I took it easy this morning as I didn’t have many kms to do until I remembered that there was a glacially fed river to ford that can be higher later in the day. I got going after the others with a climb, although not terribly steep, that was wet and muddy from the overnight rain. Eventually the trail made its way up to Moose Pass, which had jaw dropping views.

On the way down the meadow after the pass I caught up with two of the others.  We continued on together to the Calumet Creek campground where we stopped for lunch and caught up with the first 2 hikers to set off today. We all took the opportunity to dry out our tents and things since it was sunny and warm. After lunch it was a short stint down to the Smokey river for what can be one of the more challenging river fords of the GDT. As we got there, it started to thunder but way off in the distance. We picked our place to ford and I got across ok with water just above the knees. The current was very strong in places though and I wouldn’t have wanted it to be much deeper. After rejoining the trail, I said my goodbyes since they were continuing on the main GDT while I was detouring down a side trail to look at Mt.Robson, the tallest of the Canadian Rockies. It started to pour and the storm really set in. I didn’t put on my rain pants since my pants were already wet from the river. It was a mistake since the trail was overgrown with willows and with the rains, I got soaked and then very cold.  I got to the campsite and set up my tent and got out of my wet stuff. I was a bit disappointed that even my hiking shirt was wet in places despite having my rain jacket on. I hung out for a bit in my sleeping bag to warm up but eventually decided that the only way to dry my clothes was to put them on and use my body heat. I had to move to stay warm and since it was clearing, I decided to walk down the trail toward Mt Robson. I probably did a total of 6km out and back and didn’t get quite as far as Berg lake.

It was quite late when I got back so I quickly made dinner and got back in the tent.