find Emily right of centre.
To me it looks like a cat sitting.

Between the Cat rock and the upcoming pond is the boundary for the Tonto National Forest. On the AZT Passage 16 ends at boundary for the forest.

There is a large pond at the base of the hill leading to the rainwater collector. I am going to find out why it is not listed a as water source.
Looking back down the valley we have just hiked. You can follow our trail back. In the middle it moves up underneath the cliffs. I took 1 hr 10 min to walk down the valley.
Emily heading up and out of this valley.
A steep 4WD trail leads to the rainwater collector. Good signage from the AZT Association.

We arrive at the rainwater collector at 4:00 pm, 5 hrs 45 min and 14.9 km since we left the Gila River at GPS coordinates (-111.13617, 33.17957). The rainwater collector is located just 400 m north of the boundary for the Tonto National Forest. Had we been using the AZT Trail App the collector would have been clearly marked.

The newly constructed AZT Rainwater Collector
Appreciate all the hard work of the AZT Assoc. We always treat our water.

We refilled all of our water which included our water bladders (3L each) and water bottles (1L each). We did not want to stop for the day yet and needed to use some water for both dinner and breakfast. We decided to fill our collapsible 10L bucket with 3L of water. The water in the bucket would be used for cooking, coffee and replenish any water we would drink in the next hour or so of hiking.

Emily filling her water bladder.
Water bucket with 3L of water.
Took this photo from beside the rainwater collector. Did not know it, but we ended up camping just to the right of the rock feature left of centre.

The trail headed up a short ways before dropping steadily losing 90 m over the next 1.2 km. The sun was setting fast and as we climbed up a small slope we started looking for a flat spot to pitch the tent. Emily decided that she would like to make it up to the ridge beside the large rock outcrop. As we came past the rock outcrop the trail crossed over the small pass and took a hard left. There was a distinctive trail leading along the ridge to the west that brought us to a lightly used campsite complete with fire pit (-111.13407, 33.19439). It took us 35 minutes to cover the 2.8 km from the rainwater collector.

Prickly Pears were the dominant cacti in the area.
A lonely saguaro.
The golden glow of the setting sun.
You can locate our campsite as it is beside the saguaro cactus on the right.
A water crossing on the AZT.

We set up camp. Emily got busy making dinner which required boiling water and adding it to our freeze dried food. I took pictures then set up the tent. The sun was setting quickly but provided us with a colourful and brilliant sky as we set up camp.

Emily set up the kitchen to use the fingering as a wind block.
Utilizing the cooking water.
Panorama looking south to where the rainwater collector was.
Night sky.
The lonely saguaro we could see from the rainwater collector.
The brilliance of the sunset sky.
Amazing pinks and blues.
Emily cooking dinner.
Evening sky.

One of our traditions on hikes is that we read out loud at bedtime. It is mostly me doing the reading but on this trip Emily and I took turns doing the reading. Our book was Chris Townsend’s “High Summer: Backpacking the Canadian Rockies”. It is a retelling of Chris Townsend hiking the length of the Canadian Rockies from Montana to almost the North West Territories in 1987. Prior to leaving for Arizona I had scanned the first 55 pages into a PDF file and saved it on my tablet. The story is very well written and captivating from the beginning. Chris Townsend is an accomplised hiker and great storyteller. We called it a night at about 8:30 pm. Another fantastic day on the AZT.

Good night .

AZT Passages 16/17 Day 3

AZT Passages 16/17 Home

bootwreckers

Day 3 of our 2021 Labour Day Weekend trip through Day 3 of our 2021 Labour Day Weekend trip through the Egypt Lake area, Banff NP.

This day took us from the campground at Balls Pass Junction over Whistling Pass, with a detour up Pharaoh Peak, which wasn't without some drama.

Lunch was another side trip to Scarab Lake followed by an excursion to Egypt Lake.

Our final destination was Pharaoh Creek Campground. After a lovely evening the Milky Way came out to play.

