Kate, Jane and I left Vancouver, BC on Saturday morning and drove through to Canmore, Ba where we had the use of a condo for the week. On Sunday we took our duffel packs (max 42 lb) to the outfitter that was going to take them, by horse, up to the camp.
On Monday, the hike in started at the Mount Shark parking lot, south of Canmore, AB and covered almost 20 km, along a fairly easy trail through x-country ski areas and out to the Spray River Valley. The trail was corduroyed in places, from the horses which had carried in our packs for the week – they all step in the same place, causing the trail to become very wavy. Unfortunately, the waves are rather far apart for many of us, so we were not able to ride them that easily and had to limp along in the ups and downs as best we could! The elevation gain was around 150 m, the day was very pleasant and it took us about 5-/12 to 6 hours. We were welcomed by the Camp Musician playing her recorder in the trees as we approached the bench above the valley.
