Mileage: 10.1 km

Initially I thought we had to pull off a big day today, so yesterday I was dreading getting up early and pushing through the road out of Coleman then still having to go another 10-15 kms. Fortunately our itinerary had a gap from us adjusting it at the last minute before we started and we had to spread this section out over one more day. This meant that instead of 23-ish kms today we only needed to walk 10km.

So instead of heading out at 7:30am today we lounged around until 10:00am.

I think this was welcomed.

I had some more coffee on the porch at A Safe Haven and we let Toothless roam around. Alannah loaded us up with treats and our packs looked bloated and overflowing. Add in a bag of clean and dry diapers actually packed in my pack (rather than wet ones hanging from the outside of it) and we looked like we over packed.

At 10:00am we got quite the send off from the other hikers and Alannah and Dan. We promised to keep them up to date on our hike and like that started walking down the highway.

The highway walk is short, but I am happy we left after the morning traffic.

After the highway we had to endure more road walking until the Atlas Staging Area where we planned on camping.

We stopped for lunch at the McGillivray Creek Staging Area and dreaded the hike up the hill next to the powerline. I took advantage of the pit toilet and we headed out. Steep! I can’t believe I forgot this part.

We arrived at Atlas Staging Area fairly early at around 2pm (it was only 10km after all!). It is Wednesday so it’s not particularly busy on the ATV roads and trails. We found a decent tent site that had no fire pit or trash (or glass) and set up camp early.

There are some cows grazing nearby so we got to see some beautiful calves. And you could hear them periodically.

Toothless was pretty happy with the grass at our campsite and tried eating grass and sticks. After some persuasion he stopped, but he told us he wasn’t happy about that decision.

He decided instead to play with our umbrella, which I think is a good compromise. He seems to understand that it unfolds and tries to open the strap keeping it closed. He also swings it around.

He also spent about 30 minutes trying to figure out how do open a chocolate bar wrapper. He has his own bars (oats, nut butters, grains) so I think he knows you tear the wrapper. He tried grabbing the tab on the wrapper with his fingers and eventually gave up.

Today is quite hot so we might all not get to sleep until late when it cools down. Tonight will have a cool low of 18C. Tomorrow will be a big day so I hope we get some rest.