The day has finally arrived. Six Ramblers are going to brave the elements of a May long weekend traditionally known for its inclement weather. Five of our backpacking crew migrated to one of the team’s house. Here we would redistribute gear amongst partners and stuff all equipment and people into two cars. At 8:30 we are off to the Elbow valley. We arrived at the Little Elbow Campsite at approximately 9:30. It was determined that the two drivers would drive all the way though the campsite and drop off all team members and all our gear at the upper trail head. That would save a kilometre of lugging backpacks up a somewhat boring stretch of trail/road hike. We then parked the cars at the suspension bridge trail head parking lot. The parking was no problem maybe one other car. We hiked up to the trailhead where the other members were eagerly waiting our return to get started on the trail. After everyone lifting everyone else pack to determine pack weight it was determined all packs weighed in and around 30 to 40 lbs. Not bad for the first trip. Ok, packs on, gear checked, smiles, laughs, and we’re off.

The trail in was completely void of people other than ourselves. The hiking terrain was not much more than old logging road. With a hill here, a bridge there, a creek crossing once in a while, it was pretty much routine for this strong group. As we progressed further from the trailhead and closer to our destination, views of Mount Romulus and Mount Remus became increasingly more expansive.

We stopped for a ½ hour lunch break along the trail, probably at the eight kilometre mark. Off again, we arrived at our campsite which was approximately 12 kilometres from the trail head. Well, the May long weekend tradition did not fail us. I felt a few drops of rain. I looked down the valley and … geez … the weather is coming. Everyone, quick, setup your tents. Setup the tarp, get the rain gear out. Yes the rain came, from the minute we pitched our tent till the next morning. The team created a nifty tarp construct where we were all able to sit, cook, ponder stuff, and tell jokes in total isolation of the rain. That was very cool! Wow, it poured that night. It woke me up from my sleep. Lucky for all of us no one had tent water leakage problems; all three tents are totally dry (technology!).

Day 2 (Sunday) our Talus Lake day hike. We started the morning with heat from a good fire that Jeannine started for us. Ahhh, heat, warmth, good. It was a cold evening and that was the discussion around the fire and breakfast eating area. We did notice however that the skies cleared and the sun was breaking through. After cleaning up breakfast, hanging food packs and gearing up for the day we all headed out for Talus Lake. I turned on the GPS... odd, the batteries are about 30 seconds from being dead. No problem, I have a spare set. Put them in and off we go. Odd my GPS shows almost no power. I purchased new batteries from a store and are both defective. Not good! Good thing we have maps and such. The trail head is across the main logging road from the campsite. The main trail was really easy to pickup. Up we went, further up we went. As we started up I could not help but notice the Grizzly tracks coming down. They were huge. Not only huge, but fresh. We could still see the wrinkles in the tracks from the bears paw movement. We may have even scared this bear off the trail. We decided at that point to make a loud yell every-so-often. I would yell, Jeannine would yell. Susan, well, Susan just does not yell, then Karen would do the Moroccan … well, I’m not sure what that yell was but man it also scared me not to mention any bears. Needless to say we did not see any bears at all. The Talus Lake trail is really a well worn trail to a point then it disappears. We were not at junction so we kept going. Wrong. We missed the junction and wound up at the base of Cornwall. Hmmmm, no lake. The GPS had enough power to tell us where we were and where we should be going. The lake is in the next valley to the east of us. We missed the junction. So in typical rambler fashion we decided to have a quick snack and move on. Over a few ridges and some minor bush whacking we found it! It is not a large lake at all and there are two of them; one sits higher (still frozen) and the other sits lower which must be fed from the upper lake. These lakes are nothing more than tarns nestled in a really cool cirque type formation. We climbed up to the lesser Outlaw ridge viewpoint. Holy smokes, we could see for miles.

We had lunch, took pictures and just stared at the views. Cornwall, Outlaw, Romulus, Remus and others were spectacular from this vantage point. From here is we noticed the second tarn/lake that fed Talus. We decided the best way down was to do a massive scree run to the lake.

That was the best scree run I have ever done. It was so soft and was long lasting all the way to the lake shore. We took a few more pictures, skipped some rocks, loaded up with water and decided to head for the base camp. It was 2:30pm by then.

We followed Talus creek out until we intersected the main trail. This is where we originally went wrong. Where the creeks forks, the main one from Mt Cornwall and the trickle from Talus is where one must keep right. There was no visible trail out team found though. It was a scorcher today also. We all decided to cool down by soaking our heads and necks with cool water from the creek. We picked up the main trail for home. We met two other from the base camp on the trail home that was it. No one else, not a sole, it was so peaceful at Talus lake. We were back at the base camp at 4:45pm, perfect! Jeannine, our fire woman, started another fire for the evening. Stoves fired up, dinner is on, coffer is made, general chit-chat and joking starting, wow what a pack of fun. After cleanup we made a really good seating area for all of us around the fire and talked. I felt like we could have talked the whole night through. It was much warmer this night. Not a cloud in the sky, the big dipper was directly over head. We all turned in fairly late knowing we only had to pack up and clean up for the trek home the next day.

Day 3 (Monday) Pack up for home. This day was a rather simple day. Coffee, breakfast, more coffee, more breakfast, standing around the fire with coffee was all part of this morning. We did notice however the weather was coming again. So we quickly tore down our tents and stuffed them away before they got wet (and heavy) and basically started to pack up for the trek home. The trek home was uneventful but somewhat easier this time. Hmmm, maybe due to less weight or the anticipation of a Bragg Creek ice cream at the end. None the less it was a nice walk. We stopped for lunch along the Elbow River.
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By this time the wind had picked up and drops of rain every so often ensured we kept moving. We made it.

We all had to hike down to where the cars were parked. Though many had quipped that the coordinator should go get a car and pick the rest up. Maybe they were serious, but somehow that flew right over my head. We piled all of our gear into the cars. Changed shirts, socks and shoes and off we went to the Bragg Creek ice cream parlour. What a way to end the trip! What a fantastic trip! What a great bunch of friends! Thanks all for coming.

Trip Statistics:
Start time: 10:15am Saturday May 20, 2006
End Time: 4:15pm Saturday May 23, 2006
Kilometres Travelled: 40 Kilometres
Participants: Karen, Susan, Lupita, Andy, Jeannine, Mark (coordinator and scribe)