A Scout is Loyal

Wolverine Patrol
James

I hope that everybody had a good summer. Nearly all of the members of the Wolverine patrol went to Camp Oljato for summer camp. I hope you all had a fun time, even if the weather didn’t cooperate with us. Since you probably won’t get this much rain or hail next year, I would like for you go to summer camp again. I know all of you enjoyed sleeping out in the rain, but I think that you will enjoy camp even more when it is sunny all week.
Congratulations to the Wolverine patrol for getting through the hardships of summer camp and our first year together as a patrol. Last year was a very successful year for us. I feel that you have all learned a lot, and it showed with our 2nd place ribbon from the Camporee. This year you will learn even more skills and hopefully gain rank rapidly. In order to gain rank, talk to Alex or me at the meeting, or call me at home so you can finish some of your requirements. So far, nobody from the Wolverines has asked me to get anything signed off. Even though our numbers are decreasing, I still believe we will have a good year, and hopefully you will have more fun this year too.

Blank Patrol
David

Spoons Patrol Report!
Bryant

Well, a lot has changed since the last Court of Honor. Our troop has lost a few of its members, but the scouts who stayed have matured and learned from their experiences in the troop. Although there are less people now in the Spoons, there are positives to the change- those who remain are dedicated in learning more skills and advancing in rank. By the next Court of Honor, hopefully all of the Spoons will be at Tenderfoot (or above!).
This is a new year, and there will be new opportunities- new skills, different outings, new goals, and new scouts by the end of the year. Scouts will have to learn how to become leaders, and I won’t lie- it is not easy. However, I have confidence that the Spoons will take full advantage of these opportunities, and will continue to learn and grow.

Flaming Waffles
Daniel

SPL Corner
Brian

I have just finished writing about Canada so read that one; therefore, I’m not going to say a lot as SPL. I would however like to say a few things. Firstly, I would like to congratulate everyone who is getting rank and stress how important it is for you guys to be working hard on these requirements. We are all very happy to have more tenderfoot scouts, and will be even happier when you become First Class scouts and start helping us lead the troop. If you joined between February to March and are getting Tenderfoot or higher, you are making good progress. For those of you who don’t have tenderfoot or higher, I think that you guys need to work harder. We have tried our best to get you through the requirements, but Boy Scouts is about you not us, and, therefore, is individual. We would all be more than happy to help you, but if you don’t show initiative, we won’t. Whatever rank you are going for, going on the outings is the best time to get things signed off and the best time to have fun. Our attendance has been okay but I would be a lot happier if everyone went on everything. Keep up the good work and remember, there’s always room for improvement.

Quartermaster
Brian

A few notes on troop equipment. I don’t know if any of you have noticed, but out of most of the troops around, we have the best equipment. We have great backpacking tents, a few great car camping tents and some good old A-frames. All of them work and we would like to keep them this way. Recently I spent a few hours checking them and they all work. Things are probably going to be changing slightly in the way things are checked in to ensure they stay that way, please bear with us. Furthermore, you can help a lot in keeping the tents good. If you sign out a tent and don’t sign it back in on the outing you need to go home and air it out that day, not the next day or week. We give honor patrol points (or rather take them off) for late tents, but this is just a reward for doing what is right, not the reason it is necessary. If you don’t air out the tents they will decay, break, and smell bad, something none of you want. Also a note about your packers, very soon, all of the stuff will be fixed so that all packers are the same, if you mistreat, damage or lose any piece of them, you will be responsible for replacing it and will be lacking it until you do, so PLEASE TAKE CARE OF OUR EQUIPMENT. Again thank you for your help and understanding.

(our sand fortress was unidentifiable, due to the very good reason that it was probably COMPLETELY UNDERWATER - we had built it during low tide, so the ocean couldn’t do anything to it then, but when we came back it was high tide, so we couldn’t even tell where it was in the first place). We hiked down maybe 1.5 miles (on the way, we saw a bunch of people fishing, lots of driftwood, the air bubbles of about a billion sand crabs, and about 3 dead seals), ate lunch, and did map and compass work there, since there were two specific, distinctive gullies right next to us that we could identify topographically. After that, we just basically messed around - some of us buried others of us, some of us played in a little pond, some of us skimboarded, and some of us tried to skimboard for the first time and
mostly fell down and got completely soaked but it was all good, because it was still a lot of fun. It was a lot less foggy the second day, but still pretty cold. The hike back was pretty cool; it was really relaxing just to watch the waves. When we got back, we ate dinner, cleaned up and stuff, etc. Then, the sun started to set, and it was beautiful; if you went into the cool little hollow, it was completely filled with the light of the sunset... it was breathtaking. We quickly organized everyone and rushed down to the cliff edge to watch the sun over the horizon. Anyway, after that, we made a fire and repeatedly whacked it with a stick just to take a picture of the sparks flying everywhere. Finally, at night, the sky had cleared, so we looked at the stars and identified several constellations. We thought we couldn’t see Mars, but then we realized it was just behind a big tree. Mars looked pretty cool, it was definately really bright, and you could tell it had a reddish color. Overall, it was a great outing, as our beach trips always are.

