Hiking Trails - Sawback Trail - Day 5

[44-Helena Ridge at Lake Luellen - click to enlarge]

The Sawback Trail follows the rugged Sawback Range from the town of Banff to Lake Louise over a distance of 74km (about 45 miles). There are side trails to be discovered which would increase the distance.

On Day 5 the hike covers a distance of about 6 km after leaving Luellen Lake Campground at the km mark (Jo19 on ParksCanada map) to Badger Pass Junction campground. Before leaving the lake it is a good idea to fill up the water bottles. The Luellen Lake Campground is 1.0km from the trail junction.

Once at the Luellen Lake trail junction, approximately the 39km mark, the trail crosses to the east side of Johnston Creek. There the meadows are filled with willows and views of the Sawback Range to the east.


[45-Hiking in brush]

The walk to Badger Pass Junction (2,025m) is an easy 5km walk to a culminated distance of about 43.5 km.

The campground known as Jo29 with ParksCanada is another 500m up the trail. This is an ideal stopping place if heading to Badger Pass and the Bonnet Glacier. No campfires are allowed at this campsite. The campground is at the base of Pulsatilla Mountain situated in a wooded area within a large meadow. If there has been recent rain there is a likelihood of mosquito swarms.

[46 - Wolverine - click to enlarge]


One animal to make note of at this location is the wolverine, the largest member of the weasel family. They are secretive, and are known to sometimes steal food from grizzly bears. If startled or approached they can be quite nasty, far more fierce than any badger or grizzly. Wolverines are also considered an endangered animal in Canada.


[47 - Pulsatilla Mountain]



[48 - Badger Pass Junction campground in the evergreens to the left of photo]



Sources:
ParksCanada – Banff
ParksCanada - Banff Hiking Trails and Maps with Campground Locations
Backcountry Overview
Trail Conditions
Backpacking Equipment Checklist
http://waputik.tripod.com/gdt_sawback.htm
Gem Trek maps for Lake Louise and Skoki
Gem Trek maps for Banff and Mount Assiniboine
HI Hostels Intl Survival Guide
Peakfinder.com

Photo Credits:
[44]-meganpru CC=nc-flickr, [45][47]-Kris Griffon CC=nc-sa-flickr, [46]-markq6 CC=flickr, [48]-lafalott CC=nc-sa-flickr.

The Tenth Gift - Jane Johnson (Book Review)

Based on a true family tale, Jane Johnson weaves an intricate story of two women connected across the centuries. The story encompasses a blending of genres: literary mystery, historical adventure, romance and the supernatural.

The story begins with Julia Lovat meeting her lover in a London restaurant and receiving a farewell gift from him. It is a book of exquisite 17th century embroidery patterns belonging to a woman named Catherine Ann Tregenna, aka “Cat”. Later, upon closer examination, Julia finds the book contains faint diary entries in tiny handwriting. The story of Cat, an embroideress and ladies’ maid who yearns for adventure in 1625, is being forced to marry her cousin Rob whom she feels only ‘brotherly love’ for. While she is bemoaning her fate in a Cornish church, she and 60 others are taken by Barbary corsairs, and shipped to Morocco to be sold as slaves. Cat’s ability to embroider is considered a valuable commodity and coveted in the Islamic world.

There are memorable episodes on the voyage to Morocco that set the historic era: the horrific treatment of slaves in the hold, encounters with other ships, and Cat’s tending of the captain after stitching up his wound.

Suffering from her separation from her ex-lover, Julia immerses herself in the captivating story of Cat. She decides to go to North Africa to determine the authenticity of the book while picking up Cat’s tale after the slave auction where it abruptly stops. Once there, Julia finds herself experiencing the sights and sounds of the spice markets, sultry heat, ancient ruins, accompanied by a charming Moroccan guide and discovers secrets about herself and Cat.

The story moves between the centuries with ease, providing just enough information to keep the reader engaged and wanting to know what happens next. Ms Johnson wove historical fact throughout the narrative, explaining the viewpoints of two cultures: British and Moroccan in their specific timelines. She also does a deft job with the supernatural aspects.

I found it difficult to put down and found myself reading into the early hours of the morning. This is a book I would recommend to anyone looking for an engaging story.

Format: Paperback, 400 pages
Publisher: Anchor Canada
Author website: http://www.blogger.com/www.janejohnsonbooks.com
Published: May 26, 2009

Two Sentence Tuesday: 16 June 2009

My current reading has been in “The Toss of a Lemon” by Padma Viswanathan a profoundly interesting book about another culture, that of Brahmin. Two recently read sentences are:

“The humble folk trip back to their relatives’, four doors down the street, for snacks and happy anticipation of their consultation with the auspicious young man, who also has some fame as an astrologer.

“At that strange hour that gives the impression of light even though each figure is masked by darkness, Sivakami’s father, with two of the male relatives, finds Hanumarathnam on his veranda.”

My own writing has been of late non-fiction in history articles, although I have managed to write a little on my current WIP Keeper 2, a dark fantasy. Three recently written draft sentences are: “Salathiel peered into the pool of clear water atop the pedestal. At first he saw nothing, then a shadowed movement formed into the image of a face. A face he had seen before, but only in his dreams.”


