Manning Park - Mowich Camp Trail Part A

Welcome to Manning Park, BC - two hours drive Southeast from Vancouver. Chris and I left the city early on Saturday morning with everything but the kitchen sink for our hike to Mowich Camp, 24km return. We arrived at the parking lot only to find that the machine only accepts loonies and that you need to purchase 3 tickets per day...darn! We were concerned about making it to the camp as there were only 3 designated camping sites and already 2 groups were ahead of us on the trail. There was panic in the air!! We drove 5 minutes back to the public campsites to get change and I asked about the water situation at camp. The situation: not good - the ranger told us that "The creek is dry but you can dig for water". Hmm, let me think about that one for a minute. Ah ya, no - we are not in a survival situation, so there will be no digging for water. We emptied the car of an emergency 2litre pop bottle (exactly for these types of situations!) and spare Nalgene water bottles and strapped them to our back packs. The map showed a creek lower on the trail - we would fill up and purify at the camp that night. So, back to the parking lot, paid our dues (in loonies) and started our trek.

After a couple of kms in the forest, the trail gave way to some gorgeous meadows vibrant with wildflowers, butterflies, & bumble bees.

The scenery changed after the meadows and became very dry once we'd gained some elevation, it was hot but not too uncomfortable (I would be sweating if it was -1C, so what's the difference!)
Some beautiful scenerey popped out from behind the trees! Check out those mountains.
Those craggy points are called Hozameen and they are on the US side of the border (it's ok, we've already been to MEC and have now purchased the map for this area - anyone interested?)