On the last weekend in August I went backpacking with Erin and her dad. We drove up to Cadomin Friday night. Dealt with a leaky tire Saturday morning then went to Jasper.
We got to the trail-head around 11am. It is 12 km to the Jacques lake campground and has a slight elevation gain but not very much. We had perfect weather – it was nice and sunny but not too hot. There was not too many bugs so that was a plus!

My backpack seemed to work pretty good. I rented it from MEC for the weekend. My shoulders were quite sore by the end of the trip but not too sore.

It was a nice hike. The beginning of the trail is an old fire trail so it is a little wider. There were gravel washes in multiples from previous storms that we had to walk over. It made things a little more interesting. After about 4 kms it turned into a single track trail through trees and next to lakes. For most of the trip there is either a lake or creek next to you. There are many nice views of the mountains and the water. It took us about 4.5 hours to get to the camp including stopping for lunch and snacks.

It was a nice campground. We were the only ones there and some of the sites hadn’t been used for awhile. We got a nice site. After we had set up camp we went for a little walk to a ranger station next to the lake. On the way to the ranger station we saw a moose in the water. It was pretty neat and didn’t really care that we were there. Each day we saw about 6 people on the trail. Most of them went to the campground and back in a day.

After a nice long sleep we got up and noticed that there were two moose eating in the picnic area! The sun wasn’t yet over the mountains so it wasn’t too bright out side yet. Jake tried to scare them away using a bear banger. First he launched a flare by mistake and they didn’t really move. He then used a bear banger and they moved a little bit more but still not really and they went back to eating. The bear banger was a bit like a firework going off. Eventually the moose moved far enough away and we could get to our food that was hanging and start a fire.

It was quite cool in the morning so we wanted a fire to help us warm up. It probably went down to around zero at night. I was warm in sleeping bag but once I was out of it, I quickly got cold!

After breakfast and packing the tent up we again left around 11. This time it took 4 hours and a bit. We were a little faster.

Both ways we saw some fairly fresh tracks that looked like maybe a wolf was hunting a deer or something. The tracks were pretty neat.

We got back in the car and we were on our way back. All in all it was a good introduction to my first real backpacking trip

We took Erin’s camera as it is more weatherproof and not so heavy! Erin took most of the pictures. I took some and Jake took some. Some pictures turned out quite well! Other ones not as much but it is hard to tell if you got a good one or not.

The pictures are below Continue reading Jacques Lake Backpacking trip →

For the August Long weekend Erin and I went to my parents. We mostly relaxed while in Calgary. We also made pickles. Here are the pictures from the weekend: Continue reading Pickle Making Long Weekend →

For Easter I left Edmonton late Thursday night for Toronto. There was a snow storm in Edmonton in the morning to make things interesting. It had mostly melted in the afternoon but my plane left late not because of weather but because it was late from LA or somewhere. My flight was smooth and Erin picked me up when I arrived at 1:30 am or so and we took a cab back.

On Friday we went for lunch at a German place with Erin’s friend. I had a good wiener schnitzel that came with a potato salad. After lunch we walked around Parkdale and went to Trinity Bellwoods park. While walking we came across a big parade for Good Friday and watched it for a bit. For supper we made a light meal at Erin’s place.

Saturday we picked up lunch at the chicken restaurant that is near Erin`s place at made our way to the ferry to the Toronto islands. Before we took the ferry we found a nice place by the lake to sit and eat. The ferry seemed to take a long time to come for some reason. We walked around some of the islands and took some pictures. It was a nice clear day. After taking the ferry back we met Erin’s cousin and had burgers. Mine was quite good. We then went back to Erin’s place and got ready to go to a Pirate themed party at one of Erin’s friends. The pirate party was quite good and had some pirate themed activities. Such as sword-fights and lighting a cannon.

Sunday involved lots of travel. We went to Erin’s uncle to borrow his car and drive to near Kitchener/Waterloo to see Jamey and his family. His twins have grown a lot since we last saw them. Jen is due any day with a new baby. We had a nice lunch, played Settlers of Catan. Much to our chagrin (not Erin’s) Erin stormed at the end and beat us. We got a tour of the chickens and had a nice supper before driving back.

Monday was my last day there. We bought lunch at a nearby restaurant to Erin. I got a grilled ham and cheese sandwich. We took the subway to High Park. There is a small little zoo in high park that we walked to. It was quite interesting. It is free and may be closing down soon. After a nice walk, cool at times with the wind we took the subway back and Erin made a nice quiche with quinoa and kale among other things. My plane left late at night but on time. I arrived on time for a late night before going back to work the next day

See the pictures below Continue reading Easter in Toronto →