Yoho, eh? The trip report!

“Great pics everyone. The vistas and reflection shots were awesome.

Hodge wasn't exagerating after all!”

“OK, real quick here (maybe nobody will notice):

For our next-to-last night in Jasper, we went to dinner at the very nice restaurant at the lodge. Had a few drinks (in hindsight, a total of 5 drinks over a 4-hour period), so was a little tipsy walkng back to the room. Went to bed about 9:30. Got up at 3:45 to pee. While standing there (yes, peeing), got dizzy. Next thing I knew, I heard Pamela and Ellen talking outside the bathroom, wondering what the big thud was. Apparently, I was moaning and groaning from my crumpled position on the bathroom floor, so they just thought I was puking or somthing (despite the fact that I hadn't really had too much to drink). So I put "it" back "in" and somehow got myself up to come out of the bathroom. After several minutes of hoping the pain would go away, I admitted it wasn't, so Pamela zipped me down to Jasper's emergency room, dodging a couple of coyotes on the way down to town. I had fallen over backwards with my back landing on the side of the tub, so my back was killing me. When I laid down on the table so they could do an ECG, I could hardly stand the pain. Then there was a chest x-ray to check for cracked or broken ribs that might be ripping into my lungs. That was negative - I was just short of breath because it hurt too much to breathe in.

Anyway, after a big honkin' shot of demarol (sp?), we went back to the lodge, dodging several elk along the way, and slept a bit. Then we all got ready and went up to Mt. Edith Cavell, dodging a humongous bull moose on the way. I was too sore to hike much, but managed the 1-mile loop up to the iceberg-laden lake w/Ellen, while Pamela and Cameron hiked all the way to the meadows for spectacular views of the Angel Glacier.

The rest of the trip was pretty much according to plan, other than their deliberate attempts to make me laugh: "ha ha ha - OWWWW! ha ha ha - OWWWW!"”

“Geez Bowlderman - Sounds painfull.... At least there was nobody in harms way below you, on your way to the floor ;-)”

“B-Man, How long had "it" been in your hand before you passed out?????”

“LMAO..... !!”

“I knew I'd get at least a few wise-ass comments from the "pee-nut" gallery....”

“BowlderMan, you think maybe you just switched hands too quick?”

“Ha ha ha ha, Geezr (OW!!!)....


OK, my photos are up! Three albums, the third of which includes photos that other team members took with me in them (otherwise my various friends and family members wouldn't believe I went on the trip!). Here ya' go:

Album 1
Album 2
Album 3”

“Great photos B-Man. I think my favorite is Mt. Des Poilus shrouded in storm clouds, Yoho #1, photo #46.


Weezr says hi and hopes you're feeling better.”

“Yeah, that's one of my faves, too, Geezr. Hi to Weezr - the pain is less now, although there's still that strange crackling in the rib area....”

“One additional one, especially for Trailbunny: Right here.”

“Hey B-man - Lots more great photos !! I got you added to the group page.... what a fantastic collection of pics from everybody!”

“Great photos Bowlderman. That shot of Mt.Des Poilus is fantastic. Looks like a watercolor. If you print it up please press the 2 button. Man I gotsta go there Hodge.”

“The "vertical smile" made me smile.”

“Yes, Phil! Cameron loved the vertical smile one too (as one would expect of an 8-year-old boy!). Although he was also a little disappointed that he couldn't see my butt in the skinny-dipping photo Snow Nymph took....”

“jvz, The great thing about the scenery there was that, with the extreme changes in topography over such short distances coupled with the changing skies, we were always getting different lighting on all of the peaks and glaciers. I'm no professional photographer, but it seems like that's what good photographers look for, interesting lighting.”

“I wanted to add a few notes to the trip report thread, now that I have finally gotten home and almost unpacked, etc.

- Aero and I had a nice Hawaiian shirt contest the night before the hike started. I pretty much blew him out of the water. Unfortunately, my orange-ish shirt was so bright, I was hit with fire retardant on the way back to Geezr's truck....

