I had been texting with a hiking buddy of mine last March before the National Park booking system went live for 2023, and he asked me if I would be interested in doing the Brazeau Loop in Jasper National Park later in the fall. Knowing that the kids would all be back at school, that things would be a little quieter at the house, and always being game for an outdoor adventure, I of course said "count me in"!
I came home one day early from my shift at work, and we hit the road around 8:30 on Thursday morning. I had not been on the Icefield Parkway for several years now, and as we drove out to the Brazeau Loop trail head I was reminded how beautiful that area is, and how spectacular our upcoming adventure was going to be. We arrived at the trailhead around 11:30, got all of our gear ready, and started walking just past noon. There was a noticeable difference between my gear and Andrew's. Although Andrew's pack was quite a bit heavier (17 pounds difference), he was way more set up for an enjoyable trip than me - ground sheet, coffee grinder, rain shelter, three-man tent, camp chair, and waaaaaaaaaay better food selection - homemade biscotti, fresh meat and cheese, gourmet doughnuts, and much more!!!
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| Trail Head Selfie |
Day1:
The forecast looked favourable, and we quickly realized how lucky we might be. We passed a couple of people who had experienced rain, sleet, and snow over the past few days as they did the loop, and they looked a little worse for wear... Our first reservation was at Four-Points campsite. We would follow Nigel Creek, up and over Nigel Pass, then along the Brazeau River. The first few kilometers was a pleasant walk through forested area, with the occasional peakaboo view. As we approached Nigel Pass things got more interesting. The views as we climbed over the pass were impressive.
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| Looking Back Towards The Trail Head |
We had to layer up as it got a little windy and cooled right down over the pass. Our first view as we started descending from the pass and rounded the corner of the Brazeau River valley was spectacular, and was a good sign of what was to come!
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| Andrew And The Brazeau River Valley |
The rest of the hike for the day was downhill and easy going. We jumped right into some great discussions (work, relationships, hiking gear, kids, etc...) and the time flew by.
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| Brazeau River Crossing |
We arrived at Four-Points campground around 17:15 to find that we were campers 6 and 7, out of a possible eight. We wasted no time setting up our tents and getting dinner ready. Andrew had homemade mini-pizzas and a homemade bean burrito. I had a pre-hydrated rice pack, warmed up with leftover roasted chicken. Andrew was very kind and offered me a piece of his mom's homemade biscotti. I am not even exaggerating, it was probably the best biscotti I have ever had!! And I don't think it's because I was tired and we were in the wilderness. It was sooooooooo good!!
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| Andrew Pumping Some After-Dinner Water |
We were a little tired and the temperature was starting to cool off rather quickly so we decided to turn in fairly early (~19:30). I had longjohns, mitts, and a toque on, and I wasn't sure it was going to be enough. In any case, I was happy with our first day, and was looking forward to the decent night's sleep ahead....
Unfortunately for us it would not be as peaceful as we had anticipated. Around 3:30 I started hearing a metallic-type clanging noise. I wasn't sure what it was but convinced myself it was maybe condensation falling on the outdoor toilet. It took me a while to realize that the noise was getting louder. How could that be??? The fog of waking up in the middle of the night prevented me from making sense of it, so I just tried to settle back in. A few minutes later, the noise even louder now, Andrew started setting off his air horn from his tent. I was still a little foggy, and didn't know what was going on, but I got out of my sleeping bag and had my bear spray out and ready to go. After another ten minutes of confusion, commotion, and yelling back and forth, one of the other campers figured out and relayed that it was a horse with a cowbell around its neck. There was a horse campsite about 6 km away, and a couple of them had gotten loose and were heading back home. Unfortunately for us, this cost quite a bit of rest, and made for a sketchy first night on the trail.
