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Club Events 2006 : 2006-11-18 : COC - Late season camping, hiking, biking

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This was a great gentle introduction to winter camping... OK, it couldn't really be classified as "winter" since there was hardly any snow at the campground and the coldest it got was about -5 on Friday night. But, it was a great "late season" camping trip for sure, and I am no longer scared of trying real winter camping! We arrived at the camp site at about 3PM after Marg's Ptarmigan Cirque snow shoe (which, by the way, was awesome!!). Connie, Craig, Marg, Val, Marty and I set up in the afternoon and were joined later by Aaron. On Saturday, Val bid us adieu and Ken, Kevin, Harry, and Sylvia came out. The excitement started when Marg had her tent all set up and THEN discovered the dead mouse that was hanging from the fabric inside. It was quite fresh, so the theory is that when she set the tent up a week earlier to check it over (and left it up for a couple days), the mouse chewed his way into the tent. Marg returned, took the tent down and folded it up, squishing said mouse inside the tent, only to re-discover it when the was set up at Mt. Kidd. A little assistance from Connie to pry the mouse off (it was stuck tight by its teeth to the inside of the tent) and all was well with the world again. On Saturday, Craig and Connie headed out to Banff with Sylvia and did Sulphur Mountain while Marg and Val went to snow shoe at Elbow Lake. Harry, Aaron, Marty and I did a hike up to Rawson Lake which should have been a SNOWSHOE up to Rawson Lake - it was a bit of a slog near the top where the snow was 2 feet or more deep. On Sunday, Marg, Craig, Kevin, Marty and I headed down to do a short by lovely hike into King Creek while the rest of the folks headed out. Mt. Kidd campground is awesome, and the sites we had (12-15) were perfect for our group. Craig brought TONS of firewood from Rocky with him, and Aaron and Harry supplemented with some more wood. Sitting around the campfire in the evening is quite different from summer camping because of the amount of daylight. By the time it was 6:30PM we all felt like it was 10PM because it had been dark for such a long time already! On Friday night, we had a more subdued group, with the excitement focusing around Val's mulled wine, Marg's sparklers, and the great popcorn pop-off (Craig's microwave popcorn... yes, he brought the microwave... vs Marg's Jiffy Pop). The Jiffy Pop won, hands down. Saturday night was a bit wilder, as anticipated, after the arrival of "The Kevin". We enjoyed lots of great camping food, and when it came time for the wiener roast, a couple of the guys had a little bit TOO much fun waiving their wieners around. When Craig pulled out the spiced rum, Ken had to quickly "chuckle" his other drink to make room for the rum and egg nog. We were pretty much "all bammed out" by 10 (which felt like 2AM) and hit the hay early both nights. Craig who "has a lot of man in him" toughed it out the first night with his space heater and wussy sleeping bag... second night was no heater and mummy bag, and a much happier Craig in the morning. Kevin's "boogie van" was the envy of many of us... seats covered in gold veleour and all! Can't wait to do it again! -- Rhonda

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This was a great gentle introduction to winter camping... OK, it couldn't really be classified as "winter" since there was hardly any snow at the campground and the coldest it got was about -5 on Friday night. But, it was a great "late season" camping trip for sure, and I am no longer scared of trying real winter camping!

We arrived at the camp site at about 3PM after Marg's Ptarmigan Cirque snow shoe (which, by the way, was awesome!!). Connie, Craig, Marg, Val, Marty and I set up in the afternoon and were joined later by Aaron. On Saturday, Val bid us adieu and Ken, Kevin, Harry, and Sylvia came out.

The excitement started when Marg had her tent all set up and THEN discovered the dead mouse that was hanging from the fabric inside. It was quite fresh, so the theory is that when she set the tent up a week earlier to check it over (and left it up for a couple days), the mouse chewed his way into the tent. Marg returned, took the tent down and folded it up, squishing said mouse inside the tent, only to re-discover it when the was set up at Mt. Kidd. A little assistance from Connie to pry the mouse off (it was stuck tight by its teeth to the inside of the tent) and all was well with the world again.

On Saturday, Craig and Connie headed out to Banff with Sylvia and did Sulphur Mountain while Marg and Val went to snow shoe at Elbow Lake. Harry, Aaron, Marty and I did a hike up to Rawson Lake which should have been a SNOWSHOE up to Rawson Lake - it was a bit of a slog near the top where the snow was 2 feet or more deep.

On Sunday, Marg, Craig, Kevin, Marty and I headed down to do a short by lovely hike into King Creek while the rest of the folks headed out.

Mt. Kidd campground is awesome, and the sites we had (12-15) were perfect for our group. Craig brought TONS of firewood from Rocky with him, and Aaron and Harry supplemented with some more wood.

Sitting around the campfire in the evening is quite different from summer camping because of the amount of daylight. By the time it was 6:30PM we all felt like it was 10PM because it had been dark for such a long time already! On Friday night, we had a more subdued group, with the excitement focusing around Val's mulled wine, Marg's sparklers, and the great popcorn pop-off (Craig's microwave popcorn... yes, he brought the microwave... vs Marg's Jiffy Pop). The Jiffy Pop won, hands down. Saturday night was a bit wilder, as anticipated, after the arrival of "The Kevin". We enjoyed lots of great camping food, and when it came time for the wiener roast, a couple of the guys had a little bit TOO much fun waiving their wieners around. When Craig pulled out the spiced rum, Ken had to quickly "chuckle" his other drink to make room for the rum and egg nog. We were pretty much "all bammed out" by 10 (which felt like 2AM) and hit the hay early both nights. Craig who "has a lot of man in him" toughed it out the first night with his space heater and wussy sleeping bag... second night was no heater and mummy bag, and a much happier Craig in the morning. Kevin's "boogie van" was the envy of many of us... seats covered in gold veleour and all!

Can't wait to do it again!

-- Rhonda