Summer Camp
July 27-August 2, 2003
James

    Each year, Troop 463 spends a week at summer camp. This year we traveled high into the Sierras (elevation 7,000 feet) to Camp Oljato, which is located on Huntington Lake. Our trip began on Sunday, July 27, when 21 scouts and 4 adult drivers left the church a little after 7am. After about a 5-hour ride, including 2 stops for lunch and snacks, we arrived at the camp parking lot. From here, everybody had to ride a boat to the other side of the lake, where the camp is located. Although we arrived a little before our scheduled departure time, we still had to wait, before catching the last boat across.
             After reaching camp, we had to carry all our equipment to Navajo campsite, our home for the next week. After a short orientation of the camp and swim test, we returned to Navajo to setup our gear. This year was a little different, since we shared a campsite with another troop from the Los Angeles area. They had to travel over 8 hours to get here. It was a little confusing at first, trying to get everybody organized, but we finally did it. We were starving by now and were ready for our evening flag ceremony and dinner. Contrary to the beliefs about camp food, the cooks at Oljato came up with some very tasty meals (much better than our past 2 years at different camps… ask the older scouts). After our opening campfire, later that evening, we headed back to camp for some much needed sleep.
      The next morning, after a very good break

fast, we all went to our various skills and merit badge classes. The day started out great, and we appeared to be off to a great start…..but, later in the afternoon, dark clouds started forming, along with the sound of distant thunder. Nothing to worry about, right! Short, afternoon, thunder showers that quickly pass, are not supposed to be that common. Well, I guess it was overdue. A light sprinkle developed into a steady rain, which continued off and on for the rest of the week. At first, many of the older scouts saw the rain as a good thing, which seemed to solve the usual dust problem. But, rain was not the only surprise Mother Nature had in store for us. We even experienced a brief hailstorm. This shocked everybody. You have to remember this is summer, and we were expecting sun. Actually, we got some sunny periods and mild evenings and were still able to have fun and accomplish quite a bit, as shown by all the merit badges we earned. This is also probably the reason for our higher, than usual, number of partials. These uncompleted merit badge blue cards will be returned at the Court of Honor, in hopes that all of you will contact a counselor and get them completed, SOON. Our schedule for the rest of the week was pretty similar. Every morning we would wake up at 7am, go to the flag ceremony, have breakfast, and go to classes or relax. Lunch was served at 12:15pm, then another class session, until free time at 3pm. During this time we could work on skills and badges or just have fun fishing, sailing, rowing, canoeing, rifle shooting, climbing, or whatever we wanted.
             If you ask any of the younger scouts what part of camp they liked best, their answer might surprise you. It wasn’t the merit badges, the water activities, the foosball table, the rifle range, or even the ping pong table someone made back at camp. No, it was the trading post. Over the course of the week, many of the scouts spent tons of money, usually buying candy and soda, with an occasional souvenir. Whenever someone was missing, you could usually find him there. Yet, the scouts were not the only ones having fun. During his week at camp, Mr. Root was able to finish his mile swim, something few people even try, and fewer people finish. Mrs. Corley (the rower), me (the spotter), and Mr. Root woke up at 5am Friday to do this. It was COLD! Mr. Root and Mrs. Corley also were able to go

sailing out onto the lake. My dad got to fish and was happy.
            The Camp Oljato staff tried to make the rainy conditions a little easier on us. During our evening activities, they would invite us to the mess hall to watch movies. They, along with the adults and senior scouts, did a pretty good job keeping the younger scouts dry by repositioning the tents, retying supports, etc. One thing all you scouts should have learned…BE PREPARED!!!!!!! Never leave home without it! Your PONCHO or RAIN GEAR, of course! To all you new scouts, I hope the weather did not discourage you from attending summer camp next year. Rain is something you may encounter during your time in the troop, but it is more often sunny. Remember, for me, this is the first time it rained in 6 years at summer camp. I hope everybody had fun and is looking forward to next summer. Finally, thanks to all the parents who planned this trip for us, drove, and stayed at camp.

