In the morning, bright and early, it was time to leave Johnston Canyon and Banff National Park and set off on our first, two-night backpacking trip.  At 6:45 a.m. - much earlier than we had planned to leave - we crammed all of our luggage, backpacks, laptops and toys into the back of the Volvo, dropped the key to the cabin in the box, and drove off towards Yoho National Park.

During the course of our two-week stay in Canada, we planned to do two, two-night backpacking trips.  Our first trip would take place in Yoho National Park, beginning at the trailhead at Takakkaw Falls (which we had visited the day before).  Our route for the first day would take us up the Yoho Valley Trail, to the Twin Falls backcountry campground.  On day two, we would then continue on the Yoho Valley Trail and cross over the top of Twin Falls, crest the Whaleback, then descend to the Laughing Falls backcountry campground.  Finally, on the third day, we would hike back to the Yoho Valley Trailhead.  The total mileage for our adventure would be about thirteen miles - 4.0 miles to Twin Falls, 6.5 miles to Laughing Falls, and 2.5 miles to the trailhead.

Getting an early start to our hike, of course, was critical, because - as we all know - Mary tends to melt down late in the afternoon.  We had planned to be out of the cabin by 7:30 a.m. at the very latest; so when we made it out of the cabin well before 7:00, we knew that we were getting off to a good start - and that was a good sign that we were going to have a great day.

To get to Yoho National Park, we repeated the route we had taken the day before, taking the Trans-Canadian Highway west from Lake Louise into British Columbia.  With the early hour, we didn't have to worry about construction tie-ups; however, we did keep our eyes open for animals along the side of the road.  On Yoho Valley Road, we had the chance to see a mother marmot and some of her young, looking for breakfast at a pull-out.  We also saw an elk, grazing on the side of a hill.  "Wow!" Mary exclaimed from the backseat.  "You were right, Daddy!  It does help to be up early!  You get to see all of the animals!"

At the end of Yoho Valley Road, we came to Takakkaw Falls and the Yoho Valley Trailhead, where we would be leaving our car - with all of our luggage in it - for the next two nights.  When we arrived, we were surprised to find that the parking lot was nearly full; we were lucky to find a parking space.  Most of the cars parked there belonged to campers at the Takakkaw Falls Walk-in Campground.  This was no ordinary campground; the campsites are located a quarter of a mile up the trail from the parking lot and are only accessible by foot.  Carts are provided at the trailhead, to assist campers in transporting their gear back and forth.  In essence, it's like getting the backcountry experience...without having to lug a heavy backpack through the woods!

We, on the other hand, were going to be carrying those heavy backpacks through the woods.  After making sure that the luggage was secure in the car and that the laptops and the Nikon D80 were safely out of view from potential thieves, we donned our backpacks and set off on the Yoho Valley Trail, at 8:00 a.m.

The first quarter mile of the trail took us down a wide dirt road that went straight through the campground.  It was very quiet there, as most of the campers were still sleeping in their tents; there were a few people milling around - getting water from the pump or walking to the restrooms or eating breakfast at their picnic tables - but for the most part, it was very still. 

On the other side of the campground, we came to a kiosk containing a map of the area, as well a mileage.  We paused there briefly so that John could show us our planned route, which, he pointed out, was like a backwards "P".  According to the mileage sign, we were only 6.2 kilometers (nearly four miles) from the Twin Falls Backcountry Campground; it was likely that we would be there by lunchtime.

From the kiosk, we continued along the wide hiking trail, over several bridged creek crossings and into a dense forest.  The trail there was very flat, so we were able to hike at a good pace despite our heavy gear.  Before the end of our first hour of hiking, we reached the junction with the Angels Staircase and the Point Lace Falls spur trails.  There, we dropped our packs and took our first break; and since we were there, we decided to hike to Angels Staircase Falls to check them out.

