It rained a bit this morning and my weather forecast said it was 5 degrees outside but feeling like 2, plus I only had 11km to do today so it was an easy call to stay cosy in my quilt this morning. Nature called eventually and then my hunger. After packing up a wet tent, yuck, it was up to Ball Pass. I fell at one point and hit my shin on a rock, it was thankfully cushioned by two socks and two pairs of pants. But I still skinned it.

Then my Garmin beeped, it wasn’t asking if I was ok, it was Gill letting me know that she managed to reserve Floe lake for me tonight. This meant that I wouldn’t need to deviate from the trail to camp tonight, although it would be a longer and harder day.

The end of the climb up the pass was very steep and a fall would mean a tumble down a rocky slope, so I just put my head down and concentrated on my steps.

After the pass it was a long but not technical descent to HW93, where the trail to Floe lake starts. Almost straight away, it crossed a bridge over a very blue river. I went about a km further and stopped for lunch by a creek. I tried to dry out some of my stuff but it was still overcast and there was no wind.

After lunch there was a short climb and then it was a long traverse through an old burn area with fireweed and berries lining the trail. At some point I had views back to Ball Pass and realized that Ball Mountain has a giant round rock on top, which was now visible as the cloud ceiling had lifted. It’s always cool to see how far I’ve come in a day.

The day ended with a gruelling climb up to Floe lake, something like 500m over 2-2.5 km. It was a bit soul/lung destroying but it’s easy to see why this is one of the most popular campsites in the area.

The only disappointment is that the tent sites are all up a hill, which my legs didn’t appreciate at that point. I set up my tent to dry out and put out my damp clothes on a clothesline, but it’s been spitting here and there all evening so it’s all probably wetter than before.