Read the summary at www.Bootwreckers.com, link in bio.

Photo 1 - moody morning at Balls Pass Junction

Photo 2 - golden meadows as we approach Haiduk Lake

Photo 3 - making our way up Whistling Pass

Photo 4 - heading up Pharaoh Peak, and it really was this steep

Photo 5 - looking over Mummy and Scarab Lakes from the Pharaoh Peak.

Photo 6 - group shot on the way down

Photo 7 - at Egypt Lake

Photo 8 - Frosty Paws guarding the tent

Photo 9 - the Milky Way

Video - scree skiing down Pharaoh Peak

Another great day on the trail with @sio.mellors

#greatdivide #greatdividetrail #gdt #parkscanada #parks #bcparks #trails #longdistancehike #longtrail #outdoors #outside #thruhike #hike #thruhiking #outside #backpacking #waterfalls #waterfall #naturephotography #naturephotography #nationalparks #teamzpacks
Day 2 of our Labour Day weekend trip through the E Day 2 of our Labour Day weekend trip through the Egypt Lake area, Banff NP is up on Bootwreckers, see link in bio.

The day was sunny and the skies were blue, it was simply an amazing day to be on the trail.

Out day started out retracing our steps from th previous evening back to Shadow Lake.

After lingering to take in the stunning view at the lake we had an easy hike to our campsite at Balls Pass Junction.

After setting up the tent and having lunch we headed up the short but steep trail to Ball Pass. Ball Pass is in mu opinion one of th premier viewpoints in Banff NP. 

After exploring Ball Pass we returned back to the campground and enjoyed a well earned stream chilled beer and a nap.

Clouds rolled in later in the day but it only lightly rained.

Was not the biggest mileage day on the trail but was proof that a great day on the trail.
Photo 1 - Siobhan looking at Mt Ball and it's Glacier from Ball Pass
Photo 2 - Siobhan checking directions
Photo 3 - Shadow Lake and Mt Ball
Photo 4 - Siobhan on bridge crossing outlet of Shadow Lake
Photo 5 - dried  strawberries on the trail
Photo 6 - heading up Ball Pass
Photo 7 - Siobhan looking over the valley from Ball Pass
Photo 8 - heading down from Ball Pass
Photo 9 - our reward for a good day on the trail
Photo 10 - finding peace and tranquility in the backcountry 

#greatdivide #greatdividetrail #gdt #parkscanada #parks #bcparks #trails #longdistancehike #longtrail #outdoors #outside #thruhike #hike #thruhiking #outside #backpacking #waterfalls #waterfall #naturephotography #naturephotography #nationalparks
Day 1 of our amazing trip through the Egypt Lake a Day 1 of our amazing trip through the Egypt Lake area Labour Day Weekend, 2021 now posted up on our blog, link in bio. Another Grand adventure with one of my kids, @sio.mellors.

Our four day trip started at the Vista Lake Trailhead on Hwy 93 South. Up and over Gibbon Pass to camp at Shadow Lake Campground on day 1.

Day 2 was a short hike to Balls Pass Junction CG, then after a short break off to explore Ball Pass, in my opinion one of the best vistas anywhere.

Day 3 we hiked over Whistling Pass on the way to Pharaoh Creek CG, with a scramble up Pharaoh Peak, lunch at Scarab Lake, and a visit to Egypt Lake on the way.

Day 4 was hiking over Healy Pass and out to the Sunshine Village parking lot where our car had been moved to.

Lots of stories from this adventure,  was a lot of fun to revisit and write.