Week 1
June 20 - June 28, 2003
Brian Thurgate

Our trip to Canada started on the 20th with only Alex, Mr. Tan, Mr. Thurgate, and me (Brian (for now!)) Upon arriving we had to go get fuel for the stoves, which turned out to be slightly more difficult than it would seem. We started by attempting to go to an outdoor store, but given how far (and hard to get to) it was, we decided to stop by some stores on the way in an attempt to get some; however, in Canada, nobody sells it except outdoor stores, until you have been there for a few days (we later found fuel at every store we went to). After shopping, we settled in for the long drive to our backpacking site, stopping twice on the way, the first for dinner, then at a waterfall viewpoint. Although the

waterfall was very neat, and the first thing we went to see in Canada, it was nothing compared to what we would see later.
We woke up early the 21st, our first full day in Canada in order to start our backpacking trip. The weather was fairly nice, it wasn’t bright and sunny, so it was a fairly pleasant hike in, in terms of temperature; although, the clouds did limit our view up the valley. It was, however, better visibility than we would have for many days, but I’m getting ahead of myself. When we got around three-fourths of the way to camp, it started snowing. This was fairly exciting, and we figured that it was, like in the Sierras or Colorado Rockies, an afternoon storm that would soon be gone, taking with it the overcast skies. Were we ever mistaken! It soon cleared up as we had expected and, a bit later, we got into camp. After setting up our tents, it started snowing again. It was very light, a mere drizzle but it made doing things less fun. We tried to light a fire for about 30 minutes before Mr. Tan finally succeeded, the fire didn’t last long though for we didn’t tend it very well and the snow got harder. We played cards and ate then went to bed.
The following morning, June 22nd, the second day of summer was very beautiful, although totally un-summer like. There was a good two inches of snow on the ground, and just as much on our tents and dining fly. It had gotten so cold the night before that the rope holding up the fly was encased in ice, very awesome. We all had a good laugh given everything was covered with snow the second day of summer, but were happy that it had snowed during the night, not during the day, or so we thought in the morning. It was definitely overcast but we didn’t worry a lot about it, finding the snow on the second day of summer rather bemusing. Day two was supposed to be the hardest due to its length and its elevation change. We had to go over a pass to get to our next camp. Despite the disheartening name, Tombstone, we were all in good spirits as we set off. We hadn’t been hiking long when it started snowing again, slowing the pace even more. The snow didn’t really stick though; it just slowly fluttered out of the sky and melted when it hit the ground or us. The snow, although unasked for, did make the steep climb fairly easy by keeping us cool, I can’t even begin to imagine climbing the pass in broad

as we got to the lake, the snow stopped and the sky cleared enough for us to see Mt. Elpoca behind the lake. As we left, the weather socked in again and it started snowing. This time it was heavy enough to stick, and in short order, there was a thin layer of snow on the ground. This made the flowers look very neat. However, it also made the ground very wet and limited the visibility. As we approached the cutoff where we needed to decide whether or not to hike to Lake Rae, the snow was letting off so we decided to, and as we got to the top of the first ridge, the snow stopped and the sun came out, quickly drying us. It was a cross-country trail to the lake, and going by the limited description in the book, our terrible map, and our best guess as to where the lake was, we plunged off into the undergrowth. The going was slow and steep but we were soon over the top of the ridge that we figured the lake was in, and beheld, absolutely nothing, well; there were trees rocks and undergrowth, but no lake. We concluded that it wasn’t there and continued on. It took way longer than we expected and we were beginning to think there was no lake, when, lo and behold, more ridges to climb. After climbing the final ridge, we beheld the lake, took some pictures then, yup, you guessed it, it started snowing. We huddled under a tree, and ate lunch while beholding the serenity of nature and the snowflakes slowly fluttering to the ground. After this we decided to head back to camp via Sheep Lakes. We saw a trail across the river so decided to jump it. It was only about five feet wide but jumping it was still a little scary due to the swift current and how cold it was. We continued on this trail for quite a while before we got tired of going the wrong way, apparently we had found a trail that wasn’t on the map. We then cut straight down the hill, doing true cross-country. This turned out to be a disaster, in my opinion. Well, it wasn’t that bad, but it was long and by the end, my shoes were so wet that every time I took a step water oozed out (then back in while still in the swamp). You see, we were in a swamp. A very long one, the water was just low enough to provide a few dry places to step, but in an attempt at staying dry (don’t ask me why I cared, my shoes were soaked through) but I did and it made me fairly slow. When we finally got to the bottom, we looked back up and saw the trail, right were it should have been, on the other side of the

