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Winnipeg, MB
Canada
42 Posts |
Posted - 01/13/2011 : 07:17 AM
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Sept. 11
When I board the Greyhound in Winnipeg, it is raining. This doesn't worry we, I checked the forecast, and it's supposed to be a beautiful weekend in RMNP. During the bus trip, it is raining on and off, but after the day goes on and we are getting closer to the park, the rain starts to let up. I notice blue sky ahead, and when I finally step off the bus at the park entrance there isn't a cloud in the sky. A beautiful sunny day. I gather some info from park staff at the gate and head out.
I have about a 7 km hike up hwy 10 until I get to hwy 19 where I will find the trailhead I am looking for. It is starting to get hot out now, once I arrive at hwy 19, I dig out my 500 ml bottle of water I brought. I drink up, there are water pumps located at the backcountry campsites. I will be staying at Cowan Lake.
A short hike down hwy 19 I find the trailhead. There are a few different trails here. Two will get me to my campsite. Grey Owl Trail and The Kinosao Trail. I take the Grey Owl. After hiking for about 3.5 kms, I come to a junction, one way is the Kinosao Trail, which heads back to the trailhead, one heads towards Grey Owls cabin, and the other leads to my campsite at Cowan Lake. I drink the rest of my water and head to Cowan Lake. It is another 3.3 kms.
Once I arrive, I am really tired and thirsty at this point, I drop my backpack, and look for the water pump. I find it, but guess what, it is not working, I keep on trying for a few more minutes to no avail.
This is not good. I assumed this campsite was on a lake, but not exactly. I can see the lake through the trees, not even close to the campsite. I did still try to get to the lake, but there was no access. The lake was about a football field away, and when I enter the bush, the ground just becomes completely soggy after about 10 feet, plus it is just to thick to get through. So now what? I take out my cell phone to call park staff, but no service of course. Well, I need water, I have to do something. I decide to head back the way I came, I can check the Kinosao Trail, which is on a lake also. I just hope it is not the same situation as this campsite. I leave my gear and head off. All I took with me was my empty 500 ml bottle. I have a Katadyn carbon filter water bottle, but I left it with my gear. With that bottle, I can drink the worst kind of water, but right now I need to find fairly clean stuff.
I arrive at the 3 way junction and head towards Kinosao Lake, the sign says 2 kms, not too bad. When I arrive I am a happy camper, lol. Oh my, what a beautiful sight! There was even a little dock that I could walk out on so I didn't have to get water directly from shore. YES! I guzzle back a couple bottles. So, now I have a total of 5.3 kms I need to hike to get back to my campsite. All I have to bring back with me is 500 ml of water. Most of my food is dehydrated, and I like coffee in the morning. Yeeesh. Which means, in the morning, I will have to head out to find water again.
In the morning, I only have a mouthful of water left. I drink it and this time I head for Whirlpool Lake, which is beyond my campsite, 4.5 kms further down the trail. I take both water bottles and a grocery bag. Well I do not have to go the whole way to Whirlpool Lake, I estimate I went about 3 kms when I came across a small stream. It wasn't the best looking, but it was moving, and everything I drink from this point on, will be either boiled, or through the carbon filter. I was thankful the grocery bag didn't have any pinholes. :) I head back to camp, I see a deer on the way, and even heard an elk bugle off in the distance.
After coffee and breakfast, I head back to Kinosao Lake, this is not an official campsite, I'm not supposed to camp here, but with my circumstances I didn't think anyone would mind. And they didn't I talked to park staff on Sunday, and they were very sympathetic. Kinosao lake was a beautiful little spot. I enjoyed my short stay here. The evening sky was perfectly clear. The stars were amazing that night.
The rest of the trip was uneventful. My return bus didn't arrive until 5:30 pm, so I spent Sunday hiking a couple trails, The Brule and the Arrowhead Trails. Both were really nice.
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Winnipeg, MB
Canada
42 Posts |
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over the hills and far away
Canada
725 Posts |
Posted - 01/13/2011 : 12:20 PM
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Hmm! I thought I was the only one to ever post anything from this National Park.
www.clubtread.com/sforum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=33713
This TR was done a couple months after you were there. I'd still like to go back and do the Grey Owl trail one day. Cheers. |
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 Utah's canyon trekking,deck chair packing desert explorer who dreams of visiting Canada someday
3988 Posts |
Posted - 01/22/2011 : 9:27 PM
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Clean, nice, quiet looking place. Great pictures, too!
did ya get the trotskis from the water straight out of the lake?
I heard Greyhound has assigned seating? is that true? Or can ya just sit anywhere?
Any loons on the lake in that region? I didn't notice any birds?
I ran out of water a few times out here in Southern Utah, hiking. Couldn't even make saliva, any more. My mouth was like a leather pouch. I wasn't even sweating. I drank water from a
pothole in the slickrock. Had little waterbug skitterbugs in it a good sign out here that the water was fine. If it contains any living things in it then it is good. Beware of setting water full of alkali where nothing organic is happening. A little bug shit is good for ya
anyway hehe.
this bus thing is making me think about trying a destination like that, too.
Way to go.
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Winnipeg, MB
Canada
42 Posts |
Posted - 01/23/2011 : 07:22 AM
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I have never been sick in my life from drinking untreated water. Not sure if I'm just lucky or have the stomach of a goat. lol
On the Greyhound, you can pick what seat you want in advance when you buy your ticket. But generally, you just sit anywhere you want. I have seen it when they had more then one person assigned to the same seat.
I didn't see any loons, just ducks. Not sure what species they were. It was grey, overcast and foggy.
But yeah, I don't drive and rely on public transportation for most of my trips. The thing is, I just can't pack up and leave do to bad weather or something else. I have to stay until the date of my ticket. |
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2421 Posts |
Posted - 01/24/2011 : 11:42 AM
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I've got some relatives out there. I've heard of Riding Mountain, but never seriously considered going there - until now.
Thanks. |
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Winnipeg, MB
Canada
42 Posts |
Posted - 01/24/2011 : 1:11 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by peter1955
I've got some relatives out there. I've heard of Riding Mountain, but never seriously considered going there - until now.
Thanks.
Its quite beautiful. What I was surprised about was that all the trails were lined with different kinds of berries. I have never seen so many. There would be sections that the fields of berries would go on as far as you could see off the trail.
I only checked out one small section, the park is quite large with a lot of trails. |
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2421 Posts |
Posted - 01/24/2011 : 1:53 PM
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| Just a thought, but if the ground was 'completely soggy' why not just dig a hole, wait for it to fill up, then filter the water? Scoop a few litres into a bottle, add a Micropur, and by the next morning you'd have safe water for your coffee. |
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Winnipeg, MB
Canada
42 Posts |
Posted - 01/24/2011 : 5:00 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by peter1955
Just a thought, but if the ground was 'completely soggy' why not just dig a hole, wait for it to fill up, then filter the water? Scoop a few litres into a bottle, add a Micropur, and by the next morning you'd have safe water for your coffee.
That was a thought, and if it came to that I would have. There were a number of options available to me. I didn't have tablets though, just a bottle w/filter. But along the way, I heard rushing water, never did find the rushing water but I did find the lake.
The thing was, I thought I was camping on a lake, thats what it looked like when I did research. I wasn't going to stay there anyway. |
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Riding Mountain NP - Sept 11-13 2009