Photo 1 - evening as Shadow Lake

Photo 2 - pre-hike happy team photo

Photo 3 - Arnica Lake, where we had lunch

Photo 4 - the yellow of Larches starting to come in

Photo 5 - the golden meadows of th high alpine at Gibbon Pass

Photo 6 - view all the way to Mt Assiniboine from Gibbon Pass, about 70 km away

Photo 8 - mushrooms in the undergrowth as we approach Shadow Lake CG

Photo 9 - Frosty guarding our campsite

Photo 10 - still smiling at the end of th day at Shadow Lake

#parkscanada #parks
#shadowlake #banffalberta #banffnationalpark #banffcanada #banff #backpacking #camping #lake #egyptlake #Egyptlake  #backcountry #family #familytime #familytime❤️
The trip summaries for Days 10, 11 and 12 from ou The trip summaries  for Days 10, 11 and 12 from our 2021 GDT Section E hike is now up on www.Bootwreckers.com, see link in bio

We had a great end to the trip. Day 9 was a short day from our wild camp on the Bald Hills to Evelyn Crk Campground. Day 10 was a spectacular hike up over Little and Big Shovel Passes to the iconic Jasper Skyline Trail. Camping at Signal Campground. 

Day 11 was an easy walk into Jasper.

The trip was an amazing experience over 11 days, I met and hiked with many people but big props to my kid, who for some reason keeps hiking with me.

Photo 1 - end of hike, looking off into the distance, across th Athabasca River at Cairngorm Mt. 

Photo 2 - morning Bald Hills

Photo 3 - campsite Evelyn Crk CG

Photo 4 - Reading before bed

Photo 5 - fresh bear print on the trail

Photo 6 - Little Shovel Pass

Photo 7 - Snowbowl

Photo 8 - Last grind up to the Notch

Photo 9 - looking east from the Skyline down through Excelsior Creek

Photo 10 At campsite Signal Campground 

See trip reports on our blog, link in bio.

#greatdivide #greatdividetrail #gdt #parkscanada #parks #bcparks #trails #longdistancehike #longtrail #outdoors #outside #thruhike #hike #thruhiking #outside #backpacking #waterfalls #waterfall #naturephotography #naturephotography #nationalparks #teamzpacks #zpacks #duplex #sectionhike #sectionhiker
Day 7 and 8 on our GDT trip from last summer. Day Day 7 and 8 on our GDT trip from last summer.

Day 7 was from Waterfalls CG to a meadow in the Six Passes Route. Was a wet, moist day. Numerous creek crossings. Left the main GDT route at Maligne Pass and went off trail into the Six Passes. 

Spent the first night in an amazing meadow. With rain in the forecast we did 5 passes and the ridge walk in one day.

In one word the day was "Epic" . Was a spectacular journey. Huge day, 23 km and over 1500m up and down. So happy we did it, but we were so relieved to put in the tent somewhere flat.

Picture 1) the view of the Six Passes Route from the top of the first pass

Picture 2) me getting ready to leave Waterfalls CG

Picture 3) crossing a creek on a wet log

Picture 4) camping Six Passes

Picture 5) hiking Six Passes

Picture 6) sunrise pass # 2

Picture 7) it's a rocky climb

Picture 8) mmmm chocolate 

Picture 9) the final ascent on the ridge

Picture 10) happy to be home for the evening

See trip reports on our blog, link in bio.

#greatdivide #greatdividetrail #gdt #parkscanada #parks #bcparks #trails #longdistancehike #longtrail #outdoors #outside #thruhike #hike #thruhiking #outside #backpacking #waterfalls #waterfall #naturephotography #naturephotography #nationalparks #teamzpacks #zpacks #duplex #sectionhike #sectionhiker
First 5 days of my 11 day 2021 Great Divide Trail First 5 days of my 11 day 2021 Great Divide Trail Hike Section E is up on Bootwreckers, see link in bio.

Includes the 2 days I did on Section D but aborted due to smoke.

Picture 1) Camp on Owen Creek
Picture 2) Camp at Lower Michelle Lake
Picture 3) Pinto Pass
Picture 4) hiking up Cataract Creek
Picture 5) Smokey sunrise over the Brazeau River

#greatdivide #greatdividetrail #gdt #parkscanada #parks #bcparks #trails #longdistancehike #longtrail #outdoors #outside #thruhike #hike #thruhiking #outside #backpacking #waterfalls #waterfall #naturephotography #naturephotography #nationalparks #teamzpacks #zpacks #duplex #sectionhike #sectionhiker
Fun trip out to the Ink Pots in Banff NP on Decemb Fun trip out to the Ink Pots in Banff NP on December 31st.

