Assiniboine 2017 Cancelled due to Wildfires

We finally decided to pull the trigger and cancel our trip : / Cannot fight the nature (yet!). We will try again in the future. Might be a good idea to keep wildfires in our radar sooner in the planning process.

Plan 2

Backcountry permits

• July 20-23: Purchased from BC Parks discover camping
• July 24: Booked 1 night 2 sites for McBride camp (BR14) 1Km away from Marvel lake.

Complete Trail with all the Campgrounds marked: map

Itinerary

• July 19:

• Drive: Leave Vancouver at 7am
• Camp: Mountain Village 1 Booked. 
• Address: Tunnel Mountain Road, Banff, AB
• Contact Info:(403) 762-1550
•  map
• Camp site: D29 

• July 20:

• Drive: Leave at 7am
• Camp site to Mt Shark Parking map
• Mt Shark Parking to McBride map
• Hike: 13Km
• Camp: McBride
• Water: ?

• July 21:

• Hike: 12Km
• Camp: Magog  map
• Water: ?

• July 22:

• Hike
• There are several options for day hikes:
• Wonder Pass : map
• Og Pass
• Camp: Magog

• July 23:

• Hike:13k (going back)
• 
  
• Camp: McBride
• Water: ?

• July 24:

• Hike: 6Km
• Camp: Big Springs
• Water: ?

• July 25:

• Hike: 6Km 
• Trailend: Mount Shark Trailhead. N50 51.554 W115 22.781
• Camp: same as above map
• Camp site: B10

• July 26:

• Drive: Leave for Vancouver at 8am

Assiniboine Sunshine meadow area Trails closed due to Wildfire

Trails in Sunshine area is closed due to heavy smoke coming from wildfires in Verdant Creek in Kootenay park.

http://www.summit107.com/news/east-kootenay-news/verdant-creek-fire-spreads-to-mount-assiniboine-provincial-park/

We cannot start hiking from sunshine village trailhead. Looks like northern part of Assiniboine mountain area is all closed. 

We need to change our plan accordingly :|

#BCwildfire

Assiniboine park affected area

Looks like the fire is only 2.5 Km from Sunshine village.

Area Maps

The following 2 area maps are available:

Nat Geo

Gem Treck

Wildfire

As behzad mentioned we need to keep an eye on wildfires as well. At the moment does not look like the Banff park is effected. But the route via highway one does not smell good!

A book on rockies trails

I came across this book. Here is an interesting read related to our last day.

What to bring?

Water purifying tablets

I came across this link which is brief and useful. I decided to go with a Chlorine Dioxide based product. I will buy a pack of Katadyn.

Checklist

TBD

Assiniboine Plan Version 0.5

Backcountry permits

• July 20-23: Purchased from BC Parks discover camping
• July 24: Booked 1 night 2 sites for McBride camp (BR14) 1Km away from Marvel lake.

Complete Trail with all the Campgrounds marked: map

Itinerary

• July 19:

• Drive: Leave Vancouver at 7am
• Camp: Mountain Village 1 Booked. 
• Address: Tunnel Mountain Road, Banff, AB
• Contact Info:(403) 762-1550
•  map
• Camp site: D29 

• July 20:

• Drive: Leave at 7am
• Camp site to Sunshine village parking. map
• Shuttle: parking to Sunshine Village Ski ($15) [Booked?]
• Trailhead: Sunshine village ski:  map
• Hike: 6Km
• Camp: Howard Douglas lake
• Water: ?

• July 21:

• Hike: 8.3Km
• Camp: Porcupine  map
• Water: ?

• July 22:

• Hike: 15Km
• Camp: Magog 
• Water: ?

• July 23:

• Hike:13k
• There are several options for day hikes: [Let's confirm]
• Wonder Pass : map
• Og Pass
• Camp: Magog
• Water: ?

• July 24:

• Hike: 11.8Km
• Camp: Marvel lake (Bryant Creek) map [update to McBride camp]
• Water: ?

• July 25:

• Hike: 16.4k [reconsider for last day considering shuttle]
• Trailend: Mount Shark Trailhead. N50 51.554 W115 22.781
• Shuttle to trailhead at 4:40pm. Booked
• Drive
• Camp: same as above map
• Camp site: B10

• July 26:

• Drive: Leave for Vancouver at 8am

What else is left to do?

1. Get a backcountry permit for July 24th from Alberta Parks. [done] 
2. Decide to rent a car or bring our own?
3. Do we need a GPS?
4. Is the trail well marked? Make a hard copy of a topographic map of the area and mark the following on it: 
1. Trail head and end
2. The trail we will hike 
3. Camp sites
4. Water sources 
5. Identify water sources
6. Decide for how far we want to hike last day
7. Decide which hikes to do on July 23rd
8. Book the shuttle from parking lot to trail head
9. Complete "What to bring?" check list

Plan for Day1: campground - Sunshine Parking - Sunshine Village - Howard Douglas (or beyond)

map: Drive from Camp to Parking

map: Sunshine parking lot to Sunshine Village, we can walk or take bus. Howard Douglas is the 1st available camp site.