For other participants please visit Women of Mystery.

Tuesday Fishing

This photo is taken somewhere in Ontario where the fishing looks really good. The bend in the rod speaks for itself. (Click to enlarge photo).


Photo Credit: Martin Cathrae CC=nc-nd-flickr.

My Town Monday - Samuel B. Steele

[1 - Samuel Benfield Steele]


Samuel Benfield Steele (5 January 1849 to 30 January 1919) was a famous member of the North-West Mounted Police and in later years a distinguished soldier. (This post and the next cover only his early life in the military and the NWMP as it relates to Canada.) He was the fourth son born to Elmes and Anne Steele (2nd marriage) in Medonte Township in Upper Canada. His family had military connections and in 1866 he joined the militia at the time of the Fenian Raids.


[2-The Red River Expedition below Kakabeka Falls by Frances Anne Hopkins circa 1877]

In 1870 he participated in the Red River Expedition that had been authorized by Sir John A. MacDonald to confront Louis Riel and the Métis at the Red River Settlement (near current Winnipeg, Manitoba). The expedition was headed by Colonel Garnet Wolseley (later Field Marshall Viscount) when he joined them at the Sault. The military crossed through a Canadian route as the U.S. government refused them access over U.S. soil.

The troops were required to transport all their provisions, weapons including cannons over hundreds of miles of wilderness. In each of the boats the loads weighed about 4,000 pounds made up of: barrels of biscuits, flour, pork, sugar; tea chests, sacks of beans. cases of potatoes, ammunition boxes, arm chests, ball pouches, tents, soap cases, candles, boat nails, and one bottle of mosquito oil. At numerous portages special roads were required to be built with logs over muskeg (swampy areas). The one place they did not portage was the Winnipeg River, where the rapids and cataracts had to be navigated. This trip was undertaken during two months in summer heat combined with swarms of blackflies and mosquitoes.


[3- Voyageur Canoe Passing Waterfall by Frances Anne Hopkins 1869]

Steele made note in his biography of a voyageur carrying two barrels of pork and 1,000 rounds of ammunition with a combined weight of 528 pounds without showing any distress.

When the troops arrived at Fort Garry, they found Riel had abandoned it.


[4-Upper Fort Garry - early 1870s]

At that time, Winnipeg, was located half a mile north of Fort Garry with about forty houses, lining the Stone Fort trail (now the main street of Winnipeg). There were: nine stores, three chemist shops, one saddlery, one hardware store, several saloons named “Hell’s Gates”, “The Red Saloon”, etc.


[5-Three Piegan Chiefs by Edward Curtis 1900]

Shortly before Steele had arrived with the military contingent at Fort Garry, smallpox had been spreading in the far west from the Missouri River to the North Saskatchewan River. The disease had been brought into Montana by a merchant who had left a blanket on a Missouri steamboat from St. Louis, the blanket in turn being stolen by an Indian. He caught the disease and spread it through his tribe which killed them. A war party of Bloods who had gone to steal horses, found no one alive, took the horses and as many buffalo robes as they could, not realizing their mistake. The disease spread throughout all the Indian tribes: Peigans, Blackfeet, Crees and Stonies, and then to the plains hunters, the employees of the Hudson’s Bay Company and missionary families. The chiefs of the Blackfeet nation were gone, leaving few capable of leading their people. One tribe whose lodges had numbered 2,000 in their main camp, with each lodge containing eight persons, was reduced to one-tenth of its number.

For the whisky trader who had brought in the contagion to the North West Territory (as the Canadian prairies were then known), a member of the military, Lieutenant Butler, undertook the duty to prevail upon him “that British law was supreme”. Butler travelled there and back on horseback and by dog train over 2,700 miles to perform his task. [What Butler did to the whisky trader is not revealed in Steele’s narrative, though a book The Great Lone Land is mentioned.]

TO BE CONTINUED

Sources:
Wikipedia -
Forty Years In Canada by Col. Samuel B. Steele, 1915, Herbert Jenkins Limited

Photo Credits: [1][2][3][4][5]-wikipedia.

Travis Erwin from Amarillo, Texas is the founder of My Town Monday. For other locations to visit please go to Travis' site here.

Dickson Falls

This waterfall is located in Fundy National Park in New Brunswick in eastern Canada.

The trailhead to the hiking trail to Dickson Falls is located on the road to Wolfepointe with a well-marked sign. A boardwalk section starts the hike along the Dickson River with the trail moving through mixed forest and rocky areas.

For more information on Fundy National Park visit ParksCanada .

For those visitors who ask for a map of these park locations (you know who you are) a google map below will show you the way.










Photo Credit: TimDan2 CC=nc-nd-flickr, google map of Fundy National Park.

Bench of the Week (8)

This bench is in Niagara, Ontario on a perfect sunny summer's day.

RuneE from Visual Norway originated Bench of the Week as an informal meme. His bench in a magnificent garden setting is up.

Other participants are:

Phoenix C. from Sylvan Muse, PERBS from The Love of Benches , Malyss, Ackworth born, gone West, Dina from Jerusalem Hills Daily Photo.

Photo Credit: Marcin Wichary CC=flickr.