river (it turns out not only did we not have to cross the river, it led us out of the way.) We then continued to Sheep Lakes and then back towards camp. Right before camp we had to cross a much bigger river and I was forced, (still worried about my sponges, err, shoes, getting wet) to take off my shoes and use a 2 foot stick for balance and crossed it. At camp when we had a fire, in the evening, I dried my socks, and tried to dry my shoes. This was quite fun for I’d heat up a rock and drop it in my shoe, then watch the steam pour out while attempting not to let it burn anything. I did this for a while and when I was satisfied that they were at least half leather, I gave up. That night shortly before going to bed we saw a really cool glow over a nearby mountain; it was very dim yet very cool.
The following morning we hiked to our third camp. In the morning while getting ready to leave, we saw a couple of icefalls (mini avalanches on a nearby mountain which funneled into waterfalls of snow and ice). The hike was beautiful and finally it was relatively clear. As we walked the view up and down our valley was very neat, and the peaks with snow on them added to the splendor. There were some pretty steep sections, both up and down on our trail, but that’s what we get when we let Alex lead. As we neared camp, we saw a cave up to our left, which had a small waterfall falling in the middle of its mouth. We got to camp around lunchtime, and as we finished lunch another group arrived. Although this wasn’t the first group we had seen, it was the most memorable. The leader came over and notified us that it was a juvenile delinquent group of teenagers. He then went and hid the axe (in Canada, every backpacking camp has one, very fun!!!) and warned us to watch our stuff. Although nothing happened (that we know of), it was a little spooky with them right there.
The next and final day of our backpacking in Canada was, in many ways, the best. It was very clear and a very easy hike. We stopped on the way twice, the first time was to see a waterfall and the second a viewpoint. The waterfall was very neat; it was about half a mile up a side canyon and was very neat because you could walk behind it. After this we continued until we reached a “grassy knoll.” This was pretty cool because it was only 300 feet from the trail to the top. Well three hundred vertical feet (and about that many horizontal,

Fort Point
Saturday 6/28/2003
 It was a clear and pleasant day in Canada on this fine Saturday morning. Ready for adventure and full of eager anticipation, the three new comers Mr. Webb, Daniel, and myself (Derek) began on our first hike along with the previous adventuring crew of Brian, Mr. Thurgate, Alexander, and Mr. Tan. This fist hike was up to Fort Point, where we new comers encountered our first spectacular view of how Canada’s scenery would amaze us throughout our trip. During our 2.4-mile hike we had come across several bikers who seemed to have trouble biking up some of the rather steeper slopes. I would say over all that the bikers only did get to bike a little over three fifths of the trail. For most of those slopes they encountered, they had to drag their bikes up by hand. (Now if a 21-speed mountain bike couldn’t do some of that trail, that says a lot because this was one of the easer hikes that we had done throughout the second half of the trip. Many of the trails of any substance were fairly steep). When we had reached one of the viewpoints, we were able to look out onto the richest expanse of forest landscape that one would normally only see in a national geographic magazine. It was a stunning vision of a deep green forest melted over the rolling slopes of the foothills of a magnificent snow capped giant. The forest seemed to cascade down from its alpine climate zone into the mouth of the prosperous valley below. We took pictures, drank water, and then

A Scout is Clean

headed to our next viewpoint.
We explored our next viewpoint taking a few more pictures and eating a light snack. When we decided to leave, we followed a trial that turned out to be some sort of shortcut through the forest. The trial lead into a heavily forested part of the mountainside, and began a very steep and treacherous decent. Many times we would use tree limbs as support so as not to fall down the mountain. For a while, we thought we might have a bit of forest exploration to do, but we soon found the real pathway and followed it to our cars. From there we continued on our trip up to Jasper.

