What a splendid night at Wabasso, as was the night at Bow River. No pesky Grizzlies, cold, the soft pitter patter of rain on the tent, sleeping on essentially a gravel bed, cushioned only by my one inch self inflating mattress (when they advertise self inflating, they mean you inflate it yourself), and the extra heat generated by my travel companion. Oh how I miss those two-dog nights.
When I come to a new campsite, the very first thing I do is to survey the site for the best arrangement for the tent, picnic table (if there is one), the fire pit, the Defender and the tarp. Last night's was an almost perfect arrangement. I say almost-perfect because of the web of tarp lines I had to navigate around to move from one place to another. So I don't trip over them, which I do often, I tied white trash bags abound the lines, but they diminished in number as I needed them for trash. Donner, of course, does not respect the need to navigate around them, and I lose precious time untangling his leashes from the lines, when he hasn't brought down the tarp, that is.
The tarp lines are only one reason I walk very slowly around my campsites. The other reasons include not wanting to get entangled in Donner's leashes, which seem to find themselves in places I did not put them, and the hidden and unseen obstacles that may be lying around, especially in the dark. For instance, three years ago, at a remote camp in Alberta when I was alone in the camp in the dark, I tripped over a rusty metal circular fire pit, just missing hitting my head, as I fell headfirst to the ground, on a thick 4-foot pole, and slicing open a three-inch gash in the right leg shin. The blood was pouring out so much, I got out the surgical sewing kit from my first aid kit, but decided to use a tourniquet instead, which worked. Fortunately, my tetanus shot was up to date and when I got to Dawson City in the Yukon seven days later, the doctor there gave me a clean bill of health.
Today, after a brief stop in Jasper, we head west and then north to the Yukon and Alaska. The camping plan is as follows..
BC Beaumont Provincial Park,
BC Seely Lake Provincial Park
BC Kinaskan Provincial Park
Camp on Alaskan Hiway
Yukon River Provincial Park, Dawson City
Alaska, Moon Lake
Fairbanks Chenna River Camp
Dalton Hiway 1-3 days
Fairbanks
Denali Sept 15-20 or 3-5 nights
Unknown camps Sept 20-24
Ferry to Washington State Sept 25-30 (unless I decide to drive)
Vancouver Island ? Days
West coast drive to San Francisco
Yosemite National Park
Donner Lake State Park north of Lake Tahoe
The long drive home 6-10 days
The Defender started well this morning despite the 39 degree temperature. I let it run for a while last night before I went to bed, so maybe that helped it. Or maybe it wasn't the cold after all. Who knows?
Photo below of Donner and me in Banff's Lake Louise taken by James, who was rewarded with a coveted On the Road patch. Donner was forever on the lookout for, you got it, dogs. Other photos to follow, time and battery permitting.
Ed and Donner, from on the roadP.S...I apologize and take full responsibility for all typos, errors and ambiguities in this message. I do not have time to edit or even proof my messages. Please do the best you can to interpret what I wrote.
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