Jonas Pass, Poboktan Pass and Brazeau Lake

This was our big "training" trip for the West Coast Trail. The route we took was approximately 80 km, which is slightly longer than the WCT, and we covered it in 5 days. Its the longest hike I've done and was a lot tougher than we'd both thought it would be.

I'd say all the effort was worth it, the scenery was spectacular and for a "popular" hike we saw very few people on the trails. Other than two encounters with grouse we saw no wildlife and had no troubles on the trail. The weather co-operated and was sunny and warm the whole time. The only thing I would have done differently was carry less food - our packs were heavy!

Our first day we only took time for a few photos- we started the trail at 3:15 and had 14 km before camp. This is the upper Brazeau River valley. We camped at Four Point Campground which is located on the banks of the river.

On day 2 we wandered through Jonas Pass - a lovely alpine pass filled with flowers and surrounded by beautiful mountains and glaciers. Best part? Its fairly flat.

The downside to this beautiful valley is that the trail eventually leaves it and heads up 280 m to Jonas Shoulder. The climb was tiring at the end of a 19 km day, but we took time at the top to enjoy the views. We camped that night by a little creek with some amazing mosquitoes.

On day 3 we went up Pobaktan Pass, another gentle grassy slope. I loved my drinking tube and Jon loved taking pictures. We camped that night by Brazeau Lake, the nicest campsite on the trip.

Day 4 was a relaxing 18 km through another gentle river valley. We followed a branch of the Brazeau River upsteam back to the place we finished day 1. Excellent scenery and little elevation change, the best kind of days.

Day 5 we woke early and hiked back out Nigel's Pass to our car. We were very happy to reach our car before noon and enjoyed lunch on our tail gate.

The drive home was the craziest part of the trip. A driver passed us into on coming traffic up a blind hill, and had to drive on the opposite shoulder to avoid hitting anything. He then swerved across the two lanes of traffic, gained control and sped off. Later we passed a woman smoking a joint as she sped along the highway. We were very happy to be back in Calgary at our own home safe and sound!

An Update

Life has been moving along at a breakneck pace for the MacDonalds. In fact, I can't even remember what we've been up to its all moved so fast. Now that we have some deadlines, it seems like things aren't going to slow down enough for us to get everything done.

We bought a new lens for our camera as a gift for Jon (it was his birthday money). If you thought he took a lot of photos before, you haven't seen anything yet. If you're into cameras, its a 50 - 300 mm, which on our camera is 75mm to 450mm. That's a lot more zoom that our other lens (its also a lot larger).
We ran in another 5Peaks race last Saturday. The swag was very good this time round: new merino wool socks, sunscreen, power bars and more coffee. As it would be, I earned myself another first and Jon got a second. I attribute my success to the Reese's Peanut Butter Puffs we ate for breakfast.

We also bought Jon a new sleeping bag. He was a little chilly last time we were backpacking and since we have about 13 days of backcountry left this summer we thought he could use a new one. He got a pretty nice down bag, its got a gortex shell and packs up super small.

I submitted my thesis to my committee today, so the exam has officially started. I plan to forget about my thesis for the next two weeks until I have to finish the presentation. I'm really excited to be done, I can't believe we'll finally get to move on to doing something new in just over a month.

Other than that, we're heading out to hike with the parents on Wednesday, it should be nice. We packed up our bags tonight and they actually weigh less than our last backpacking trip and they packed better. I guess the smaller sleeping bag, new stuff sacks and the small bowls really paid off. There will be pictures of that of course when we return on Sunday.

England... if your name is Jon

Lucky Jon! We finally got around to booking tickets for his trip to England this August. While Jon is sampling British pub fare, I'll be here in Calgary slaving over my thesis...

Cross that off the life to-do list!

One of my earliest memories of Jon and I as a couple involves shopping for tapes in Hearst during our first summer treeplanting. I only remember purchasing one tape, Mad Mad World by Tom Cochrane, and listening to it over and over again on the Walkman every summer.

Jon and I are no longer treeplanting, but we are still listening to Life is a Highway more than is healthy. Seriously, we love it. We still start every road trip by listening to it. Its become a bit of an obsession and attending a Tom Cochrane concert together got put on the life to-do list. So, when we found out that he was playing at Stampede and we were in Calgary, we just had to go.


The show was great, it didn't matter that it was hot, we had to stand for hours and the man in front of us kept smacking someone else's wife's butt. We got to hear Life is a Highway live, from the man himself.

D-Day!

That's right, the defense date for my thesis has been set. August 15 is the big day, with the fun getting underway at 9am and lasting for a gruelling 3 hours.


Just a little over a month before I'm done! Yippy!

Valley of the 10 Peaks and Sentinal Pass

This hike gets "Premier" status in our guidebook - and we understand why! Fantastic scenery for the whole 5.6 km to the pass makes it easily one of the most beautiful hikes we've done lately.

View of the glacier

A few of the 10 peaks

Sentinel Pass - the goal of our hiking trip and our lunch spot.

The way up was tough, but being able to ski down was worth it all. Jon had the best deal since Patches pulled him up and then pulled him down.