Below is more info on how to get to the starting point from canadian rockies

Getting to Sunshine Village

Drive 9 km (5.5 miles) West of Banff on the Trans-Canada Highway to the Sunshine Village interchange. Drive to the Sunshine Village parking lot at the bottom of the gondola (9 km). From the Sunshine Parking Lot you can hike the 6.5 km road to Sunshine Village or buy a seat on the White Mountain Adventures Sunshine Shuttle Bus (1 403 762-7889). The White Mountain Adventure shuttle bus begins July 1st and ends September 30th. Cost- 2010 rates: If you are hiking to Assiniboine you can purchase a one-way fare from the Sunshine Parking Lot for $15 per person. Return fare- $26 for adults to ride to Sunshine Village from the Sunshine parking lot (children 3-12- $15).  From Banff- $55 for adults. Shuttles to Sunshine Village begin from the Sunshine parking lot at 8:00 am. You must pre-book to get on the 8 am bus. The 8 am bus will not be available after Aug 31st. The bus shuttles back and forth every hour, with buses heading down 15 minutes after every hour. The last bus goes down at 5:30 pm.

Bus from End to Start of Trail

Great news, I emailed Assiniboine and found out there's a new bus service that takes hikers from the end to the start of the trail for $65. No need for Heli to Canmore then another bus to the start of the Trail. Bus leaves 4:40pm every day and arrives 6:45.

Bike N Hike

We need to go from Mt. Shark back to Sunshine Village.

A rough cost breakdown

Here is a rough estimate of our potential trip to Mt. Edziza for you:

Tentative date: Leaving Vancouver on July15 and coming back on July 24.

_ Fly from Vancouver to Smithers (round trip): just bellow $600
https://www.ca.kayak.com/flights/YVR-YYD/2017-07-15/2017-07-24

_ Renting a car from Smithers National Car Rental (Full size sedan) for 8 days. That is a 500 Km drive on highway 37 that is a paved highway and good for drive to Tatogga, where we take our float plane: between $600 to $650. This is including tax and extra mileage (100 Km per day limit), which we will use. We could upgrade to a minivan for around $150 extra.
https://www.expedia.ca/carsearch?date1=17%2F06%2F2017&date2=26%2F06%2F2017&kind=1&loc2=Smithers%2C%20BC%2C%20Canada%20(YYD-Smithers%20Regional)&locn=Smithers%2C%20BC%2C%20Canada%20(YYD-Smithers%20Regional)&rdus=10&vend=

_ The flight From Tatogga to Buckley lake and pick up from Mowdade Lake, as I mentioned in my previous post ("update on Edziza cost") would be $1920+GST.

Now, the last thing is that I am assuming when we fly from Vancouver to Smithers and pick up our car and drive up north 500 Km to tatogga on the same day, we would be tired and want to rest over night and leave to our hike the next day. Same goes for our way back to tatogga. We probably want to rest over night before driving down to Smithers and back to Vancouver. In which case the stay at Tatogga Lake Resort for 2 nights would cost us something about $240.
http://www.tatogga.ca/

Now we can do a calculation!!!

sharing user name and password

ok... so dear hiking friends! here is the user name and passwords for yo all to have access to the website which has all the info for Mt. Edziza and other hikes around. It is extremely comprehensive and that might be why they are asking for the $25 annual fee?!

The link:
http://bivouac.com/default.asp

User name: sepehr_jalali1983@yahoo.com
Password: matilda

Update on Edziza Cost

So here is the latest and perhaps the cheapest flight I found for Mt. Edziza from Tatogga to anywhere in the park. Let me know what you guys think?

I came up with these rough dates so he could have an idea. We could, of course change it.

I'm attaching his response here:

Hi Sepehr,

July 22. is available. July 30. and July 31. are booked already. July 29. is available in the afternoon.

As mentioned on the phone, the total cost for this would be $1920 + GST. No deposit required, we accept Visa, MC or cash at the time of your departure.

You can add a 6th person at no extra cost as long as the total weight of your party of 6 including all the gear doesn’t exceed 1700lbs.

I suggest that you make a reservation asap. We are getting requests on a daly basis.

Thanks

Wendel Imhof

Operations Manager / Pilot

Alpine Lakes Air

info@alpinelakesair.com

(250) 846-9488

Mt. Assiniboine trail: Sunshine Village to Mt Shark info

I came across this hike as I was researching West Coast a while back. This guy has West Coast as his #1 and the only other Canadian hike in his World Top10 is Assiniboine.

https://besthike.com/2013/04/30/top-10/


You can park in Sunshine Village, Mt. Shark or Canmore.
Hike can be done in either direction. Hike Route

Bus from Canmore to Sunshine Village is $10 Bus Route Bus Schedule

Helicopter From Mt Shark to Canmore is $160 Heli or Car Route Heli Info (no bus)

If it were up to me, I'd park at Mt Shark, go as far as lake Magog and do all the side trips in that area. They seem more interesting and you avoid the Heli cost. But then again Heli should be fun too.