The hike to Angels Staircase Falls was not very long - perhaps only five hundred feet.  At the end of the path, we came to a cliff, below which flowed the Yoho River.  Across the gorge, almost completely obscured by the early morning light, the falls cascaded down the rock face - and yes, the water that cascaded down the mountain did so in tiers, like a staircase.  Unfortunately, as bad as the lighting was at that moment, it was hard to get a good picture of the falls, and we certainly didn't want to waste valuable time trying to get that perfect shot; so we did what we could then returned to the junction to retrieve our packs.

At the trail junction, the trail began its long, steep ascent towards Laughing Falls.  Hiking up this section of the trail was challenging with the backpacks, so I divided it up into smaller sections and tackled it one piece at a time.  I hiked forward a hundred feet, stopped to let Mary and John catch up, then hiked another hundred feet.  This technique, as we discovered, worked very well for Mary; the frequent breaks kept her from becoming too fatigued during the climb. 

The steep climb went on for about a quarter of a mile; then, the trail flattened out again.  Soon after that, we came to another junction - this time, with the spur trail to Duchesnay Lake, which was four-tenths of a kilometer away.  Since we weren't in a hurry to get to our campsite, we decided to take that spur as well, to see the lake.

Duchesnay Lake, as it turned out, wasn't as scenic as we had hoped it would be.  The water level was very low, so the banks of the lake were muddy and cracked and barren.  The lake itself was kind of nice; it was a small lake and reminded us of Potato Lake because of its surroundings. 

We took another, fifteen minute break at the lake, where it was peaceful and quiet and secluded.  While we were there, John took a walk amongst the dead trees on the shore of the lake, hoping to see animals nearby.  (He was really hoping to see a moose and figured that Duchesnay Lake would be the perfect place to find one.)  He was disappointed that there wasn't a single animal to be seen there.

After our short visit to Duchesnay Lake, we rejoined the Yoho Valley Trail and kept hiking.  At that point, the trail began to meander close to the Yoho River, which meant that we were getting close to the Laughing Falls Campground.  Indeed, that was the case; about ten minutes later, the trail took us across a footbridge and into the backcountry campground that we would be calling home on the second night of our trek. 

As we hiked through the campsite, we pointed out to Mary some of the differences between camping in a national park and the primitive camping that we were used to.  For one thing, there is a "kitchen" - a series of picnic tables where backcountry campers are expected to cook and store their food.  Food bags must be stored as high up in the air as possible to prevent critters from getting into them; so bear-bagging poles are provided for that purpose.  The "kitchen" and the bear-bagging poles are located as far away from the tent pads as possible, which helps to discourage wildlife from foraging through the campground, looking for handouts.  The campground also comes complete with a pit toilet, where campers are expected to do their business; again, this is meant to keep wildlife out of the campground, as the scent of urine and other bodily excrements can attract animals.

So, for us primitive campers, who are used to eating on the ground and squatting to pee behind trees, this was luxury camping.  Yes, many will laugh at us for that remark; but really, it is nice to have those little things that we take for granted everyday - things like tables and toilets!

At the other end of the campground, we came to Laughing Falls, which tumbled down the cliff face into the Little Yoho River, near the point where it merged with the Yoho River.  We paused there to take pictures then continued hiking along the trail.  As we passed the cameras back and forth, that was when John made a startling discovery: our binoculars were gone!  Our binoculars, which we had received as a wedding gift, along with our first GPS, from John's parents...GONE!  They had been attached to the hip belt on John's backpack and must have fallen off at either Angel's Staircase or Duchesnay Lake.  It was too late to go back for them now; John just hoped that they would still be there in two days, on our way out of the backcountry.

Upon leaving the campground, the trail began to climb once again, but this time, the grade was not as steep and nowhere near as difficult.  We were still hiking strong and steady, and Mary was in good spirits; it was turning out to be a beautiful day.

At 11:30, we finally caught our first glimpse of Twin Falls, which was off in the distance, across the valley.  We pointed it out to another group of hikers we ran into on the trail, and they, too, stopped to admire the falls.  As we all got to talking, we discovered that they were camped at Laughing Falls but were going out for a day-hike over the Whaleback.  They said that the would be at Laughing Falls for a couple of nights, so we told them that we would be their neighbors the next evening. 