Practicing Our Rappelling
Sunday 6/29/03
 On Sunday we awoke where we had set up our camp at an area within fairly close proximity to our canyon guides. The camp ground had turned out to be a horse pasture and during our stay was frequently roamed by these friendly animals. It was a beautiful area full of life and within a short walking distance to a nearby stream. This situation set the stage for the most abundant amount of insects we had set eyes on the entire trip. Our attempt to set up our bug canopy to keep the insects away from the food did not go well.
It was also at this campsite that we met the two local dogs. On the occasions in which they would grace us with their presence the scouts would play fetch with them and tug of war. On one such occasion, we found that the dogs would even play with sticks larger than themselves. The dogs turned out to be one of the most amusing highlights in our stay. During several of our fetch intervals with the dogs, one of them would try to run away into the forest with the newly acquired toy. However, as you can imagine the dogs never made it far with a stick in its mouth stretching out to either side further than the dogs own body length. Our stay on the ranch was very entertaining and we all enjoyed it very much.
 
It was this fine Sunday on which we were scheduled to practice our rappelling capabilities as rock climbers, and prepare us for our canyon adventures. When our guides arrived, we all packed our gear into one 15-passenger van, and then proceeded to cram ourselves in. It wasn’t the most comfortable experience;

in fact it was so rugged that the people in the back seats were told to wear their helmets.
When the road ended and the van could go no further, we put on our backpacks and started our hike to the top of a nearby ridge. It was the very ridge that the canyon had cut right through. When we reached the top, we took a short break and then proceeded with our testing. The wind was extremely active during most of our time spent on the ridge. It was so strong in fact that at times we had to shout to each other in order to be heard.
We were to memorize (if we did not already know) the commands used for proper rappelling safety, and use them at all times. There were three ropes on which each of us used to practice our harnessing technique and rappelling. This was all done on the top of the ridge. Once the instructor was satisfied, the ropes were hoisted over the side of the ridge. The next part of our test was to see how well we handled tense situations. We would each rappel about half way down the rock face of the ridge (only about 15-20 feet down), then practice maneuvering in one of the instructed situations, which we were told might happen to us while under one of the waterfalls.
Fist we practiced rolling, which is pretty self-explanatory. We practiced hanging, which meant we were to put our feet above us and hang upside down then recover from it and rappel the rest of the way down. We tried kneeling, and sitting against the rock face as well. For our final assent, we were to untie a knot in the rope below us, which required us to maintain a good grip on the rope so we wouldn’t fall, and for some of us it took both hands to undo.
When our practice was finished, we continued on to the next portion of our canyoning practice. When we came across a stream, we set down our backpacks and changed into our wetsuits. This stream was in fact one of the waterfalls that we would rappel under the following day. Our changing area was only 40 feet from a 400-foot cliff dropping into the canyon to which the river fed.
When we were all suited up, we headed out to a more suitable drop point into the canyon. As soon as we were on our way up the canyon, we were told the fairly simple procedure by which we would travel: We were to

go in single file and whenever we came across an obstacle we were to help the person behind us. We made our way up the canyon lending a helping hand every once in a while to those whom were less agile. Eventually, we came across a heavily shielded area known as Ogre Canyon. As soon as we turned the corner into the dark alley of solid stone, the wind increased its intensity as if to drive us out. The already cool pools of the canyon were replaced by ice-cold water able to sting us even through our insulating wet suits. After a while, we headed back using the same procedure as before. The canyon was no large challenge, but it was dangerous if you were not careful of your footing. There were many rocks slick with slimy brown algae that had caused quite a few slips along the way. Luckily we were all wearing wet suits that acted as a sort of cushion, and helmets. Several of the deeper pools were subject to dives as we made our way back down to our access point.
Have you ever heard of someone showering under a Canadian waterfall with only swim trunks to insulate them from the cold? No? Then I have a blood-chilling story to tell. It was close to late afternoon by the time we had begun our hike back down from ridge. Only this time, we took a slightly different rout. Why? It was so the guides could introduce us to the last waterfall we would be rappelling down the next day. The scouts were dared to go under it with only swim trunks on, so we did… You may think that we were foolish, but the truth is that we were just too lazy to change into our wet suits again. The waterfall was a dazzling sight to behold; it was virtually glowing with its white foaming curtains of water flowing down the deep black rock face from which it leaped off of from far above. However, the waterfall was quite dazzling in a very different way when you feel it with your bare flesh. It felt like it was showering needles by the bucketful. But the stinging sensation subsided after the first encounter, for once that moment had passed you couldn’t feel your own skin. One by one we each dived under the waterfall to test our tolerance and have a taste of what we would be going up against. Many would try to stay under as long as they could, but if you were one of those who wore no wet suit you would become numb quickly and then able to last as long as you want or until your body could no longer heat

itself. To be safe we kept our intervals to a progressively short amount of time. After we were all chilled to the bone (except those who had worn wet suits), we headed back to the van and back onto the road/muddy trail that eventually lead back to our camp site, where we made dinner, repacked for the next day, and went to bed.

