Day 10 was a zero day in SRC. I ate a lot, watched a movie and read. I also did laundry thanks to some kind maintenance man who took pity on me and gave me the change that I needed since I couldn’t get any cash out of the ATM at the Crossing to exchange for loonies. The air was pretty bad most of the day and only cleared after some rain in the evening.

Day 11 I headed off down the trail along the North Saskatchewan River after eating a good breakfast at the hotel restaurant’s buffet.

The trail was overgrown and I got soaked since all the plants were wet from the rain. My shoes too, although it didn’t really matter as they were in and out of water all day anyways.

From the river, the trail follows Owen Creek, which was challenging because the trail has been washed out in a lot of places, leading to steep scrambles over dodgy ground or walking in the creek.

It finally got better after a few hours and then it was a up to Owen pass.

At one point when I looked up, I saw some movement, and saw an animal running away that looked a lot like a wolverine, at least I can’t think of anything else that would move that way.

After the pass, I descended to Michele lakes and spied some bighorn sheep.

Then it was up and over Michele pass, the high point of the GDT at 2578m. It was a tough climb and so windy and cold at the top that I didn’t linger.

Then it was down to Waterfalls Creek and I saw another wolverine on my way down.

When I got to the campsite at Waterfalls creek, I decided that I didn’t want to stay as there was no flat ground to pitch a tent and a weird a-frame structure meant to be a bear hang but nowhere near high enough. It meant doing a 3rd pass, Pinto pass, which was tough and also freezing at the top.

I got to the first Pinto campsite around 7 pm and it was already occupied and there wasn’t room for another tent. The tent owner also didn’t respond to my greeting. So I pushed on again, but only a few 100m to the 2nd Pinto campsite, where I found a GDTer, a section hiker and a cowboy with his dog and two horses. There was still room for me so I gladly joined them. The cowboy is on a bighorn sheep hunting trip. Apparently the season starts the day after tomorrow. Thankfully I’ll be heading into the backcountry of Jasper, where no hunting is allowed by then.