- Surprisingly, we saw almost no large mammals. Snow Dude saw a ground squirrel, which he mistakenly identified as a moose, which then chewed through his food back and got squirrel spit on some oatmeal. He said it added some nice flavor, though.... Later, I did see a pine marten, which I described to folks at home as a weasel on steroids.

- I made it to the summit of 2 peaks, which is 2 more than I had before, not counting the stroll up to Mt. Whitney 15 years ago. Many thanks to all of the teammates who made this possible, as well as those who survived the descents.

- No one mentioned the hilarious use of 2-way radios on the Mt. Kerr climb. We had a ball talking to the "base camp" (i.e., Geezr and Trailbunny), and even identified a tricky spot on the slope as "The Hodgeman Step," which was later defiled by an unnamed TTer who had to pee. Krazy Kevin also supplied some wind noises, since it wasn't very windy.

- The Mt. Field "Bowl"-der incident: We were descending through the scree at different paces, so had spread out quite a bit horizontally, figuring that any rock kicked loose would, at most, kill only one of us. I kicked loose a cantelope-sized one that, unlike all of the others kicked loose, actually started to pick up speed. It headed down to my right, directly toward Snow Dude. I immediately called out "Rock!" About 30 feet before reaching SD, it made a 90-degree left turn and headed straight for Snow Nymph. She danced like Muhammed Ali, bobbing and weaving so that it just missed her. Incredibly, the dang thing made another 90-degree turn, this time to the right to head straight for Hodgeman, who calmly leaned out of the way as the thing whizzed past him by a few inches. Figuring that I had just missed the equivalent of a 7-10 split, I was reborn as BowlderMan.

- Krazy Kevin. 'Nuff said.

- Not enough has been said about the dedication shown by Aero to jog down to the car, make his way through Field's commute traffic, and return with not 1, not 2, not 3, but FOUR six-packs of beer for our final night of camping!! Of course, this sort of ruined the image I was trying to project of the "wilderness" experience to folks back home.... Then there was Aero's broadcast over the 2-way radio of the Homer Simpson bottle opener - classic!

- Amazingly, it seems I planned my own supplies perfectly. I ate/drank every scrap of food/drink I brought with me. I used all of my TP, and wore every article of clothing. The spare socks, etc. I brought were just the right quantity, as the freshly washed ones had dried just about the time I needed them. There were only a couple of minor items I didn't actually use, like my little tripod for the camera, and my orange trowel.

- For those not on the trip, if you ever get a chance to hike with any of these folks, don't miss it!!

I will post my post-Yoho adventures later, including links to more photo albums....”

“B-man - I can't help but smile when I remember the highlights you mentioned. It was never hard to pick your tent out, from the group, since it was identified by the pair of briefs hanging on a nearby branch. The bottle oper was indeed a classic ! And, I would dearly love to have video of the bowlder incident LOL

I can't wait to see the pics from the rest of your tour. And the Snow's Robson shots too”

“Not only did I have briefs on a nearby branch, but often inside, as well (upper right)....”

“Bowlderman, Great photos and additional trip report notes! Thanks. Glad that you're OK after your dizzy incident, funny, I felt the same way when I clicked on the special Pete photo. Oh Baby!”

“Finally finished the Yoho pics!
Now I'm only 2 trips behind.

Vol 1 Met up with Geezr, Weezr, Aero, BowlderMan, Hodgeman and Trailbunny for a week of fun and hiking!

Vol 2 Twin Falls Campground, Whaleback Trail, Little Yoho Valley Campground, dayhike to Mt Kerr

Vol 3 Mt Kerr dayhike, continued and backpacking the Iceline Trail

Vol 4 More of the Iceline Trail, Trailbunny takes a dip in a glacier lake, the Yoho Valley Trail and a dayhike to Mt Field


Vol 5 Last day of our backpack, plus our activities between this and the next trip, incl pics of bighorn sheep at the end.

---------------

BowlderMan, glad you're ok. Geezr, you're too funny! TB, I'll work on taking pics without using the screenfinder. Instead of PaleoPete's moon I only got the ground. Aero, thanks for shuttling us all over. And Hodge, thanks for everything. (could you check on the bear banger end thingie? Lost mine the first day). Mt Robson pics will be up soon (next week?) Should have my Labor Day weekend pics up in the next day or so.”