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| Toilet With A View??? |
Day 2:
After all the excitement last night, it took us a while to get up and going this morning. I was out of my frost-covered tent around 7:15, and Andrew was up just before 8:00. We took our time eating breakfast, revisiting last night's excitement, and packing up camp. I really enjoyed Andrew's dialed-in coffee routine. He starts with a bacpackers grinder. The ground coffee gets transferred to a mini AeroPress that brews the coffee and filters out the grinds. It was impressive watching the process, and although I am not a coffee drinker, it did smell delicious!! Andrew also continued with his high meal standard which included a premium oatmeal/cereal combination as well as doughnuts from the Glamorgan Bakery. He very generously offered me one, and I most defintely did not turn him down!
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| Andrew Grinding Some Beans For Coffee #1 |
After everything was packed up we filtered water and were on our way. The trail between Four Points and Brazeau Lake campsites is very well defined, and mostly forested trail. As the day progressed we were treated to some very beautiful river and mountain views.
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| Brazeau River Valey |
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| Broken Bridge That Would Require Us To Perform A River Crossing First Thing The Next Day |
We made it to camp around 16:45, and after setting up headed down to the lake for a very refreshing dip - for me it lasted about 15 seconds at most. Brrrrr!!!! 🥶 It was still more than enough to get a good, quick clean which would make for a much cosier evening!
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| Sunset Over Brazeau Lake (Site Of The Quickest Swim Ever 😂) |
After our "swim" we headed back to camp for dinner. Andrew had burritos and beef jerkey, and I had Ichiban noodles with dehydrated mushrooms. For the second evening in a row Andrew shared some more of that amazing biscotti for which I was very thankful again!! After dinner and clean-up it still felt warm enough to enjoy a game of crib. I ended up teaching Andrew about the Nibs rule, which did not end up serving me well - despite me taking the early lead, Andrew won the game with several strong hands and cribs.
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| Brazeau Loop Crib Champion!! |
One game was enough for us both as we were both a little tired, and could feel the temperature starting to drop. It would be good to get into our tents and tend to some sore muscles (me) and one nasty blister (Andrew). We were hopeful it would be a little milder tonight....
Day 3:
There were no wild horse encounters last night so we managed to get a better sleep. It is debatable whether or not the temperature situation was any better than the first night, but overall we were better rested. We started our breakfast routine a little earlier (~7:15), with hopes of getting on the trail sooner than we had the day before. Today was slated to be the longest of the trip (~21 km) with some significant climbs.
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| Early Morning Brazeau Lake Reflection |
Because of a broken bridge across the Brazeau River upstream, we were forced to do a river crossing straight out of the campground. One of the advantages of not being first on the trail today was to watch another pair of hikers scope out and cross first. Fortunately there was a calm, shallow spot where Brazeau Lake transitions into Brazeau River that made for an easy crossing. Once on the other side we spent fifteen minutes drying our feet and putting our hikers on. While packing for the trip, Andrew had thrown a couple of gel toe sleeves (think condom for your big toe) into his backpack. He had purchased some for one of his backcountry ski touring trips and thought they might come in handy on our hike. With a sizeable, torn blister between his big and second toes the gel sleeve would prove to be key today.
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| The Third And Final Group Crossing The Brazeau |
Once across the river we had a kilometer or so of bushwhacking to get back onto the main trail. Our hike today would take us along John-John Creek, over Poboktan Pass, to Jonas Cutoff. I found the views today to be unbelievable - one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. The meadows and valleys were absolutely stunning. Distracted by the views, and entertained with the great conversations, the hours seemed to race by. I barely noticed the sweltering sun, and the tiring climbs.
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| John-John Creek |
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| Heading Up To Poboktan Pass |
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| Pobotkan Pass - Looking South Towards Flat Ridge |
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| Pobotkan Pass - Looking North, Waterfall Peaks On Left |
When we arrived at the campsite we met up with the father son team that have been at the same campsite as us every day so far. The four of us would be the only ones to make it to Jonas Cutoff today. After setting up I walked back a few hundred meters to have a quick "bath" in Poboktan Creek. Despite the freezing temperature of the water, and the fact that this would be an ideal place for a bear to find dinner, I was glad to be able to wash the day's sweat off, and feel refreshed for dinner and a cozy sleep. We had a nice visit with the father-son team as we cooked and ate our own dinners. Andrew: teriyaki chicken with rice, JM: butternut dahl. Andrew shared some more of his mother's world-best biscotti which tasted soooooooo good! With the cold approaching quickly we cleaned up and headed for our tents to hunker down for the night.
