Solo Camping at Elfin Lakes, BC plus RV Updates (Re-Post*)

Hi everyone so we are out camping again but in this video we're just going to give you an update on a couple of things as well as cover Gordon's backpack trip up to Elfin Lakes. So we hope you enjoy this video. So in this trip actually we took advantage of a new function on the BC Parks website and some other places have it. I think Washington State has a similar function and we were kind of calling it BC Parks Lottery. So you can go on to the website and look for a campsite in different parks whichever park you'd like and then choose a date. Now there's a good likelihood that that's full but you can actually be notified if a campsite comes open during the time period that you've selected. So we actually just a couple of days ago thought well you know let's just try it out so we tried Manning Park which is where we're at right now and I think only a day or two went by and boom something came up and said there was a spot open for the two days that we picked. So we were fortunate enough to be able to you know adjust our schedule and come out and camp for a couple of days. Yeah we were just trying to run away from the heat again because it was going to go up to like 30 degrees in Metro Vancouver. And it's nice the couple that were across from us we were actually in site 25 the couple that were across from us in site 26 did the exact same thing I think it was on a Monday they got an email saying their spot was open and boom they were here on Wednesday. So it's kind of nice it we've always in the past just checked the websites regularly look for cancellations but this is kind of nice because you can go to and set up a number of different campsites that you might want to go you just get an email and other people are gonna get the email as well so it's still a little bit of how fast you go and check and see if it works for you but it's kind of a nice feature and I think it's a nice nice addition to the BC Parks website. Yeah so don't worry if you don't have reservations and you check the site and it's like completely full you can always do the notify me and then who knows you might be able to get a really good campsite. Yeah and of course you have to be flexible enough to go you might hear weeks before or you might hear days before. Yeah that's true. And the next thing we wanted to update you was on the mouse situation in our last video we were talking about the mouse that kept us up all night because Finch was chasing it all over the place. Yes and we knew there was a mouse because it almost ran up Mickey's leg. Not quite but yes it was pretty scary. So Finch was doing a good job at being a mouser he didn't manage to catch it which I was kind of glad but he was spending a good portion of the evening looking for it and in any way we were hopeful that he perhaps he'd scared it away so we actually had a couple mouse traps up nothing showed up and then once we put our van back in storage for like a week we put mouse traps up and nothing showed up so we think he managed to scare it away which is great. Yeah we didn't find any mouse poop either so we're keeping our fingers crossed but we didn't hear anything and Finch wasn't too bothered. And this whole trip we didn't see any signs that we had a mouse. Yes. So the last thing in this particular video we thought we'd do a little bit more hiking maybe a little bit less RVing so here's a solo backpack trip I did up to an area called Elfin Lakes. Now you've seen Mickey and I hike up there many times at different times a year it's a beautiful spot up in the Alpine but this time I thought I'd go up and just spend a night camp overnight and just enjoy the morning view of the mountains and it was really nice hope you enjoy the video. Just another gorgeous view that you get used to seeing on this trail. It's the Red Heather Hut it's just a day shelter but there is a wood stove in there for winter. It's about five kilometers from the trailhead so I've got about six more to go. A nice house for very tall people. This is also the winter route and several times Mickey and I have been up here for a day trip to the shelter and back even in the middle of July and we still had to take this route because the snow has been so deep. This year the snowpack is really low. I don't think you'll be able to see it with this camera I've got to go straight that way I can to see the hut I'm camping nearby it and maybe drop about 200 feet of elevation for a mat. Mount Garibaldi right here see if we can clip in a photo from one of our trips up here without the clouds. It's high enough that it can generate its own weather so sometimes it just gets socked in but you can see there's a bit of clouds building off kind of I guess to the east northeast a little and there's a 30% chance of either rain or thundershowers but that means there's 70% chance there won't be. I just got a little more elevation to gain here and I'm done with the up and then a very slow down that way to the hut. The mountain over there in front of me with a little bit of cloud on top is Mymklum. The hut is just over there. We're camping where that kind of snow field is. The bigger one in front. Hopefully no snow on the tent pads. Two huts are maybe half a kilometer ahead of me and you see the two lakes. Actually I'm kind of surprised they're largely thawed out. The second one farther back is completely clean which is good. That's my water sources for the next day or so. Clouds are getting a little worse to the east but a few of those folks ahead of me just came out of the water. Looks tempting and I'm thinking it's not that warm. It's nice and warm out though. It's probably over 20 degrees in the sun here. This is the first lake closest to the hut. That's the Ranger Hut. I don't know if there's anybody in it. And then the hut for hikers or whoever stays in the hut I guess. It's just a little bit farther past this hut. The washrooms close to the hut are kind of decadent. Alpine washrooms. Pit toilets. To be honest it doesn't smell that great in here but it actually has lights and enough solar panels. There's the main hut. I'll just walk in if there's not too many people inside. I think when we were here before it was closed because of COVID. So the outside you can see the upper level. I've seen the snow actually above that in the winter. I think all the young folks in the pool are staying here or in the pond. It's pretty decadent. It's got a propane stove, tables, area to cook. It holds about 30 people. And your packs and stuff. Even stairs. It's got double bunks and single bunks. And the view from the back window. Outhouse for the campsite. A little closer than the one by the shelter. Not as fancy. And you can see the tent sites. There's a couple tents over there