I started the day by heading into town where I got myself a breakfast sandwich and flat white. I spoke to Mom for a few minutes after eating and then walked back to the campsite to finish packing up. When I packed my food, I realised that a bunch of my biodegradable ziplocs had holes and the one with my dehydrated hummus in it was pretty much shredded. Thankfully, these ziplocs were inside a big one that was still intact. I tried to patch them, but quickly realised that this wasn’t going to cut it. So back into town I went to buy more ziplocs and then once I had transferred my food into the new ones, I was finally ready to set off. I guess the biodegradable one cannot handle the air pressure changes on a flight.

I set out later than planned, but glad to have discovered my food issue prior to leaving town. The trail climbed past a waterfall and along the creek for quite a while. At first in an old burn area and then in the forest.

It then emerged from the trees and passed a series of Alpine lakes, continuing to climb.

The higher it got, the more peaks kept on emerging. It was wonderful to have such a clear day to appreciate the views from the high point of over 2300m, the highest I’ve ever been under my own steam. 

Then it was down, down, down. The trail was through a scree slope and sometimes very narrow and sometimes steep. I had to crouch into the hillside at one point to let people by because there was so little room. I eventually came to Cameron lake, where Parks Canada has a boat rental place. I bought a pop at the store and then continued along the road for about a km.

I left the road to go up to the Akamina campsite, which is outside of Waterton Park in BC. The next option to camp in Waterton is about 20 km away so the detour to Akamina is the only viable option. It was a gentle climb through a burn area, but with little pine trees growing in, different from the other burn areas I’ve been through.

At first it was very hot, but then the clouds rolled in and I rushed to make some dinner in case it rained. So far it’s only been a few drops although there was some thunder. I met 2 other GDT hikers here, but they both seem to be doing the alternate so I may very well not see them again.