We are debating walking all the way out tomorrow - we both have some reasonable reasons to get home a day early, and if we stop as planned it will be in a spot we already passed on the way in. We have agreed to make a game-day decision, but knowing Andrew and I, we are most likely going to have a long day tomorrow...
Day 4:
We woke up today after what was probably our coldest night of the trip. There was a hefty layer of frost on our tents, and we were both anxious to warm up with some tea/coffee, oatmeal, and what was left of Andrew's mom's biscotti. While we ate we strategized about the day. It didn't take a lot of convincing each other, but we decided to push for the parking lot instead of camping one more night. This would mean a long ~32 km walk out, with two significant mountain passes to go over. We were both excited to get going so we didn't dawdle too much packing up one last time.
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| Hard To Tell But Everything Was Covered In Frost |
As with the other days the scenery today was superb. I particularly enjoyed the Jonas Creek/ Four Point Creek valley section. To me it was Scotlandesque - long glens, beautiful streams, scenery as far as the eye can see.
We did have one adventure, unbeknownst to ourselves on Jonas Shoulder. After a grind up to the pass we were rewarded with some more fantastic views. We took the opportunity to enjoy it by taking a snack break, and snapping a bunch of pictures. As we got ready to descend the other side, we noticed the father-son team coming up a ways behind us. We yelled and waved and got ready to set off. As we were putting our packs on I thought I heard a noise just around a cliff from us that sounded like a big horn sheep hoof on the rocks. I waited to see if it would show itself, while I also checked for my bear spray in case it wasn't a sheep... After a few moments nothing came over the rocks so we set off down the trail. A couple minutes after father-and-son reached the top that we had just left and yelled hello again. They asked us if we saw the mom and cub grizzlies. We had no idea what they were talking about, but they told us a mom and cub had gone over the pass about 100 feet from where we had been taking our break. Yikes!!!! After thinking about it I am sure the footsteps I heard were from the bears running over the pass and down into the valley. Without even knowing it we had had a close grizzly encounter. As we continued down to the valley we discussed how many times we likely have been watched by wildlife without us even knowing it. It's cool and a little sketchy all at the same time!
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| Jonas Shoulder, Looking Across To Sunwapta Peaks |
The valley walk was very enjoyable, and the discussion and conversation continued to be entertaining and enjoyable once again. The descent back down to the Brazeau River was in a very unique Hobbit-like forest. We stopped for lunch at Four-Point campground where we stayed on night one, then continued on to Boulder campground where we were supposed to stay tonight. I was a little glad we were going to continue all the way back to the car as this campsite was not nearly as nice as the other ones.
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| Antler Andrew At Jonas Pass |
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| Trail Beside Four Point Creek |
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| Beautiful Forest Descent Back Down To Brazeau River |
We were now past the point of no return and put our heads down (figuratively) for the final grind to the parking lot. Andrew and I did not set any speed records hiking back over Nigel Pass, as the fatigue of our long day started to catch up to us. Once on the other side the conversation started to die down - we were definitely feeling it, and just wanted this last part to be over. We finally popped out at the parking lot with mixed feelings of relief, satisfaction, and a bit of sadness that our amazing trip was now over. I was looking forward to hitting the Canmore McDonalds on the way home, followed by a hot shower and warm sleep in my own bed back home.
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| Brazeau River On The Right, Nigel Peak In The Background |
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| Last Few Steps Up To Nigel Pass |
I would definitely recommend this trip to anybody up for the challenge. The scenery as I have mentioned several times above is beyond compare. The campgrounds are well maintained, if not unique! I am thankful that my hiking buddy Andrew made this trip happen. He did the research, booked the sites, and did all of the planning. Having done my own fair share of trip-planning, it was very nice to just have to show up and walk. This trip left us with some cool memories, and I am looking forward to what next year's trip has in store for us!!
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| Three-Seater!!!! Part Of The Brazeau Loop Experience!! 😆 |
