I slept all the way to Calgary and, due to the time difference, arrived there at 9pm. After fetching my backpack I asked around to find the best way to the city center. There are two ways. Fastest and easiest way is the express bus 300, which costs 9 CAD (which I took as I was really tired and didn’t want to wait for the next Bus 100). It took 30 minutes and I was dropped off right in the city center (city hall ctrain station). From there it was only a short walk to the HI Calgary City Center where I spent the night. The second option is to take the Bus 100 to the McKnight Station and then take the ctrain towards the city center. This will take longer, about 1h, but it costs only 3,25 CAD.
I can’t say much about the hostel as I already booked the greyhound from Calgary to Canmore at 8am and therefore only spent a few hours in the hostel.
Day 2:
I started early and made my way along the Spray Lake. Once I was almost at the end of the lake i realized that i will have to cross a closed area to get to the trail i planned to go. After a short deliberation i decided to cross it but to make sure to make enough sound so i wont surprise any bears in that are supposed to be in that area (which is way the area is closed at that period of time). I survided this highly dangerous situation and continued on the Bryant Creek Trail, which I actually wanted to hike. Just one day late. And as i read that there often are bears on that trail i continued singing my songs. Which were mostly football chants like „Die Mütter von den Mainzern die sind Huuuuuren“, „Kaiserslautern, Stadt der Inzucht“ and „Europacuuuuuuup, Europacuuuuup, Europacup, Europacup in diesem Jahr“. After a few kilometers i met three park rangers who praised me for the noice i was making and my „John Wayne Style“ drawing of the bear spray can which i was practicing while singing and walking. When asked what songs i am singing I didn’t go into details. Try google translate on these songs :). When i came to the McBrides Campsite i decided not to stay for the night but to continue towards Mt. Assiniboine on the Wonder Pass Trail. I was one night late on my schedule and felt good so i kept going. Which probably wasn’t the best decision. The hike was really challenging. At first you walk along a very very small way along a steep hill. To the left you can look at Marvel lake and de Percupine Campsite, where you could end up quite fast if you happen to missstep and slide down the hill. After that theres a rather steep hike up to Wonder Pass. Now the long hike took its toll and I was really tired. I ended up counting steps and always did 100 steps before i had a few minutes of rest. So i was damn glad when i passed Wonder Pass and ended up at the Lake Magog Campsite. I realized then that the campsites within the Mt. Assiniboine National Park aren’t free but you have to pay in cash. Well, i told you that i didn’t have any cash so once again i was lucky that one of the rangers came exactly at the moment and we agreed that i will pay at the Mt. Assiniboine Lodge with my credit card the next day. I opened the second bag of my peanuts and went to bed early.
Day 3:
I read the area around Lake Magog is one of the most picturesque in the whole area. So i decided to walk around the lakes and up the mountains to get to the viewpoints. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t good but all foggy, cold and finally i got into a snow storm which turned into heavy rain first and into heavy snowfall afterwards. I decided to take a second trip to the Mount Assiniboine Lodge after my early morning visit to pay for the campsite. I just had to warm up and try to dry my clothes. The weather was so bad that the owner asked me to come all the way in and offered me tea and cookies. Damn nice of them. And livesaving for me… A few hours later the weather improved and i continued to the Lake Og Campsite. The hike through snowy meadows was quite nice as well. The campsite was one of the most beautiful i stayed. There was only one more hiker and i set up my tent with a nice few over the small lake towards Mt. Assiniboine. I even managed to shoot one good picture, unfortunately more or less the only one because the weather continued to be pretty bad the next days.
Day 4:
On day 4 my feet showed the first signs of fatigue. I bought my shoes just before the trip so i had no chance to get used to them. I thought i could do that while hiking… Which worked well but there’s one spot where the shoe always brushed against my ankle which started to hurt pretty soon after i started and never got better. So on day 4 I cut the sponge which i brought for cleaning my dishes (which of course i never used for this) and used it to cushion my shoes. Which was better than without but still not much fun to walk on… I continued from Lake Og via the Citadel Pass to the Howard Douglas Campsite. Passing the citadel pass one approaches a long plateau which offers beautiful views. Next to the trail i found a full can of bear spray which i of course had to test. And man, i can tell you, it’s like a fire extinguisher. A thick stream of concentrated pepper spray going in a straight line for a few meters. Quite impressive… At the Howard Douglas Campsite i was the only Hiker so i decided to skinny dip into the lake. It was damn cold. So it was a 30sec max. bath and i rushed outside again. Tried to get dressed hecticly and managed to send my shoes into the cold water. One of the worst things that can happen. Temperatures around 0 degrees and your only hiking shoes are wet… Shit. I tried to dry them with everything i could find but without much success.