otherwise empty. The only shame about these tenting sites is they're, in my opinion, way too close together. But the old campsite used to be about a kilometer away and the spaces were a lot bigger. A lot more privacy. Food cache and the water source. There's the day shelter for hikers and the folks at the campsite. You can see. Pretty nice view. More tent sites over here. It's starting to rain. Big black cloud above me. Okay it's not perfect but it's done. A little place to hook the ropes into. I've rigged sticks and rocks. It's not quite perfect. This is a semi freestanding tent so most of it stands up but you still need to peg it down a bit. Anyway, ready to go. Stopped raining. Sun's out. Bamquam Opal Cone. That sort of flat area. A little snow. And I don't remember the name of the mountain back there. Bamquam Lake is sort of down there. You see the gully coming down. Down below that. Maybe another, I don't know, 500 feet below this campsite. It's a long hike there. We've done it as a day trip. I think it's 44k kind of good news and bad news. I guess under the bad news, look over there, there's a little bit of thunder. It's getting kind of dark farther over to the east. Also in the bad news, my water filter broke. The pond here that you're supposed to get drinking water from looks pretty grungy at the end. So I went farther over to our cleaner and I think so my solution to take the bad and at least have it come out okay is I've got a big water container down here filled with water. I've got lots of fuel and I'm just gonna simply boil, boil, boil until I get enough water to meet my needs. Hopefully before it starts to rain or storm. My dinner tonight, mountain chili. It's vegetarian. 42 grams of protein per package. This is technically for two people but you know what, I'm probably gonna eat it all by myself. Hoping the weather hangs on long enough that I can finish my boiling. I'm up here at a picnic table like that one. I just don't like to cook anywhere near where I'm tenting if I can help it. So even though I'm just boiling water and adding packaged food today, you know, my breakfast tomorrow is a packaged oatmeal. I've got mostly some light bars. I just wanted to keep my pack really light. I mean it's probably under 20 pounds up here for one night. So there's my base weight, my tent, my pack, my sleeping bag are all in total under six pounds. All right, hopefully I'll think everything works out for dinner. This will be the water I'm gonna add to the package and I'm just gonna boil maybe another three or four of those or two tonight maybe and two in the morning. I'll see. Kind of wet looking. I think we're gonna get some rain. So that's sort of east and just sort of make out west over there. Still nice and clear but these clouds are moving in that direction. And here comes that rain you can see. Just gonna get all tucked in. It's a little early to go to bed. It's like quarter after seven. I was hoping to get a nice sunset in the west but may have to skip it tonight. Hopefully not too windy when this storm goes through. So I'm hunkered down in the tent. The rain has started. It's not too bad. You can hear a little bit of it on the tent right now. Been a little bit of thunder. I haven't seen any lightning and I'm hoping the storm moves through very quickly. But I am comfortable in the tent. There's not really much wind. Kind of see my space. It's a narrow one-person tent but it's it's got lots of room and more importantly it's got lots of headroom. It's an REI tent and it works really well. And it's light. Mickey and I have camped up here maybe about 15 years ago. I just wanted to come up and we camped in the previous campground that was down in the meadows but I just wanted to come up and spend the night. I haven't spent a night up in the mountains like this for a number of years. And then well actually I guess that's not true. I haven't spent a night up in the mountains since last year when I went up to Joffrey Lake. So I just wanted another trip. It's a fairly easy trip. It's about 11 kilometers and maybe 2,000 feet of elevation gain. So it's not too bad. About 600 meters roughly. It's not too bad. It just was annoying because it's half snow and it's just hard to hike in snow. So I got in in about three hours a little less and then started to make dinner and I had a problem with my water filter. I couldn't get the water filter to work and then it's kind of one of those comedy bears. I tried pushing it and all I managed to do is break the water bag that it came with and it covered me in water. But fortunately it was warm enough for me to dry out. Anyway I had dinner and I'm just boiling a lot of water. I've got enough fuel I think to boil enough water so I'll be able to get out of here tomorrow comfortably. Oh, a little bit of lightning I just saw. Yep, a little bit of lightning. Hopefully that ends soon. Anyway I don't really have a lot of things planned for this trip. I just literally wanted to come up enjoy the views, spend the night in the mountains. There's I think three other people in tents. I went through the hut earlier. I'm just not a big fan of staying in huts with a lot of people. I don't know. And you know Mickey and I have done that in the past and maybe on a night like tonight staying in a hut might be a nicer thing. But generally we just prefer not to be in a crowd of other people. Now there's only maybe a half a dozen people in there about 20 years old so you know it's not that it's that crowded but still it's just it's just nice to kind of be out and be camping. So anyway hopefully the storm doesn't last too long and hopefully tomorrow morning will be nice. I'm kind of disappointed because I had hoped to get a beautiful sunset over in the West but I'm not gonna go out in the rain and because it's in the West it's still clear but I'm not gonna go out in the rain and risk us getting soaked. So I'm gonna hunker down here. It's getting pretty late. It's I think maybe almost 730. Anyway let's see. It might be an early night. In that case I'll be up early tomorrow morning. Okay so it's morning. I don't even know what time it is. I'll look in a there. Crest about there and then it's largely downhill the rest of the way. Sun's coming out looking nice. Look at that. Amazing. One of the nice things about coming out this early is it's still cool out. It snows a little. It's not frozen but it's crispy and it's nice and cool. I can hear the airplane that Mickey's sending to pick me up. So we hope you enjoyed this video and if you did please be sure to give us a thumbs up and subscribe to our channel if you haven't done so already. And in our next video we'll cover our most recent trip. Yeah. And a bit of hiking. It was really nice. Yeah it was great. So we'll see you next time. We'll