Five day count down begins!

Five days until the Harvey Lake expedition begins.

Today, Tracey and I are heading to Calgary to get our passports in order for our November trip. For me though, this is an opportunity to pick up any last minute supplies for the Harvey Lake Trip. I haven't been talking much about this trip as the weather seemed kind of worrying a few weeks ago. The weather now appears to be stable (for now) and the trip will depart on Monday October 9, 2006. -- day break!
For those of you familiar with my past Autumn trips, you may remember that groups were of 5 or 6 members strong, each trip lasting 14-15 days. The greater portion of these extended excursions was along a trail (in good repair is another story though). This year will be much different... this is how it all started.

This summer I was contacted by a Jasper outdoor guru, Edi Kompfenstein, he was planning to take a trip to what is know as Harvey Lake. Edi, (62?) has hiked just about everywhere in this area except Harvey Lake. Now last year I had thought about taking the challenge of going to this lake perhaps, next year. When Edi mentioned this to me, well, it was time to go. To make a drawn out story short, Edi can't go, I could only find one other person who could, Dieter. I've known Dieter for two years and he's also twice my age (he'll hate me for writing that)... Anyhow Dieter was more than interested in going. So this year the trip is going to be 10 days long, almost entirely off trail, and it will only be Dieter, myself and our dogs; all in all were looking to travel 80 km.

Harvey Lake is very unknown (by the way, this Harvey Lake is in Jasper -- not the popular one in Banff) , few Park Wardens have ever seen it. What we know is this, the lake is over 2 km long and the people who have fished it, have had a hard time catching fish 'small enough to eat'! So far my thoughts on the trip have been on the fishing of this lake, however, the area we will be traveling through is going to be stunning! We are accessing the area via Elyssium Pass, a place I've been wanting to visit for 4 years. There we will be moving through Monarch Meadows past one of my top five favourite mountains... Monarch Mountain, down an unnamed valley into the Snaring Valley. The Snaring Valley is the largest major valley in Jasper National Park with NO ACCESS!... I'm talking no trails let alone road. Few people have traveled this valley. Anyhow, this area is ripe with grizzly's and the route is full of history. This is going to be a trip of a lifetime simply because I'll probably never make it back there again. Wish me luck and stay tune for maybe one more update before I leave.