Moraine Lake - tourist attraction extraordinaire, but really beautiful. Patches was quite the hit with the tourists - especially one small child who had to be carried off kicking and screaming when he didn't want to leave the dog.

Turner Valley

I spent this week in the beautiful town of Turner Valley, home of the historic Turner Valley Gas Plant. I find the plant pretty fascinating - all the old infrastructure is there and they are still flaring the original natural gas seep. The plant operated for about 70 years and until recently, visitors could tour the historic site.

Just some pictures of the site:

The scrubbing plant

Clouds over welding shop

The Horton Spheres

Plumbing Problems in the Wonder House

After 4 day of smoke and sweat, Jon and I were ready for a shower and some clean clothes. Like the nice parents we are, we delayed our showers and laundry until after we'd picked up our dog and done groceries. I then gathered up our stinky clothes and happy loaded them in our washer. An hour later I went back down to the basement to check on my laundry and found myself on my ass in a large puddle of water at the foot of the stairs.

I wasn't hurt, and my first thought was "which dog peed this much? Disgusting" before realizing that no dog has that much pee in them. Jon heard my screams and came running down to lift me out of the puddle. We opened the laundry room door and stared at the water that was slowly filling our basement as our washer drained. It seems that the hole in the floor where water drains from our laundry system had backed up and the laundry water was spreading in a filthy wave across our storage room. Quickly we shut off the washer and set about moving dog food out of the way.

We mopped up almost all the water and Jon went upstairs to drain something in the bath tub. And the basement reflooded. It then occurred to us that perhaps the hole wasn't just used for the washer tub. We ran the shower, and then the kitchen sink and then flushed the toilet and sure enough, after each time, the water in basement rose up again. The problem was larger than I'd initially thought - not only was I not going to be able to do laundry, we couldn't shower, pee or do dishes.

Jon called our landlord, who then called her plumber, who then called us and said he was on his way. We then called Panago for two large cheese pizzas, delivery, to help us through it all.

The pizza arrived within an hour, but 3 hours later there was still no sign of Doug, our trusty plumber. Jon called the landlord, who then told us to call the city. Jon called the city, who said they'd call us back. And then, out of no-where, the plumber showed up.

After a quick look at the basement Doug decided he had none of the tools needed to fix the drain. He talked Jon's ear off in the mosquito infested outdoors and then got back in his plumbing van - and we were still unable to use our water.

Minutes later, as Jon and Shannon and I were bemoaning our poor luck, the City of Calgary Emergency and Trouble crew showed up and two very large men (one with a very large beard) went to the basement. Ten minutes later our problems were solved - if only someone had told us to call them sooner! Just as quickly as they had came, they were back in their truck and off to help some other poor schmuck.

So, now we can flush and run water as much as we want - although I'm a little too nervous to try too much. It was quite the end to our long weekend, and we're hoping that the trouble has all passed.

Hiking to Tombstone

This weekend was our first backpacking trip of the season. We did the relatively easy hike to Tombstone campground in Kananaskis. Friday morning there was no rush to get out of Calgary, so Jon and I enjoyed a relaxing breakfast at Nellie's before heading out with the rest of the gang.

Our hike started off in the pouring rain, with all of us looking a little less than thrilled as we lumbered along with our packs. We stopped for lunch at Elbow Lake, which is only 1.3 km in but at the top of all the elevation gain for the hike. It wasn't as beautiful as last year, but still a nice sight.

Luckily, about a half hour later, the sun came up and we could enjoy the beautiful mountains surrounding us. The hike itself is along an old road, with very little elevation change. This makes for an easy and scenic 7.5 km trip.

We arrived in camp around 4 pm, set up and then settled down for some napping. We woke up in time for some rain and hail while cooking dinner, but luckily it didn't last for long. We enjoyed a camp fire with the free wood, but headed to bed as soon as the rain started again. Sometime during the night the wind picked up, blowing away the clouds.
Saturday was beautifully sunny, but with gale force winds (left over from the night before). It was unpleasantly cold and we huddled around the fire in the morning before heading out on a day trip to Rae Lake. It was sunny but cold at the lake where we stopped for lunch, but still beautiful. Like last time we'd been here, we got lost trying to find the trail out of the lake and ended up bushwacking our way back to the main trail.
The wind kept up right through the evening. Being too cold for anything else, we all spent the time huddled around the fire cooking apples (thanks to Erin and Andrew) and wishing the wind would stop. At least it wasn't raining!

On Sunday morning the wind was still blowing, but our hike to Tombstone Lakes took us into a pass and out of the worst of the winds. Upper Tombstone Lake was quite scenic, and we took our time with lunch, enjoying the sun and a break from the cold.

The afternoon was spent playing cards (if you're a girl) or participating in some sort of backpacking challenge that involved both distance and accuracy throwing with trekking poles and a round of golf (if you were a guy). Another evening around the campfire (we made good use of that free wood) before turning in.

Monday morning we managed to shove all our stuff back in our packs and we hiked out in beautiful weather (still with wind). We covered ground quickly and were back in our cars by 1 pm, ready to head home for a shower. It was a fantastic weekend (other than the wind), very relaxing and a nice break from the city.

Jon, Jenn, Ricky, Andrew, Ali, Mike, Mic, Andrew and Erin with Rae Mountain in the background.