Canyoning - The Real Thing
Monday 6/30/03
We awoke on Monday eager to experience the canyoning for real. The morning pretty much worked the same way as the morning before, only this time we discovered that there would be only 2 guides during the actual adventure. This way we would be able to get though the canyon with fewer delays. In the car ride, we discussed how the group would be split up. At the end, it was decided that the scouts would be allowed to go all together first, and the adults would be in the second group. Little did we know that this course of action would lead us scouts into a 4-hour canyoning expedition.
The adults were to await our arrival at the bottom of the canyon, while the scouts took the trail up the windswept ridge on that supposedly sunny and warm summer day. As we breathed in the pollution free Canadian air, we changed into the wet suits for which we were extremely grateful.
Once in the canyon, we began to sense the adventure. The rappel rope was slung though 2 carabineers attached to 2 chains that were solidly bolted three feet into solid rock. The rope was doubled over and both ends were flung over the edge and the first guide would follow it down. Each time the group finished one rappel, the rope was retrieved by pulling at one end and letting the other end snake back through the carabineers, then used for the next rappel. These 12-millimeter ropes were not the lightest thing in the world and were even heavier when soaked; even so, a spare was kept on every expedition, and for a very good reason too (sometimes the guides had told us, the ropes did get stuck).
Our first rappel began with a 15-foot squeeze down a rock crevice and then a drop into open air, where we dangled and slowly eased the rope through

what seemed an hour but had no such luck. We instead headed down the last two cliffs on our spare rope.
The next rappels went by much more smoothly, especially since we then began to descend into a much more sheltered area. When we reached the bottom, we retrieved the rope and headed back to the adults waiting a little way down the stream. There we found a fire going and a brighter and warming atmosphere waiting, for the sun had begun to come out from behind its blanket of black foreboding thunderheads. We ate lunch and stripped out of our cold wet suits to lay them out on sunny rocks to dry. At that time with only one rope left, the guides decided that the party of adults would attempt the canyoning later that week.
All in all, the canyoning was a most exciting experience, and if I have the chance to do it again, I wouldn’t hesitate to go. For that’s what High Adventure is all about: trying new things in an as safe and exhilarating approach as possible.

Exploring Some of Canada’s Most Famous
&
Celebrating Canada’s National Holiday
Tuesday 7/01/03
Tuesday was planed to be a very full day. After packing up camp, we set out to our first destination, Maligne Canyon. We ate a delicious lunch of sandwiches and chips by the river and relaxed in the shade of the small grove of trees.
We then set off on our hike in Maligne Canyon. It is a beautiful place with fractured and jagged rock walls, and emerald green water flowing smoothly through its rugged gorge. The abundant plant life sprouts up along its crude rock walls, and trees lean across its gaping chasms. The sound of the roaring water flow gives a sense of eternal tranquility. We explored its boundaries, following the paths and bridges, taking pictures and enjoying the scenery. 
When we left Maligne Canyon, we headed to our second destination, Mt. Whistler. Mt. Whistler is named because of its unusually high quantity of Hoary Marmots, which make whistling sounds to communicate. When we got there, we had to wait in line for a while before purchasing our tickets for the tram we would be taking to a platform near the top of the mountain. While

Week 2.5
July 2 - 5, 2003
Alexander
Wednesday, July 2

Early Wed morning we woke up early and drove to Brule to meet Jerry to take the adults to rappel down Ogre canyon waterfalls. Together we hiked to the ridge on top of Ogre Canyon where the adults changed into wetsuits to prepare to go down the canyon. Derek, Daniel, Brian, and I then followed a creek up to its source. Normally the source would spout water 20 ft into the air, but this was not the right season. We went anyway and only took 20 min to get there. The source was a large cavern that fit Brian, Daniel, and I. On the way down, there was an excellent view of the valley. We got back to the ridge and hiked to the bottom of the Ogre Canyon to wait for the adults to appear. We waited a while and when we heard the adults, we lit a fire so they would have something warm.
After lunch, we bid farewell to Jerry and thanked him for a very enjoyable experience and headed west towards Jasper. We decided to spend the rest of the day sightseeing the various lakes and waterfalls in the area like Cavell Lake which was a lake with chunks of glacier floating around. The other one was Athabasca Falls which was a magnificent sight with its multiple levels of waterfall. The night was spent in Whistler’s campsite.

