I bought my first home in the summer of 2021, in Calgary Alberta, at the tender age of 24. What!? How!? In this Economy!? Many Canadians might be floored to hear that first sentence being that housing prices are a bit of a dog’s breakfast at the moment. Well, let me explain. My first home was far from a house, and certainly did not require a mortgage. My first home was a 2-bed, no bath, 35 square foot McKinley Escape tent.
This little soft sided save haven kept me out of the elements all around the world for 4 whole years. The beginning of this story goes back to a Canadian Rockies classic backcountry trip, Mt. Assiniboine provincial park.
Mt. Assiniboine is a famous mountain in the region. Dubbed the “Matterhorn of the Rockies” for its pyramidal shape resembling that of the Matterhorn in Switzerland.
To reach this astonishing peak, there is no access by road. A 25km hike in is required, through some of Banff and Kananaskis’s most beautiful backcountry, across the BC border, and into the Lake Magog campground, the closest place to the mountain to rest your head. This park inspired my desire to give backcountry camping a real try, and it would be the Mckinley tent’s maiden voyage.
To say the first trip was rough would be putting it lightly. I overpacked, nearly doubling the amount of food I needed, and trucking along a bunch of “necessary” sauces and condiments. Hummus may be the most dense food one could possibly carry, and i brought nearly a litre. Due to time constraints, the trip was 26km in on day one, a day to explore, and 26km out on day three. For someone who had never dawned a backcountry bag until day one… 52km with a 30lb pack was a wake up call. By the time the end of the final day rolled around, I was dehydrated, exhausted, and planning to never return to the backcountry. And, this was only a 3 day trip, not even a big one on backcountry terms.
As the brain tends to do, within a few days I had mostly forgotten the mental trauma and scars on my shoulders from the backpack. All I could see in the photos was a mountain lake shimmering below one of the coolest mountains I had ever seen. I had to get back out there.
Fast forward to 2024, and I was able to pack up the same backpack, and use the same tent, on a 6 day trip through the Cordillera Huayhuash in Peru. Comfortably, with minimal leftover food, and a lot more smiles than at Assiniboine.
Between these journeys, there were plenty of learning experiences, and that tent was dragged hundreds of kilometers through the Canadian and South American backcountry. Today, it is certainly on it’s last legs. To put it nicely, I have beat the living shit out of that thing. On a late June trip in 2023 we woke up to nearly 6 inches of surprise snow bearing down on us, stretching the roof out nicely. In Patagonia we called the tent home for nearly 25 nights in the month of January. I would guess 24 of those nights featured 90+ km/hr winds pushing the tent, and my sanity, to the brink of collapse.
It pains me to say but I believe the Mckinley has seen it’s final trail. The farewell tour came and went this February on a winter camping trip into the Banff backcountry. The Mckinley was pushed beyond it’s limits and held up like a champ. With 100cm of snow beneath the tent, and temps dropping down to -10 overnight, we were plenty comfortable within the confines of it’s soft walls.
This type of home doesn’t yield the same ROI as your typical hard sided home in the suburbs. I’ll be looking at right around a $0 asking price when this baby hits the market. But, one can’t put a dollar value on all the nights spent under the stars, the miles wandering far away from civilization, and all the time spent with friends in cool places. Why not try it for yourself.
Go West 