The night was probably the coldest I ever had outside. I was wearing everything (and i mean everything) i had and was still cold. And i started to curse my small one man tent. It consists of a mesh inner layer which is great for warm summer nights and an normal outer shell. As small and lightweight as it is, it is so small that i always hit the outer shell when i turned around in my sleeping bag. Because of the condesation the outer shell was always wet so was my sleeping bag after every turn. 5min later it was frozen and f*cking cold. Another bad thing was that the Therm-A-Rest Neo mat i brought was amazing but a bit short for me. So i always ended up with my feet lying on the cold floor… At one point i decided to take away the outer layer and sleep more or less without any protection under my mesh tent. Which was great in the way that i could see all the stars at night. Amazing! On the other hand even the small outer layer gives you a illusion of safety Not sure why but i felt a lot safer from bears and other animals with the outer layer. After a night of turning, waking up and trying to sleep again i was happy when the sun came out. I quickly packed my stuff and was on my way again. Oh and 15-20minutes trying to get my feet into the frozen hiking boots. Once i was wearing them i started jumping around to warm my feet.
Day 5:
I made my way from the campsite towards Healy Pass. Another cold and challenging day. The last 4 days exhausted me pretty bad so i was thinking about cutting my planned 10 day trip short somehow. But i had no idea how as i wanted to see as much as possible.
Approaching Sunshine Village my knee started hurting. Especially when walking downhill so i decided to run as it was less painful. Almost down at Sunshine Village i approached to women on a day hike. The closer i go the more disturbed they seemed to be. When i finally met them one had the bear spray in her hand and asked me if i was running away from a bear. Obviously there had been another attack the day before and everyone was warned. I wondered if all those stories about the bear attacks were true or exaggerated. At that point i was actually a bit disappointed that i haven’t seen any bears yet. I didn’t want to see them from close but i would have loved to spot some bears far away. I could convince them that i was fine and not running from bears. When i finally got to the Sunshine Village Ski Resort i was delighted (love that word) that shops and especially the restaurant was open. I ordered a burger, recharged my batteries and spend almost 3 hours in the warm restaurant planning my next steps. Thanks to the free Wifi i could book a night at the Castle Mountain Hostel for the next night. Thinking it would be nice to dry all my cloth, maybe wash them and have a warm night in a good bed. I needed to kick myself quite hard to start hiking again as i planned to be at the Egypt Lake Campsite at night. One hour after i left Sunshine Village i met a German lady who immigrated to Canada 30 years ago. Her German was still quite good and i think she was happy to use it. We endet up talking for an hour and when i told her that i was living of peanuts and chocolate bars she happily shared her dried peasoup with me. One of the simplest dishes in the world but for me it was like a visit to a 5 star restaurant when i ate that soup the same night. At the campsite i met a nice couple from the states and we talked a bit about where to go and what to see. Compared to me they were perfectly prepared. A different warm meal for each night in the backcountry, coffee for breakfast,… But what made me most jealous was that they had a Nalgene bottle which they filled with hot water to warm their feet a night. Since that i always carry one with me when hiking.
Day 6:
Motivated by the warm cosy bed i was expecting for the night i decided to hike up the mountain to a view point where you are supposed to have great views of Lake Scarab and Egypt Lake. I packed my stuff but left it at the campsite. But even without my backpack it was a pretty long and challenging way up. After a while i wondered if it was a good decision to hike up there but it was already to late to turn around in my opinion because that would have meant that all the afford was for nothing. So i kept going until i reached the viewpoint. But guess what. It was foggy and i could see shit which was quite disappointing.
The way down was faster and easier. After 2h hike up it was only a 30min hike down. I grabbed my backpack and went on towards the Pharao Creek Trail. On the map it looked like a pretty easy hike along the Pharao Creek. Well, it probably was a easy hike. Before the trail was washed away 2 years before. So now it was a lot of elevation up and down. It started snowing again and I came pretty close to an encounter with bears as i could see fresh footsteps in the freshly fallen snow. So maybe 5-10minute before some bears were hiking the same trail. I grabbed my bear spray and practiced my John Wayne skills. Reaching the intersection with the Shadow Lake Trail and the Gibbon Pass Trail i was already exhausted. If i had any idea how exhausting the next hours will be, I’d probably turned around. But i continued on the Gibbon Pass. Another 500-600m elevation and 3km later I reached Gibbon Pass.
Surprisingly it was snowing again. Happy to know that it’s mostly downhill from there i kept going. The snowfall was getting worse and worse and on my way down to the twin lakes i was hiking in ankle deep snow already. The views on the twin lakes again were nonexistent… I wouldn’t have had the energy to appreciate the views anyways as i was focused on walking the narrow path without slipping and falling down the cliffs. At the time i arrived at the Twin Lakes i was ready to set up my tent and just stay the night there. But again the hope for a warm bed and dry clothes the next day was keeping me hiking. I followed the sign towards the Twin Lakes Trail towards Castle Mountain. Actually there was one sign and after that one could only guess which way to go.