Thursday, July 3
We started off early to leave for the Columbia Icefields. We drove straight to the Visitor’s Center and got there by 9:30am. So we spent half an hour looking around the Center. At 10:00am we met up with the guide and started on our hike of the Athabasca Glacier.

The glacier seemed huge but was relatively small compared to the other glaciers surrounding it. It took us 2 hours to get midway up the glacier where we stopped for lunch. After lunch we carried on for another half hour before we stopped because it was the highest point where it was safe for regular hikers. On the way down, we stopped and looked at several millwells which are holes in the ice caused by meltwater gradually wearing away at the ice to form tunnels to the base of the glacier. We also saw several crevasses some going down to 100 feet.
After leaving the glacier, we traveled to the Youth Hostel in Lake Louise to spend the night. Once there, we showered and went to dinner. We spent the evening relaxing at the exquisite lounge at the hostel before retiring to our dorms.

Friday, July 4
We breakfasted at the communal kitchen before setting off to the Kicking Horse river for whitewater rafting. When we got there, we were given wetsuits, bootees, sweatshirts, helmets, and lifejackets. When we had suited up, we boarded the bus that took us to the launch site to begin our expedition down the river. The first half of our trip was class 1 and 2 rapids – that was the boring part. The second half was more exciting being class 3 and 4. Along the bank we saw several deer and some squirrels. The river flowed through a few canyons and descended several hundred feet.
When we arrived back at the base, we were served a lunch of burgers and grilled chicken sandwiches. Immediately after lunch, we left for Banff and spent the night at Two-Jack campsite.

Saturday July 5
In the morning, my dad and I left for the airport to return home. The others continued the trip by heading back to Lake Louise after obtaining Derek’s rabies shot at Banff.

Week 3
July 5 - 12, 2003
Daniel

This article is about the third and last week of our trip. As you already know the first week was the Thurgates and the Tans backpacking around in the Rockies. The second week the whole gang was there including the Webbs and me, Daniel Lofgren. That was our week of extreme adventures. Sadly for the third week Alex and Mr. Tan left and it was only me, Derek and Mr. Webb, and Brian, and Mr. Thurgate. The theme for this week was day hikes. Our group toured all over Yoho, Kootenay, Glacier, Mt. Revelstoke, Jasper, and Banff National Parks. We saw many spectacular views and lovely vistas. I will now go over some of the places we visited.

The plain of six glaciers
This long but interesting hike was in my opinion the best of the dayhikes. We started at the bottom at Lake Louis and hiked up a short way to a small pond next to a rock formation known as Big Beehive. Once we saw it, the reason for its name became evident. It was a large mound shape reminiscent of a termite mound. It was covered on all sides with hundreds of small depressions that looked like the honeycomb shape of beehives. These bees would have had to be several yards long of course. The entire monolith stood several hundred feet in the air and was quite sheer.

The next leg of our journey took us up past a small lake that was the deepest blue any of us had ever seen and none of us would ever see a body of water that blue for nearly an hour (more on that later). The next stop took us to the first of two teahouses that we would see on our hike. We stopped and shared a large pot of tea. It was very good which we probably should have expected because it was a teahouse after all. All of the chipmunks in the area had been so tamed by the constant presence of the humans that they could be convinced to climb right up onto you for the prize of a nut.
The next leg of the trip took us to the top of the Big Beehive rock formation. On top there was a small pagoda type wooden covering and a spectacular view. Lake Louis below us was so vividly blue-green that it put the rest of the lakes to shame. It looked like a god-proportioned child had dragged a finger covered with sky blue finger-paints through the bottom of the valley. We ate our lunch on the top of this hill and relaxed and took pictures for about half an hour. We then set off once again.
This next portion of the hike was the longest and lasted for a little over an hour. This part is also were the hike got its name from. At the end of the hike, we began to see snow in ever increasing amounts. At this point, people began to comment quite a lot about the state of Mr. Thurgate’s shoes. That is to say, they commented on the lack of shoes to comment on. Its been said many times before, but I feel that I have to say it again once more. NO SHOES IN SNOW!! How does he do it? No one knows. Anyway, after we hiked over the last of the ridges, we saw it laid out before us. It was a big flat-bottomed groove cut into the mountains. At the end it split and branched like the delta of a mighty river in reverse. At the end of each split there was a glacier. Yup, you guessed it, Six of em. We looked at them for a while and then took some pictures. After that it was time to start heading back.
On the way back, we stopped at the second teahouse and had snacks. After that it was a smooth downhill hike back to the bottom of the lake were the parking lot was. A day well spent in Canada. 5 out of 5 “Dan stars”
An interesting note for any that are interested is that the campsite that we stayed at while otherwise clean

and welcoming had electric fences going around the entire perimeter. While it is true that bears are considered a danger in that area I think that the fence was a bit extreme.

