What a great weekend. Things were looking iffy on the way down to the Pass when we got hit with some heavy rain on Hwy 22 just south of Chain Lakes. We could also see black clouds and lightning to the south and southeast, but one thing you learn after you go to Crowsnest enough is that you can see lots of different weather systems that never come close to you.
When I got down to Chain Lakes one of the guys was already there waiting and the other arrived shortly after I did. Just as the first few drops of rain started to fall we decided to get in our trucks and hit the road. Once we got down to the Pass we fuelled up and waited for the other two to arrive.
Once we were all at the Fas Gas we made our way towards Lille. The original campsite we were going to use was overgrown and someone had removed the fire rings, so we decided to go to a different spot. We set up camp, had some dinner, then sat around the fire with some drinks watching for two more who were joining us later. By 1am when they still hadn't arrived we figured they couldn't find us and set up camp elsewhere so we'd look for them on our way back out in the morning. Shortly after turning in I could hear some raindrops hitting the tent but after a few minutes it was done.
Saturday morning after breakfast I went back to the campsite we were originally going to use looking for the two missing Jeeps but nobody was there. When I got back to our campsite one of the guys said that his youngest had had a rough night and that they would stay around the Lille area. So the rest of us headed out toward the Fas Gas to look for the Jeeps and meet another guy headed down from Calgary. Still no sign of them on our way out, but we ran into another group of guys I know at the Fas Gas. One said they ran into the two Jeeps late Friday night dealing with a broken (or was it lost?) calliper bolt. I sent them a text and when the Land Cruiser arrived we headed toward the Daisy trailhead.
DSC_2078.jpg by
Marc Fossi, on Flickr
On our way, one of the guys mentioned that the exit to Daisy had a locked gate and several man-made obstacles to prevent anyone from getting through. Before heading into the trail we went to check it out and see if the gate was locked. Unfortunately it was and there were several large rocks and a deep trench beside the gate. There would be no getting through there. We decided to do a different section of Daisy instead then head over to Dead Man's Pass. On our way back to the 40 we stopped for a quick group photo.
DSC_2085.jpg by
Marc Fossi, on Flickr
The other section of Daisy was nice and dry compared to when a few of us ran it a couple months ago.
DSC_2112.jpg by
Marc Fossi, on Flickr
DSC_2149.jpg by
Marc Fossi, on Flickr
After finishing that stretch of Daisy we headed back to Hwy 3 to get to the Atlas staging area. When we got back to cell range I got in touch with one of the Jeeps and gave him directions to where we were heading. We stopped in a clearing to have lunch while waiting for them to get there. Once they showed up we got on the trail.
DSC_2164.jpg by
Marc Fossi, on Flickr
DSC_2166.jpg by
Marc Fossi, on Flickr
DSC_2170.jpg by
Marc Fossi, on Flickr
After finishing Dead Man's, two of the guys had to head home. One of the other guys lost his new sunglasses somewhere on the trail so he headed back to find them while the rest of us went to find a campsite around Seven Bridges. The first campsite we were going to use was occupied but we found another just down the road a bit. Oddly, we found several bones around the site from horses or cows. We immediately dubbed it camp jawbone.
DSC_2180.jpg by
Marc Fossi, on Flickr
DSC_2190.jpg by
Marc Fossi, on Flickr
DSC_2192.jpg by
Marc Fossi, on Flickr