BACKPACKING 8 days in Jasper's most remote wilderness - The SOUTHESK Loop: Part 2 - Dean Meadow

"If Southesk Lake isn't the most remote point accessible by trail in Jasper Park, it certainly feels as though it is." Those words from Brian Patton & Bart Robinson's trail guide have been on my mind forever.

This adventure started 25 years ago, when I was a young engineer living in Fox Creek. My good friend Farsin and I hiked the full South Boundary Trail from Jacques Lake to Nigel Pass (165 km) in 12 days. Since then I have hiked just about all of Jasper's 1,000 km of trails. All but the Southesk Look.

A year ago I met Evan Robertson, an executive chef with a unique mission. He wanted to show everyone that it's possible to have gourmet meals on a long hike. Evan was new to hiking but he's a very fast learner. Over the last year, Evan and I hiked together on progressively longer journeys and "dialed-in" our gear, while he refined his recipes. Our aim was to complete an 8-10 day journey by the end of summer 2020. The Southesk loop was the perfect choice as it allowed me to finish my journey that I started 25 years earlier.

I'll be honest. I had my doubts that we could eat a gourmet meal every day on a long journey. Evan proved me wrong.

Day 1: Beef fajitas
Day 2: Duck pad thai w. duck egg
Day 3: Salmon potato salad
Day 4: Bow tie pasta with carbonara sauce and garlic bread
Day 5: Crab Cakes on a bed of fried onions and peppers
Day 6: Shepherd's pie
Day 7: Escargots (snails) with garlic crostini

We also had 2 fancy desserts: Tarts and chocolate lava cakes.

This trail is absolutely not for weekend warriors. We started south of Cadomin and hiked in via Rocky Pass. From there we headed south through Cairn Pass. We took a crazy "short cut" by hiking over Dean pass, which was not a good idea. Southesk Lake was a relatively easy target from there. Glacier Pass is the longest high alpine pass I have ever traversed. The last part of our journey was willow whacking and constant creek crossings. We lost the trail every day, sometimes for 20-30 minutes. In all we hiked 110 km in 8 days. We went 6 days without seeing another soul. We completed this trip Aug 29-Sept 6, 2020.

I brought a GPS on this trip, something I haven't done in 5 years. I can provide the track to serious hikers. This was a remarkable trip, with an amazing friend.

Enjoy.

My CalTopo map: https://caltopo.com/m/VPP4

Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTnJiq8gIiM&t=606s

0:00 Introduction
3:44 Cairn Pass patrol cabin
6:02 Dean Pass shortcut
9:35 Fording the Southesk River
11:57 Dinner at Dean Meadow camp
17:12 Southesk Lake
19:50 Picking wild strawberries

#Martyupnorth #Southesk #SouthBoundaryTrail

Видео BACKPACKING 8 days in Jasper's most remote wilderness - The SOUTHESK Loop: Part 2 - Dean Meadow канала Martyupnorth