Flight cost from Dease Lake

Charter Quote from Lakelse Air

BC Communications Satellite Phone Rental

I called BC Communications Inc. Here is the quote for satellite phone rental:

$99 / first week
$49 / 2nd week+
$2.83 / minute

No free minutes

Tonquin valley - Jasper National Park Backcountry

Hey folks,

I made this while ago and put my research on this hike here so we can make the best decision:

1- The Parks Canada Guide: 
        http://www.pc.gc.ca/eng/pn-np/ab/jasper/activ/ap-bc/sugg-sentiers_trip-ideas/Tonquin.aspx

2- Highlights:       
     - 43.7 km, 2-3 days
    - No campfire
    - 7 campgrounds along the way
    - Tends to be quite muddy and the bugs can be bad
    - Late summer are the best time to hike the Tonquin Valley. 

3- Direction:
   - Two trail head:
         1) Portal Creek (16 km from Jasper)
        2) Astoria Creek ((29 km from Jasper)

Directions to Portal Creek Trailhead

Portal Creek on Marmot Road (16 km from Jasper). This trailhead is accessible year-round.

From JasperTake the Icefields Parkway towards Banff, and turn right immediately after the park gate, onto Highway 93A. Continue along 93A for 2.4 km, and turn right onto Marmot Road. The trailhead is on your left at km 12 of the road, marked by a hiker sign.

From Banff and Lake LouiseFollow the Icefields Parkway north towards Jasper. Turn left at the junction to highway 93A and Athabasca Falls, 200 km north of Lake Louise. Continue along 93A for 21.5 km, and turn left onto Marmot Road. The trailhead is on your left at km 12 of the road, marked by a hiker sign.

Directions to Astoria Creek Trailhead

Cavell Road (29 km from Jasper): The road is typically open to vehicles from mid-June to October 15.

From JasperTake the Icefields Parkway towards Banff, and turn right immediately after the park gate, onto highway 93A. Continue along 93A for 5.2 km, and turn right onto the Edith Cavell Road. The trailhead is across from Hostelling International’s (HI) Edith Cavell Hostel,
at km 12 of the road. 

From Banff and Lake LouiseFollow the Icefields Parkway north towards Jasper. Turn left at the junction to Highway 93A and Athabasca Falls, 200 km north of Lake Louise. Continue for 18.8 km, and turn left onto the Edith Cavell Road. The trailhead is across from Hostelling International’s (HI) Edith Cavell Hostel, at km 12 of the road.

4- Cost:

    Vancouver To Jasper:   Car (8hrs)    - 
     Jasper to Astoria Trail Head:   Car (TBD hrs)
     Hike 3 days:
     Portal to Astoria:
     Astoria to Vancouver:

5 - Map

     

Satellite Phone Rental

I looked at canadasatellite.ca to get a sense of satellite phone rental cost. We are looking at $70 for one week of rental with 10 free minutes. They need $500 deposit. Shipping cost not included. I will look into other options available and compare.

Here is the full cost detail for Iridium 9555:

• 1 week rental + 10 free minutes: $69.93 
• Additional airtime: Pay as you go: $1.29/min (10 min+ package $99/min)
• Ground shipping: Free
• Return waybill: $19.99
• 1 week rental insurance: $35 (optional)
• Total for one week with 10 free minutes:
• without insurance: $89.92
• with insurance: $124.92

In Search for Edziza Trip Reports

A quick search does not reveal that many trip reports on Edziza. I found a website that seems to have interesting information but to see the full content you need to be a paid member ($25/year). I'm not sure why in this time someone would want to directly charge you for this sort of information :D The site looks pretty old school though, which may explain the fee.

Hope @sepehr finds useful info talking to bc parks and charter air lines.

Parks Canada Free Pass 2017

If you've been living in a cave for past couple of months, good for you but you might have missed the free pass gov of Canada is giving away for 2017. So get of your cave and order it for zero dollars because this might be one of the few times gov of Canada is putting a $0.00 tag on something actually useful.

Planning for Summer of 2017

Me, Behzad, Al and Sepehr gathered to chat about the hike options for this summer. Sepehr suggested mount Edziza. Al talked about Assiniboine.

Further research needed for Edziza in terms of cost and access. Looks like a relatively costly travel. Sepehr is going to take care of that.

Al is going to do more research on trails for Assiniboine. Permits are 10 dollars per person per night. Capsites are first come first served. No booking can be done.