We had a feeling that we were going to have neighbors during our trip.  That was going to take some getting used to; we usually camp in seclusion, but that's not always possible when camping in national parks.  In fact, it was very possible that we were going to have neighbors at Twin Falls; we would soon find out...

We had expected to be at the Twin Falls Campground by lunchtime; but at noon, we were still on the trail, just short of our campsite.  Instead of making the last push to the campground, we decided to just stop and eat.  Doing so gave us the energy we needed to complete that last little bit of our hike; after lunch, we hiked strong and fast and arrived at camp at 1:00!

Much like the Laughing Falls Campground, the Twin Falls Campground came complete with a "kitchen" (located on the beach of the Yoho River), a pit toilet, and six backcountry campsites with benches.  We had two of the six sites reserved for the night - one for each of our tents - and chose the two that were closest to each other - so close that they even shared a bench.  There, we dropped our packs, pitched our tents, and settled in for the night.

In reality, only Mary and I settled in for the day; John, on the other hand, was up for more adventure.  He had been reading about the hike to the Yoho Glacier and was chomping at the bit to go see it. And who were we to stop him?

John left the campsite to hike to Yoho Glacier at 2:00 p.m.  Before he left, he explained to us that he would be hiking an additional four miles roundtrip; that meant that he would more than likely be back at camp by 4:00 at the latest. Of course, since he was going into unknown territory - and you never know what could happen out there - we discussed what to do if he didn't come back.  I mean, you have to be prepared for those worst case scenarios.  He told us that, if he didn't return, Mary and I should spend the night there then hike back out - the way that we had come - in the morning and get help.  Naturally, we were certain that it wouldn't come to that...but it's always good to have a plan.

While John was gone, Mary and I took a very long nap inside our tents; we didn't wake up until 3:30 in the afternoon.  After that, we passed the time by washing our clothes and by reading.

John didn't return until 4:30 that afternoon - just at the point where I was beginning to worry.  As he walked back into camp, he said, "You almost lost me out there."  Great!

What he meant was, he almost didn't want to come back to camp. The hike to Yoho Glacier was so incredible that he didn't want to leave it.  Standing next to this massive glacier was the closest he had ever had to a religious experience; he felt so small in comparison to it.  On top of that, he was so remote, so far away from humanity, that he was very much aware of his solitude.

And then, he heard the glacier crack, as if it was getting ready to calve.  He could have sat there all day, watching that glacier, listening to the ice crack.  If he had had his sleeping bag with him - if he had been there in the backcountry completely alone, and we weren't waiting for him back at camp - he would have stayed there all night.

But he didn't; he came back to camp - late, but with that incredible story to tell.

At 5:30 that evening we all went down to the kitchen to begin cooking dinner - our first time using the stove since we had dismantled it.  We were happy to see that it worked; however, it worked poorly.  We couldn't seem to get the flame high enough to boil the water.  John attempted to adjust the nozzle using his Leatherman and managed to get it working, but it still seemed to take forever to cook.

Up to that point, we had been enjoying the solitude at our campsite; although there had been a lot of day-hikers on the trail, none of them were campers.  John told us not to hold our breath; he wouldn't be surprised if backpackers wandered in after 8:00 p.m., considering that there would still be daylight.  Sure enough, at 7:30, a solo backpacker entered the campground and settled in for the night.  He was a good-looking, red-haired Canadian man who had just spent his day hiking up and over the Whaleback to get there.  When he arrived, he chose the campsite next to us and settled in for the night.

Around 8:30, it was time for us to turn in.  For once, we had to forego our usual mantra of "bed at first star, up at first light", because we just weren't going to see any stars on this trip.  Instead, we had to get used to falling asleep in a thin, nylon tent that was still bathed in sunlight.

As tired as we were, that wasn't a problem...

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