Category: Preparation

We decided on Big Bend campsite as our first camp of the year. The idea is to pack a trail to Athabasca Crossing and perhaps beyond to make our Stage I of the Exped a little easier.

It took us 3 hours to traverse 6km! When we arrived to park at Sunwapta Falls there was nothing but a wall of snow where the carpark usually is – 30mins later we had dug out a parking spot and were ready to hit the trail. There was already a track and we were hopeful this would continue for a while but it did not. The trail ended around 300m into the hike so was not too helpful. It has been warm recently so the snow was powder and deep! Even with snowshoes we were sinking up to 4ft with each step. Very tough – really got the legs working.

The weather was great all day which helped and it was quite warm. Once we reached the campsite we spent another 30mins digging down to the ice covering the ground so we could put the tipi up. Once the tipi was up we set up the stove and collected the wood. Unfortunately, I did not set up the stove correctly so it went out like clockwork after 2hrs. A real pain! During the night I eventually gave up relighting it until the morning. We had invested in a pair of sleeping bags that can be zipped together which makes a real difference to the warmth in the bag during colder nights. I believe the temperature was in the range of -10°C to -15°C. Tallak loves the cold so no problems for him.

Big Bend is a wonderful site. Situated at a point where the Athabasca River curves around a piece of land jutting out (where the campsite is) there is a wall of mountains on 2 sides of you and a wonderful view to the front. 3 valleys meet a few km before the campsite which makes the view nothing short of spectacular. The only problem with the site is wind. With 3 valleys all funnelling wind towards you it can get very cold and unpleasant to be outside. A small price to pay.

The following day was again sunny and relatively warm. The hike out was much easier as we had been brutalised packing a trail the day before so could reap the reward today. Only 2hrs for the 6km.

The Athabasca River was completely frozen by the campsite, and we will be camping at Big Bend regularly until the start of the Expedition to keep an eye on the progress of the river and to make sure we can put a canoe on it.

After we drove back to Jasper we had a very healthy and desperately craved for A&W to reward ourselves for the last couple of days’ effort!