Was very cold, -30C, but bluebird skies overhead.

Did a little snowshoeing in the meadow.

Saw almost no one above the upper falls at Johnson Canyon.

Fun adventure.

Happy New Year everyone.

#outside, #outsidethebox, #liveoutdoors, #liveoutsidethebox #naturephotography, #naturelovers,  #retiredhusky, #rescuer
#parkscanada #banffnationalpark #banffalberta #banffcanada
#sunstar #sun #lake #sunrise #alpin #scenery #reflectionphotography #reflections #sceneryphotography
Day 6 Section E Great Divide Trail Hike 2021 (Part Day 6 Section E Great Divide Trail Hike 2021 (Part 1)

Fun day on the trail heading from Four Points CG to Waterfalls CG. 

The day started dry but damp from the rainfall overnight. As we left the Brazeau River valley and headed up to Jonas Pass the storm clouds blew in forcing us to get our wet weather gear on. 

I discovered shortly after that it is great to have gloves for hiking, but that they should be accessible, not buried somewhere in the pack.

The storm was quite fierce but luckily brief. We arrived at Jonas pass and were able to put our rain gear away.

The clouds would remain with for the duration of the hike adding some mood to the hike.

This was my second time hiking over Jonas Pass and Jonas Shoulder and both times it has rained.

We arrived at Jonas Shoulder. We took some time to enjoy the view and let off some steam. The rest of the hike would be downhill.

Happy Friday

#greatdivide #greatdividetrail #gdt #parkscanada #parks #bcparks #trails #longdistancehike #longtrail #outdoors #outside #thruhike #hike #thruhiking #outside #backpacking #waterfalls #waterfall #naturephotography #naturephotography #nationalparks
Waterfall on Owen Creek, Day 1 GDT Section E. Req Waterfall on Owen Creek, Day 1 GDT Section E.

Required a fun bit of scrambling to access.

Happy Friday

#greatdivide #greatdividetrail #gdt #parkscanada #parks #bcparks #trails #longdistancehike #longtrail #outdoors #outside #thruhike #hike #thruhiking #outside #backpacking #waterfalls #waterfall #naturephotography #naturephotography #nationalparks
Day 5 GDT 2021 Section E. This day was memorable Day 5 GDT 2021 Section E.

This day was memorable for a few reasons. First waking up to more smoke.

First photo is the sun rising over the mountains at 8:30am, shouldn't really be that red.

Doing the extra distance on day 4 meant that this day I had a 3.1 km hike from Boulder Crk CG to Four Points CG.

I could not extend the day as Emily was joining me on this day coming in from the Nigel Pass trailhead and the next campground on our route would be to far to reach on this day.

When I arrived at Four Points it was just before 8am! Must be my shortest day ever.

I spent the day reading and waiting for Emily. I heard her bear calling down the trail about a minute before she arrived.

We spent the rest of the day relaxing. Met some some people from Calgary who I had a mutual friend with, he used to be their cross country ski coach.

We went to bed reasonably early as we had a decent day ahead of us tomorrow.

The smoke was lifting as we went to bed. 

The last photo is Links' Happy Badass Bandana. Still miss my little hiking partner.

#greatdivide #greatdividetrail #gdt #parkscanada #parks #bcparks #trails #longdistancehike #longtrail #outdoors #outside #thruhike #hike #thruhiking #outside #backpacking
Day 4 Great Divide Trail Section E. Pinto Lakes to Day 4 Great Divide Trail Section E. Pinto Lakes to Boulder Creek CG.

Super fun day full of adventure and a lot of smoke. This was a big day, 32 km over Cataract Pass into the upper reaches of Bourgeau Creek in Jasper NP.

