September 11-12, 2022 - Wild Camp - Bryant Lake, Powderface Trail, Kananaskis

Mandy and I have been talking about heading out to Bryant Lake for an overnighter for the past few weeks, and finally pulled the trigger on it last night.  The weather was looking good, and the timing was right.  Of course with Mother Nature things can always change in an instant...

We made it to the trail head a little later than we had hoped due to a couple of last-minute phone calls that came in just before we left.  We had also noted an hour or two before we left, that a lot of smoke had blown into the valley from forest fires in the province.  We decided to make a go of it anyway, and were walking by 17:50.

Trail Head Selfie

Very Smokey In The Valley

The Bryant Lake trail is a very fun hike (depending how you see it), up a dry creek bed to a hidden lake cradled in a basin underneath Mount Bryant.  There is a lot of rock-hopping and dry creek crossing in between intermittent braided trails.  If you are tired, or have ankle issues, this may be a little challenging, otherwise I think it is very fun.

Narrow Section Of Creek Bed

We Saw Many Patches Of This Bright Red Plant All The Way Up The Creek Bed

After about 5.5 km of creek bed, followed by a steeper 0.5 km forest section the scenery opens up to beautiful meadows surrounded by stunning ridgelines.  Things got a little interesting here.  What started out as a nice breeze at the trail head turned into the windiest conditions Mandy or I had ever hiked in.  One gust lifted me off one foot and almost blew me over.  I had to take a very wide stance and lean into the wind in order to stay on my feet.  It was a little unsettling, but we knew we would be able to find shelter from the wind in some trees near the lake.

Meadow Section After The River Bed

Final Approach To The Lake

There was not much light left when we got to our destination so we quickly set up camp and headed over by the lake for some much-anticipated dinner.  I had brought two mini-bottles of Baileys for our coffee/teas, but when we went to open them we found that they had solidified after years of sitting in our cupboard... 😂

Rice And Meatball Dinner (And Solidified Baileys)

After dinner we loaded up the bear vault with all food items and smelly stuff and stashed it a couple of hundred meters away from our tent.  Once in the tent we got our PJs on and started to hunker down.  Sleeping in a tent in the Canadian wilds sometimes takes getting used to.  It is easy to work yourself up to the point where falling asleep is challenging.  Some thoughts that were going through my mind: will this wind blow a tree down on us, are there bears or cougars in the area, and will I even hear them with all of this wind.  Then once the wind died down: I wish it was windy again so I won't hear anything else that might be around! 😝  As always, after an hour or two of trying to settle, fatigue wins over and intermittent sleep comes.  I think we both had one good stint between 12:30 and 4:30, and maybe an hour or two more after a bathroom break around 5:30.  At 7:30 with a mixture of relief and resistance we started getting up and prepared for the trek back home.

Pre-Wakeup Selfie 😄

Morning Campsite

Coffee And Tea By The Lake Before The Walk Out (Bear Vault On Right)

A couple of hours later we were back at the car and heading home to let the cats out.  Despite the smoke, wind, and fitful sleep, I am always excited about the experiences we have in the back-country, and we never regret having made the effort!

UPDATE - We saw these cows on the way back.  With the thousands of acres of available land in Kananaskis, for some reason this seemed like the best spot to lay down and have a rest....

😁😝😆😄😛

August 24, 2022 - Ice Line Trail, Yoho Valley, Yoho National Park

A friend of mine and I attempted this loop last October, and were forced to turn around due to snow.  At the time we agreed that we would make another attempt this summer when snow would not be an issue.  After a few logistical schedule changes we finally got out last week, and I was most definitely not disappointed.

We met at the Petro-Canada on Hwy. 1 at 7:00 a.m. and left together from there.  The weather was partially cloudy and cool (~10 C), which would make for a great day of hiking.  Just over two hours later we were on the trail which starts in Yoho Valley, near Takakkaw Falls at the Whiskey Jack Hostel.  We started up the well defined and maintained trail, which has you cover ~575 m of the total 900 m in the first 3.5 km...  The views start to come quickly, and once you are above the tree line there are non-stop 360-degree vistas to enjoy.

Looking Back Towards The Trail Head And Takakkaw Falls

Above The Tree Line

Below Emerald Glacier - Sweat Stains Reveal How Hard I was Working 😝

My buddy has done a lot of ski touring in this area over the years and as a result was an excellent tour guide for the hike pointing out alpine huts (Stanley Mitchell Hut, Scott Duncan Hut, Twin Falls Chalet), naming all of the surrounding mountains (President, Vice President, Secretary-Treasurer, McArthur, Isolated, Wapta, Cathedral, Balfour, Whaleback), and identifying several glaciers and icefields (Emerald Glacier, Fairy Glacier,  Waputik Icefield)

Beautiful Mountain Meadow

North Towards Troltinder Mountain and Mount Balfour (3,272 m)

Emerald Glacier With The President And the Vice President In the Background

We had an interesting hiker's dilemma when we descended to Stanley Mitchell Hut.  We met up with a scrambler who had a hiker in his party, who was injured below Isolated Peak.  He asked if we had an emergency locator beacon (which we both did) that we could activate that would send a search-and-rescue helicopter and team.  After some discussion we determined that the injured party was not in life-threatening danger (a rock had fallen on her leg), and that she still had some mobility.  There were four in his party - him, his buddy, and two girlfriends,  He was from Czech republic.  We were reluctant to activate the beacons because we weren't sure what the protocol was for non-life-threatening situations.  He told us that in his country there was no question that a beacon would be activated, and that a helicopter rescue would be executed.  After some more discussion we agreed to high-tail it back to the trailhead (10 km = ~2 hours), get in touch with the parks officials, and let them handle it.  At that point there was still seven hours of daylight left.  I don't think he was too happy with that decision.  We debated the scenario all the way back, and after talking to Banff Dispatch it wasn't clear to us what the right decision was.  I will be asking around in the future to see if I can get clearer direction.  At the end of the day, I am comfortable with the decision we made, but had it gone differently I likely would have felt that we should have gone the other way...

Stanley Mitchell Hut

Laughing Falls And The Yoho River

The Silty Yoho River - It Looked Like A River Of Milk!

It ended up being a tremendous day of hiking.  I would most definitely like to go back and do it again with Amanda, or try one of the surrounding peaks (Whaleback).  The mixture of forest trail, glacier till, glacial streams to cross, lakes, huts, and water falls makes this a very fun and enjoyable hike - I give it five hiking boots out of five!