Part of the group at 6,919 Ft. near Lille
We started the journey at 6:30PM from Calgary which started from the Colosseum. We set off with April, Chris K, Blaine, Victor and myself with passenger's Francis, Meghan and Frank. Gary, Johnathan and David E. were already there stoking the fire. We headed on the #22 towards Chain Lakes where we took the Forestry Trunk 532 to Coleman. We were greeted with some spectacular views in the higher alpine before descending and winding our way through the gravel.
Victor airing down for the gravel road
We arrived at the Frank Slide Interpretive Centre at 9:15PM where we met up with David C and, his Fiance, Stacey. Winding our way up into the ghost town of Lille we encountered a cracked radiator top just before the on stream crossing. Blaine's 1st gen 4Runner had a little mis-hap which happened with perfect timing before the crossing.
David led the group to the camp spot before nightfall as Chris K and myself stayed behind with Blaine to try to do a field repair. Luckily I had some JB Quickweld in the tool box which Chris and I mixed up and applied generously over the 1ft crack. Blaine worked on his electric rad fan and pulled his thermostat for extra precaution. Jokingly before David left we told him; "if we don't come back at 12AM then just wait longer!"
11:30PM we see some headlights up in the hill coming down to us with classical music blaring. (ok the classical part isn't really true :D) He had come back to make sure we were doing alright. The JB weld had set hard and we were ready to fill and burp Blaine's 4Runner. We made our way through the river and up into the ghost town of Lille where there was a Johnathan sized fire lighting the night.
There were tents, Toyota's, Roof top tents and a fire. Laughter could be heard through the valley as Johnathan had proceeded to show us how he could jump through the fire. Later he showed us what singed eyebrows, eyelashes, and arm hair looks like! I think he learned something that night!
The schedule for the next day was wake at 7:30 and leave by 8:30-9AM drive up to plane crash have a great lunch and head back then up to the opposing mountain of Frank Slide.
Morning came very quick as we were up quite late the night before. There were camping stoves abound with both David E. and David C. with their expedition style cooking setup out of the back of the FJ Cruisers. I think everyone was pretty impressed! Everyone ate, packed and was ready to leave at 8:45. Everyone waited....and waited... 9:00...9:10...9:15.. no Gary!
David E. catching some breakfast
Finally Gary shows up at 10:00 ready to go with family in tow. I may have stayed up a little to late the night before :D We cut across the valley and over to the trail head for the plane crash. We air'ed down and were set to see some incredible views. The first river crossing there was something different... two large rocks on either side but still wide enough for a truck, after the trail had been trenched on the side which had made it barely wide enough for a truck... trees were knocked over... and the first rocky hill climb had been filled in and large trenches and berms had been built in the middle.
Was this no longer open to 4WD's? We had also noticed the signage showed snowmobile and ATV but no 4WD. The one and only time the PATHS Team didn't pre-run the trail we ended up with this... a big surprise. I have done this trail for 10years and this was a bit of a heartbreaker. Majority of the work was for water drainage and to prevent further erosion of the hill climb. We'll be in touch with the SRD to see what the whole story is and perhaps we'll still be able to experience the plane crash next year.
So we made the call to turn around as I had the feeling things had changed. A quick stop in for a Tim Horton's re-charge as some in the group love their coffee, we made our way to the base of the mountain straight across from Frank Slide. It's a multi-stage loose rock hillclimb and a narrow stretch which drops off on the driver's side into Pincher creek up to the top of the mountain. What an incredible view of Frank Slide.
David C. and Stacey
Frank Slide in the distance
View from the top of Frank Slide
Gary and his son Matthew having a time!
With plenty of time to spare in the day we headed down back into Lille with the option if some people wanted to stay at camp and enjoy the weather or explore the area a bit. We ended up taking part of the Lille loop but went straight instead of west which put us up a trail to the top of a mined mountain. One obstacle and several switchbacks we were at 6,919FT looking over Lille and the mountains around us. Two summits in one day is pretty good!
Meghan and April represent the Girls Team
Nuclear Reactor Data Linked Suunto :D
Amazing view of Crowsnest Mountain
Back at camp it was dinner, a smaller camp fire, good times, a line dance, a partial strip show and bed! Next days venue was Daisy Creek trail then out to the forestry trunk road back home. Same time the next day... well if Gary were to be on time! :D
The Daisy Creek trail was looking very nice with a decent climb right off the bat which gave a spectacular view out the side mirror of mountain peaks in the distance. The more difficult sections of the trail this time round were the heavily saturated and muddy areas. Each sensitive area the group filled in tracks after they passed through as "Trail Ninja" is something we try to live by. In some cases it was a lost cause as some sections were already quite wrecked before we got there.
Road down into Daisy Creek
David E., David C., and Nathan filing in tire tracks... Leave no Trace!
Johnathan mentioned adopting trails which the Quad Squad has been doing and perhaps is something we will do as well as this trail is beautiful but is becoming very saturated and just the weight of the vehicles were sinking deep. Next year we'll provide a different trail till the trail is fixed. There's a creepy mine vent which gave everyone a good stretch out and look around.
David C. taking in the view
A funny incident was when we were leaving the trail and had to find our way to the forestry trunk road as there's a gate that's usually open but this was the only time I've seen it closed and locked!... with a camera! Quick thinking on Gary's part and we were out.
Weekend of good times and great company
Unfortunately the SD Card with the photo's and video of the first day was lost along with the GoPro HD cam which the bracket mount had broken off somewhere on the mountain. More photo's should be on it's way!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fo8W9SHnyw
It was a great trail run and weekend! We look forwards to the next trip which is Whipsaw in B.C.!
Tread Lightly and See you on the Trail!
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