The Boardwalks
The first was a half-day hike through a swamp of reeds, berries and predominantly Skunk Cabbage. The hike was quite enjoyable and the weather was quite agreeable through the entire thing. The boardwalk was well built and sturdy. The swamp was filled with wildlife from mayflies to frogs and fish. Near the end we even saw a black bear with its cub, which at short range was very cool. It was probably only 20 feet away from us but surprisingly didn’t seem to be very scared of us and simply left after a while. The boardwalk had interesting and instructive signs at regular intervals. Unfortunately in this case the emphasis was on had. A resident grizzly named “Macy” had smashed most of them to pieces some years earlier and they had not been replaced yet. This Hike was “short but sweet” as the saying goes. 4 out of five “Dan stars”

The second of the boardwalk hikes was through the forest. This one was much shorter and lasted only 45 minutes. It was full of enormous trees and a pleasant mossy smell. There were many fully intact instructive signs that were pretty interesting. This hike didn’t have a bear so in my opinion needed a little extra wildlife. A bit to short and no bear. 3 out of 5 “Dan stars”

Radium hot springs
This is the only event in the third week that was not a hike. To put it simply, an absolutely massive hot tub! The Radium Hot Springs is a giant heated pool. We spent several hours splashing around in this luxury, letting out aches and pains of the last few days just soak away and leave us in a contented stupor. A morning very well spent in Canada indeed.

Wapta Falls
This hike was a short two-hour jaunt. We hiked to the top of a ridge that looked down on a waterfall that

Avalanche Canyon
This hike was one of our favorites. It was a most of the day hike that took 5 hours including the stop for lunch. We hiked up the middle of the canyon for several hours until we came to the end. We then zigged and zagged our way through snow up to the top of the ridge. The view was spectacular and we could clearly see our campsite from where we were. We ate lunch and stayed up there for about 45 minutes. Then we headed down. On the way down Derek hallucinated about seeing an ermine and we teased him about that for a bit. Definitely a good crisp hike.

Paint Pots
This was one of the most interesting hikes. We walked through an area of semi-defoliated land that was coated in yellow dust and mud. We learned that Indians who often traveled for many miles had used this clay. In more recent times, the clay was mined and used for yellow paints. The scenery of the area was very interesting and I found it oddly disquieting how most of the plants looked like they were yellow and dead but still growing. However the hike was really only a short jaunt and hardly filled up an hour.

Marble canyon:
This sight was on the same day as the Indian clay hike. We walked a short distance to a canyon that was filled with giant blocks of water-polished marble and a small stream. While it was pretty to look at it wasn’t anything special

Mt. Revelstoke
We began this hike in the midmorning chill at the top of the mountain. We hiked a small loop of the area and saw a few small furry woodland creatures. After a while, we made our way to the top of the mountain that we were on. Occupying the very top was a small abandoned fire tower that made for a few good pictures. Brian took one of his panoramic pictures and we made our way down again. It was an invigorating start for the day. After we got down we went into one of the small lunch tables and had lunch to a spectacular view. Definitely a good start to the day.

Iceline Trail
This was one of our all day hikes. We started at the bottom of a U shaped valley between two mountain ranges. We hiked up the slope zigzagging our way up for well over an hour. We then came to a more or less flat area with another higher range farther on and a whole lot of little glaciers in the corners where the land sloped up again. We started to see lots of snow and walked through quite a lot of it. After passing a large glacier-melt pool, we ate lunch on a stony rise. After lunch, we continued to hike horizontally to the upper mountain range. After about a half-hour of that, we started back down the mountain. We had fun on the way down by throwing snowballs we had scooped out of the occasional patches of snow at each other. After we reached the bottom, we crossed the main road that we had come in on and went to the opposite end of the valley. There we visited a tall and powerful waterfall, Takakkaw Falls, that, because of an outcropping of rock fell for a short ways and then shot out and up into the air. This caused an enormous amount of spray and looked cool. We then hiked back up the road to the car. Another worthwhile day.