On the map it says that this is an „unmaintained trail“. Which i thought is okay with me. But knowing which way to go would have been a bonus. So i made my way through swamp like meadows. I was trying to avoid the water holes but after hitting the first one and being knee deep in the water I couldn’t be bothered anymore and just walked on. Always trying to find the right way, navigating old school with the map and judging my way by rivers, hills and so on. Before starting the hike I downloaded the maps so i could use my smart phone to navigate if i had to. But unfortunately I couldn’t open the downlaoded maps… After 2 hours i finally found the right way and the right way changed into what i was actually expecting the „unmaintained trail“. Unmaintained but still walkable. By that time i was hiking for more than 8 hours already, my clothes were soaked my the snow and stepping into water holes. I started shivvering pretty uncontrolled and decided to start running to stay warm. I was feeling weaker and weaker and thought how stupid of me to tell no one where i would be hiking today. I tried to motivate myself by thinking how a hot shower will feel like and that big bowl of Spaghetti I will cook myself once i am in the hostel. With this in mind i kept hiking. Always hoping that behind the corner there would be the sweet village of Castle Mountain and with it my hot shower and that damn huge bowl of Spaghetti and maybe a beer (not sure if i wanted it cold…). This was probably the longest hike i ever made. At least it felt like it. After i already thought I’ll never make it, i finally reached the end of the trail. But guess what, i was standing right in front of the highway and i seriously considered just crossing it as i could see a bridge anywhere. But then i decided to check the map and i knew there must be a bridge at the highway exit. So i hiked on, found that bridge and was on my way to the hot shower and a most delious meal. I crossed that bridge and saw that the village is surrounded by a high fence keeping bears out. Fair enough if there wasn’t that electric bear trap blocking me from getting into the village.
Maybe only a meter wide but with a pretty prominent place warning of the high current. I my condition I didnt know if I was able to jump over it. And with my wet shoes i wasn’t sure if my boots would prevent me getting an electric shock. So I was cold, freezing actually. Pretty close to everything i was dreaming of all day but at the same time lightyears away. I tried to hitchhike but i guess i was just a pretty scary figure standing there trying to hitch a ride. The few cars that came didn’t stop. Not a single car for 30min. When a VW bus approached i was pretty desperate and just blocked their way by standing in the middle of the street. They stopped and i explained my misery. They thought it was pretty funny but agreed to let me ride on the foot hold of the big sliding door. So finally I was surfing into the promised land.
I walked the last few hundred meters to the hostel and was greeted by the owner, Tony. Again i must have looked pretty miserable as Tony didn’t ask my name, didn’t wanna see any reservation but just said: „Men, i guess you like a shower“. And thats what i did. I took a f*cking long shower. After that I checked in and after he told me that there aren’t any shops in the village showed me the free food shelf. I was lucky as there was pasta and even a beer in the fridge left behind by some althruistic traveller. Thanks man, a beer never tasted that good to me! Well, I didn’t my Spaghetti Bolognese but i had Spaghetti with oil and chicken seasoning which was at least as good as the Bolognese i was fantacising about.
Day 7:
I spent the whole day at the hostel, eating, sleeping, talking to people. Trying to recover from my adventures. And planning the next one. I was tempted to just quit the hiking as it was just too cold, the weather was too miserable and i was exhausted. So i trief to rearrange my flight to Toronto.
Day 8:
At first i thought i might stay one more night at the hostel but after i got the confirmation from Air Canada that i can change my flightAfter a short chat with Chris i decided to go to Toronto as soon as possible. I changed my flight and suddenly realized that I have to hurry like crazy to get to Calgary on time. I had to take the bus from Banff to Calgary. Which meant i had to get to Banff (30min away), within 90 minutes… So i packed my stuff and another guest took me to the highway exit. But before i left i promised Tony to write down the story of my hike as he thought my trip was quite funny. So Tony, here you go, not sure if you remember me though… Back to the story, from there i planned to hitchhike to Banff. Easier said then done. When i got there, a police cruiser was idling at the curb. I walked casually by as hitchhiking is forbidden in Canada (or only in certain states?!). Those guys were having their lunch break. So the first 30 minutes of my time went by until those guys went back to work. Time went by and noone wanted to stop and take me to Banff. I got pretty nervous as time went by and i approached the critial 30 minutes limit which it would take to get to the bus stop in Banff. If that wasnt enough, it started raining again. I was cursing my fate when actually the rain came to aid me. Obviously did I look pretty sorry standing in the rain with my backpack so a nice couple from Banff decided to stop and take me to Banff. They were really nice and we talked all the way to Banff about Germany, Canada, sports, politics,… Unfortunately i didnt get their contacts. They dropped me off just in time to step on the bus towards Calgary. I fell into my seat and was relived i really made it. Another adventure which i could probably have prevented if i wasnt always so time pressed… but in hindsight everything went well and it was a lot of fun… So i caught my plane to Toronto, went to Ottawa with the newly wed couple and headed on to Montreal to spend a few more nights there before returning to Germany.
Wrldtrp 