I’m back! We completed the trip in 4 days instead of the expected 6. It was actually not quite intentional, we were only planning to cut off one day. But since there are no places to camp on the other side of Speculator Pass we had to hike an additional 14.5 km to get back to the trailhead - bringing the last days total to 25 km. Oh, and did a mention that Speculator Creek Trail/Pass are no longer maintained? Or as one of the locals put it before we set out: “Didn’t they abandon that trail?”

I’m glad the parks people were kind enough to post this sign at the END of the trail - after we ‘misplaced’ the trail a few times over that last 14.5 km

However we did survive and I’ll be posting a much more detailed trail report in the next fews days, complete with gobs of stats. But here are a handful of photos in the mean time:

Silver Lake in the morning light - our first campsite.

Mill Creek Pass - the 2nd pass on this trip and probably the easiest - you’ll note we’re actually smiling in this photo.

Top of Speculator Pass - WOW, they said it was steep but I didn’t think you could actually call a 60 degree slope a trail! I’ve never hiked anything this steep before but it was definitely worth the view.

So Aidan, Mike and I are leaving for our 7 day backpacking trip to the Absaroka Wilderness Area about 46 miles south of Big Timber, Montana. Among the time planning for this trip more than half of it was dedicated to coming up with a way to get enough palatable calories each day. While we decided that our meals would be individual this year instead of sharing a pot - forcing us to all eat the same suppers – we ended up packing very similar food. Here is a run down a daily ration of the food I’m taking on this trip:

Breakfast
Instant Oatmeal - 360 cal
Myoplex Protein Shake - 280 cal

On The Trail
PowerBar ProteinPlus - 300 cal
(2) Clif Bar - 500 cal
King Sized Snickers - 520 cal
Nature Valley Granola Bar - 220 cal
Sun-Rype Fruit Bar - 120 cal
2L Gatorade - 520 cal

At Camp
Endurox R4 Recovery Drink - 270 cal
(2) Ichiban Noodles - 780 cal
Lipton Pasta or Rice Dish - 560 cal
Hot Chocolate - 200 cal

Total Daily Caloric Intake: 4,630

Now according the various online caloric calculators someone my size, age, and height should need between 6,000 - 7,000 calories per day for 6 hours of backpacking. Taking an average of 6,500 calories burned each day that means there will be a 1,870 calorie deficit each day. Over 6 days that works out to a total deficit of 11,220 and since 1 lb. of body fat is 3,500 calories it is a good estimate that I will need to burn 3.2 lbs of fat over the coarse of the week. We’ll see….

The trip was excellent! I know this post is a little tardy but I’ve been waiting for people to send me photos. The weather was great, although I bit chilly the first night at -4C. This trip was far more challenging that last years Yoho trip, both in distance and elevation gain, and hopefully it will turn out to be a good build up to the Absaroka trip later this month.

Again I was wearing my heart rate monitor to keep an eye on my heart rate on different terrain and to keep track of calorie consumption. I also took the footpod along this time to keep track of distances but I don’t think it was very accurate. Either because the stride length wasn’t consistant enough, or that it wasn’t calibrated for a walking pace, or the regular stops, or more likely a combination of all those factors. However, it should have hopefully been consistantly inaccurate and thus a somewhat fair judge of distance.

I also tested out using protein shakes and recovery drinks to increase daily calorie consumption and recovery. While the recovery aspect is almost impossible to quantify it doesn’t really matter to me because to me it felt like it was making a difference. Especially the Endurox immediately following the day’s hike. I’m quite aware that it is mostly likely a mental preception but I will say that I didn’t feel as much muscle stiffness and had more energy a few hours after making camp for the day than I remember on past backpacking trips. In addition to the Endurox I also consumed a Myoplex protein shake/meal replacement every morning after breakfast. This seemed to give me a good start to the day and on the last day I even skipped breakfast in favour of only the shake. As a result I’m planning to take only a Myoplex for breakfast on at least a few of the days on the upcoming Montana trip. One thing I didn’t learn about a shake for breakfast is it’s much better to mix the powder in a small Nalgene the night before as it’s really a pain to get it fully mixed without big dry clumps when it’s cold and you’re half asleep. The only change I’m planning to make to my menu after this trip is to vary the pasta dishes with some instant rice dishes and to take at least 2 litres worth of Gatorade powder per day to increase my daily intake by 500 calories and keep a constant supply of quick carbs for the steap uphills where it’s difficult to eat anything without losing your breathing rythmn. I also took Cliff Bars on this trip instance of ProteinPlus Powerbars. They seem a bit more like real food compared to the super compressed Powerbars, but I think I’ll take a combination of both in the future as they were both good. Mike on the other hand couldn’t seem to be able to choke one down even when he really needed to - so I hope he finds some high calorie food that he can pack down for 8 days pretty quick. This trips daily calorie count was 3200 cal/day and I was easily eating the entire extra Ichiban that Chantal didn’t eat on two occasions.

Here is the heart rate monitor data for the trip:

Day 1: Emerald Lake to Yoho Lake
Distance: 8.0km [map] | 6.9km [monitor]
Elevation: ~1200ft gain in last 4km
Time: 2 hr 44 min
Calories: 1018

Day 2: Yoho Lake to Twin Falls
Distance: 13.5km [map] | 11.25km [monitor]
Elevation: ~700ft
Time: 3 hr 48 min
Calories: 1167

Day 3: Twin Falls to Yoho Lake via Whaleback and Iceline Trail
Distance: 18.5km [map] | 17.6km [monitor]
Elevation: ~2600ft total gain
Time: 6 hr 48 min
Calories: 3048

Day 4: Yoho Lake to Emerald Lake
Distance: 8.0km [map] | 8.19km [monitor]
Elevation: ~1200ft loss
Time: 2 hr 4 min
Calories: 571

As usual there are many more photos posted in the photo section.