After the clear skies of my astrophotography in the middle of the night I got up at 5am, jst 3 hours after I put the camera away, to join my trail companions Jason and Bent for the day. 

The terrain was suppose to be rugged and the trail a little iffy so I thought it would be good to have some companions. As it was we got took two wrong turns in the first 15 minutes.

After several steam crossings, some with suspect bridge work, finally had to cross a wide stream and get wet feet. I had sandals, but my companions ploughed through so I figured I had to keep up.

I found a rock with ancient Indigenous petroglyphs. It is just off trail, but a good day and a half hike from any road.

We passed from Banff NP to Alberta Parks Wilderness area. There is wild camping in the Wilderness area, but good camping spots are hard to find.

I was going to stop for the day short of Cataract Pass, but it was so smokey I thought I would continue on.

We had lunch at the base of Cataract Pass. I used Frosty Paws as a table for my lunch.

It was such a big day I will conclude the trip in another post.

#greatdivide #greatdividetrail #gdt #parkscanada #parks #bcparks #trails #longdistancehike #longtrail #outdoors #outside #thruhike #hike #thruhiking #outside #backpacking
Milky Way and the Persaids Meteor Shower. Pinto La Milky Way and the Persaids Meteor Shower. Pinto Lake

On the night of day 3 I got up at 2am to take photos of the night sky. I was hoping to catch the Milky Way and I knew that the Perseids was going on, so hoping to see both.

I must have seen a good couple of dozen meteors during the hour I was awake.

I went to sleep in my hiking clothes because I knew I was getting up at 2am to take photos then we had a big day ahead of us so the breakfast wake up call was 5am!

I got so lucky with the pictures as in the couple's hours between returning to bed and getting up to start Day 4, the smoke rolled in.

Photo 1 is the Milky Way but no meteor. There are meteors in the following three photos.

#greatdivide #greatdividetrail #gdt #parkscanada #parks #bcparks #trails #longdistancehike #longtrail #outdoors #outside #thruhike #hike #thruhiking #outside #backpacking #milkyway, #perseidmeteorshower #perseids #nightimephotography #astrophotography
Great Divide Trail Section E, Valley after first p Great Divide Trail Section E, Valley after first pass on the Six Passes route.

New post on www.Bootwreckers.com, preparation and plan for my GDT Section D and E hike for the summer of 2021 (see link in bio)

Learned a lot from last year,  still discovered some new things about hiking and camping.

First post has to do with all aspects of preparation:
- Gear
- Food
- Training
- Itinerary 

The GDT - Where everyday is an adventure.

#greatdivide #greatdividetrail #gdt #parkscanada #parks #bcparks #trails #longdistancehike #longtrail #outdoors #outside #thruhike #hike #thruhiking #outside #backpacking
Day 3 of my trip on Great Divide Trail Section E. Day 3 of my trip on Great Divide Trail Section E.

Relatively easy day from Michelle Lakes to Pinto Lake, only over two passes.

I started traveling with two guys I met actually at Yoho a week back, Jason and Bent.

Of course Frosty was on trip, enjoying the early morning at Michelle Lakes.

The first Lake is Upper Michelle Lake.

The photo of me at the pass is at the unofficial names Michelle Pass. Then it was up to Pinto Pass.

I took a one last picture back to Michelle Pass. Last picture is at Pinto Lake.

Great day, only got a little lost.

#greatdivide #greatdividetrail #gdt #parkscanada #parks #bcparks #trails #longdistancehike #longtrail #outdoors #outside #thruhike #hike #thruhiking #outside #backpacking #zpacks #teamzpacks
Jupiter and 4 little moons First try at astrophot Jupiter and 4 little moons

First try at astrophotography using my camera attached to a telescope, 8" Celeron

Pretty happy with results. Need to research settings for camera to get some colour on Jupiter, but for a first try pretty happy.

Taken from field near Two Jack Lake in Banff NP. Jupiter was over Mt Rundle.