“Great pics, Snow! I really liked Vol. 5 with the bighorn sheep and the porcupine! Nice shot from the bottom of the beer glass, too. The Pub pics really brought back some nice memories of good beer, food and friends. Looking forward to the Mt. Robson pics!”

“Great shots from Mt Field and the Wapta Highline, Snows. Added Vol. 5 to the page

So you went to Golden to find the sheep, eh? Were they waiting for you in the right spot?

I found a launcher thingie like the one I have, with the slide trigger. I guess it makes for easier one hand use, also. I send it off to you this weekend. Hopefully it will clear customs okay”

“Where the heck were the sheep supposed to be?! We went through Golden twice and didn't see anything but a bunch of construction equipment....”

“I usually find them on the gravel shoulder, right where the narrow winding part of the highway drops down into Golden (from the east) and the mesh slide screens are bolted to the hillside.”

“Thanks, Hodge! for mailing the thingie, and for the tip on the sheep.

It wasn't hard to find it. There was a traffic jam in the construction zone, and we were ready to turn around, but there was nowhere to pull off. Then we saw why traffic was moving so slow. A baby sheep was standing on the guardrail! We pulled over and got a few pics, til a guy tried to walk up the hill and scared them off. We saw where they went and pulled off at the next road. About 1/2 mile in, they were walking around and we got a lot of pics. The first ones I saw were below on the railroad tracks, but there was no where to pull over and there was a lot of traffic.

BowlderMan, we drove thru Kootenay and all we saw was one deer. We were hoping to see a grizzly. :-(”

“OK, so next time we'll see the sheep.

Here are some of the little videos I took w/my digital cam. I think you'll have to right-click on the link and choose "Save target as" to download to your machine, then play them on Mediaplayer or whatever. Kinda fun!

Trailbunny 1
Snow Nymph
Trailbunny 2
Geezr”

“Hey, how 'bout that?! I actually just [left-]clicked on the links, Windows Media Player opened and played each one - no problem!”

“hey bowlderman--that's really cool!”

“TTers in action!!!!”

“Hey that is cool BowlderMan - The video of the river hops give a much better impression of what we're crossing there. Those channels in the moraine are pretty deep too !”

“Yeah! That water looks kinda scary!”

“Cool. Thanks!

I might have a few .avi files from Sierrapalooza...gotta check.”

“Bowlderman- the videos are really cool! if I would have known how they were going to come out I'd have dropped Trailbunny or Snow Nymph in the water!”

“Hey, that could've earned you a new trail name, like Butterfingers or something....”

“LMAO !”

“OMG Aero - you are such a brat!!!!”

“Isn't there a TV show where people do really painful things to themselves, then send in the video? Next time we'll have to plan it out, aero!”

“Maybe you could edit the one with Geezr and put a bear in there chasing him!

Oh, I really wouldn't have done that TB! I think you suffered enough on your dip in glacial lake on the Iceline Trail!”

“I like that idea, aero. Should I combine this one with the Geezr one?”

“Ummm, I think you'll have to right-click on that link, save it on your own machine, then watch it using MS Media Player or whatever....”

“Great trip guys, what a fun read! Aiight BowlderMan, you guys will hafta make for a night or few here in Italia.”

“Hey, thanks for bumping this one up, Nakedape! It's great to look back on the summer from a cold, winter night up here in Montana.
I think I'll look at Webshots slideshows tonight!”

“Yah, thank BowlderMan, he cued me to it. I'm just bummed out for missing the blue thong and the beautiful scenery, and the blue thong! LOL”

“I'm gettin' my vicarious hiking adventures mixed up... I was talking about the t-basket of a certain Ms Cottonsocks on the Savage Gulf hike, hehehe. Sip!”

“Yeah, I was go�i�*say, where the heck was the blue thong?!”

“I guess the whole world knows about my blue ones, huh. LMAO to bad everyone missed it. i'll be at Sipsey.”

“I thought he was talking about the topless German gal across the lake- of course I didn't notice the thong if there was one!”

“You mean cottonsocks was the topless German across the lake??!!”

“Somehow, I wouldn't be surprised.”