National Resources Canada has recently updated their Toporama online topographical viewing software. You can now get topographical maps for all of Canada with scales as low as 1:40,000 for free. It’s still a pain in the ass to have to copy and past all the sections together if you want a get a usuable trail map, but the maps are far better than what Garmin Topo Canada provides. All the trails and most of the campsites for the major National Parks seem to also be marked on the Toporama maps.

Now if only you could download the full maps like USGS allows in the states…

Update:
After reading the License Agreement for Digital Topographical Data it looks like there is no reason I can’t post a copy of the Yoho National Park topographical trailmap I put together.

So here it is:
Yoho National Park of Canada - Free Downloadable Topograpical Trail Map - Scale 1:40,000 (hint hint Google…)

Update 2:
Might as well post one for Kootenay National Park aswell.
Kootenay National Park of Canada - Free Downloadable Topograpical Trail Map - Scale 1:40,000

We just returned from a three night trip to Kootenay National Park last night. Everything went really well, the weather was perfect, the trails we in good shape, and everyone had a good time. I took along my heart rate monitor on this trip to get some data on how elevation affects calorie comsumption. I’m basing the distances on the official Kootenay trail map, but I have my doubts that those distances are accurate. While the straight point-to-point distance may be correct, I don’t think the map distances account for elevation gain properly (or at all). I’ll be taking along the footpod for my heart rate monitor for the upcoming Yoho trip, so I’ll be able to refine the data.

Day 1: 6.6 km
Numa Creek - Gradual uphill - 1 hour 55 minutes - 750 cal

Day 2: 7.1 km
Tumbling Pass - Approx. 1330 ft elevation gain - 3 hours 51 minutes - 1713 cal

Day 3: 9.3 km + 16.8 km
Tumbling Creek - Mostly downhill - 3 hours - 1000 cal
Helmet Creek Loop - Approx. 800 ft elevation gain - 4 hours - 1934 cal

I think most significant is how much slower we were moving with any serious elevation gain. Next trip with the footpad I’ll be able to see what our actual speed is.

On our Purcell backpacking trip last year Aidan, Mike and I all had a list going of what we were going to do differently for the next trip. (Since a lot went wrong on that trip) That list kinda disappeared into the realm of Mike for about a year - but recent excavation has uncovered a scanned printout of the original list! Here it is, unedited, for archival purposes.

Group

• topo map
• compass
• reevaluate fuel
• less sunscreen
• powerbar instead of extra food
• no gatorade
• tents!
• metal scrub pad
• smaller sunscreen
• watch
• more chicken primavera
• consider oil for sticking/cooking purposes

Drew

• sandles
• xs compress bag
• gators

Aidan

• xs compress bag
• sleeping bag
• z-lite
• fleece
• pants
• real jacket
• gators

Mike

• sandals
• fucking bags
• carabiners
• nalgene
• backpack
• garbage bags
• hat

I finally found some full resolution digital topographic maps for the area we’re going to be in Montana. For reference - the Montana State Library keeps a complete set of topographic maps availabe for download in TIFF and SID format here.

By using these maps I’ve put together an approximate elevation gain/loss chart for the trail. You can clearly see the 3 passes that we’ll have to do. I think the most surprising part is how high the passes actually are. The first and last pass we have to do almost hit 10,000 ft. In comparison the 1 pass that we did last time we went to Montana was only 8600 ft. So basically I’m going to be sucking wind - being that the elevation of Regina is only 1893 ft.

UPDATE:
Elevation gain per day is approximately as follows:

The footprint for my Big Agnes Seedhouse SL3 finally came today. Works quite well, and I’ll be future testing it during May Long weekend. Given that it was a sunny day today I had to improvise rain testing it. After running the garden hose on it for a good 20 min, it didn’t let a drop in. The 3-4 in gap along the sides didn’t prove a problem either. It would take one heck of a sideways blowing wind to get any rain in the sides. And even then you could stake the fly down a little differently to get it closer to the ground. The tent feels nice and airy inside and just a little bit bigger. Providing May long goes well I’ll be taking the fast fly setup on the Kootenay trip.

So we’ve rearranged the order of the July and August backpacking trips since the people going in July had already been to Yoho and those going in August haven’t been to either.

These means the June 30th to July 3rd trip is now to Kootenay National Park. A revised information sheet can be found here. The August 4th - 7th trip is now to Yoho National Park, although a partially different trail than last year. I’ve made up an information sheet for this trip as well and it can be found here.

My new tent came today. It’s light, really light. I’m quite happy with it. It’s light enough that I could even take this tent solo if I had to. And split between 3 people it will be just over 1.5 lbs/person. On that note it’s going to be a tight squeeze for 3 people. We’ll definitely have to sleep staggered like the tent diagram suggests. While it may be somewhat small I’m very confident we won’t have any “it’s raining in the freakin’ tent!” issues like we did last time we went to Absaroka.

I still haven’t received the footprint as it’s backordered, so I haven’t been able to test the Fast-Fly setup yet. Setting up the tent in this matter means not using the main body of the tent at all, and simpy securing the fly directly over the poles and attaching it to the footprint. This cuts more than 25% of the weight and doesn’t look like it will affect the weatherproofness at all. I’m hoping I’ll be able to field test the Fast-Fly setup in Kootenay in July when the bugs shouldn’t be an issue.

All the stated weights are accurate with everything weighing in at 2.207 kg including the footprint.

This was also the final piece of gear I needed to finally have a fully accurate pack list. For a 4 day, 3 night trip to Kootenay my base pack weight will only be 14.34 lbs, and total initial pack weight - including fuel, food, and 2L of water - will be only 24 lbs.