#artofvisual #visualoflife #areyouawake  #earthfocus  #adventurethatislife #createscenery #earthexperience #primeshots #simplyadventure #goparks #wildernessculture #folkscenery #wondersofourplanet #amazingphotohunter #all2epic #milliondollarvisuals #sky_sultans #astrophotography #astronomy
Another photo of the waterfall at Michelle Lakes, Another photo of the waterfall at Michelle Lakes, Day 2 GDT Section E.

#greatdivide #greatdividetrail #gdt #parkscanada #parks #bcparks #trails #longdistancehike #longtrail #outdoors #outside #thruhike #hike #thruhiking #outside #backpacking #sunstar
#waterfall
#waterfalls
Campsite at Lower Michelle Lakes, Day 2 GDT Sectio Campsite at Lower Michelle Lakes, Day 2 GDT Section E.

Scored the best campsite on the trip at Lower Michelle Lakes. Had more own personal waterfall. Frosty as always had the best spot.

Spent the day relaxing, reading and watching the helicopter activity. 

Started the next day hiking with Jason and Bent who camped by Upper Michelle Lakes and did not know about the waterfall.

#greatdivide #greatdividetrail #gdt #parkscanada #parks #bcparks #trails #longdistancehike #longtrail #outdoors #outside #thruhike #hike #thruhiking #outside #backpacking #zpacks #teamzpacks
Morning at Ball Pass Junction, west end of Haiduk Morning at Ball Pass Junction, west end of Haiduk Peak.  Day 3 of our hike around the Egypt Lake area. Thrilled with the colours of the morning sky.

We had some rain overnight, but not much. The clouds lifted off later in the morning. 

Another great day on the trail with @sio.mellors

#parkscanada #parks #bcparks #trails #longdistancehike #longtrail #outdoors #outside #thruhike #hike #sunset #shadowlake #Egyptlake #banffalberta #banffnationalpark #banffcanada
Evening at Shadow Lake, Banff NP. Super fun 4 day Evening at Shadow Lake, Banff NP.

Super fun 4 day hike with @sio.mellors thought the trails around Egypt Lake area.

Shadow Lake was our first evening and was a lovely place to watch the sunset.

 #parkscanada #parks #bcparks #trails #longdistancehike #longtrail #outdoors #outside #thruhike #hike #sunset #shadowlake #Egyptlake #banffalberta #banffnationalpark #banffcanada #reflection #reflections
Day 1 Great Divide Trail Section E 2021, Saskatche Day 1 Great Divide Trail Section E 2021, Saskatchewan River Crossing to Upper Owens Creek.

First day of my 11 day hike from Sask River Crossing to Jasper. I was solo for the first 5 days before being joined my my daughter at Four Points CG.

This was only day I actuall slept on my own.

I left Sask River Crossing at 12:30pm followed an old road that intersected th GDT just past the park gates.

Hiked until about 6:30pm as I wanted to camp near tree line for a clear view of th nights sky. The sky was clear and the Perseids Meteor shower was on and did not disappoint 

Photo 1) my tent and the Milky Way

Photo 2) Me getting ready to  head out

Photo 3) view looking West along th north Saskatchewan River

Photo 4) water dropping into the canyon on Owens Creek

Photo 5) the slide that gave people grief earlier in the summer was passable at creek level

Photo 6) the confluence was a mess a hard going

Photo 7) nice waterfall after th confluence

Photo 8) little Canyon near upper reaches of th creek

Photo 9) dinner cooking in th kitchen

Photo 10) Frosty Paws, me and my tent

Was a great day out on th trail.

#greatdivide #greatdividetrail #gdt #parkscanada #parks #bcparks #trails #longdistancehike #longtrail #outdoors #outside #thruhike #hike #thruhiking #outside #backpacking
Load More Follow on Instagram

For more photos of these and other Bootwreckers Adventures

© 2022 Boot Wreckers | Powered by Minimalist Blog WordPress Theme