Finding the Top of the World

The plan was Chester Lake. The snow was four feet deep. So much for the plan.

But I did walk some of the trail. The trail is actually part of a complex of cross country ski trails. The trail I was on is the northernmost one, and it leads to a hiking trail to Chester Lake, and then on to Three Lakes Valley, which, according to the map, is a chain of three small lakes. Go figure.

The snow was packed quite well from skiers and snow-shoers, so I was able to walk quite far in. As long as I stayed on the snow-shoe tracks, I was fine. At one point, I tried to walk beside the trail in the bush. Much of the snow there was gone, but bush being what it is, was pretty much impassable.

At the northernmost point, the path turned sharply eastward, and that's where the hard pack stopped. I didn't break through, but the few metres I walked in that direction were distinctly less solid feeling than what I had been on up to that point.

So, at 1.4 km, I turned around and headed back, foiled by snow again.

So what to do? I could go home, or I could drive all the way up the Smith Dorrien/Spray Trail to Canmore. Well, how about another look at Black Prince Cirque?

I drove back to that parking area, and headed out. The snow that Jan and I encountered two weeks ago was largely gone. The old logging road was mostly bare, although snow banks in a couple of places made for a wet and squishy trail at times.

At the bench, the one that was under three feet of snow before, the logging road ended and the trail wound through the trees. The bench was completely exposed now. This part of the trail still had lots of snow, but often I could sidetrack it. When I couldn't, it was still solid enough if I was careful to walk on the highest part. This was like a ridge in the snowbank that followed the trail, and I think it was due to being packed by winter hikers.

I found bear tracks on one of these snowbanks. I had no idea how old they were. There were lots of dear tracks too, but no new elk tracks.

I soon found myself among the results of an ancient rock fall. Dark grey stuff, with a lot of it looking a little like foam. I assume that's because of its volcanic origins. And through a few more trees, I found Warspite Lake.

Not much of a lake. The water level was quite low, and much of the clearing was a jumbled field of this volcanic stuff. Several really large boulders, some supporting trees. Around the edges of the clearing was a grassy strip, that sloped up to the trees. It looked very much like a nearly dried up lake, and I guess that's what it was.

At a rough guess, there was room for another four metres of water in this basin. I scrambled across the middle of it, most of the water being to the south side of the clearing. Several streams emptied noisily into the clearing from all directions.

Bird life is everywhere up there. It's not noisy, though. There are long moments of total silence, but then something would start its song and fill the air. Whiskey Jacks were everywhere. There were some cranky squirrels that would start their wheezy barking over something every once in a while.

I found a place to sit, and was treated to another avalanche. The rock walls surrounding the clearing seemed very close, even though they were probably a kilometre or more away. Today there was only one small avalanche, but it made an impressive rumble as it came down. There's still a lot of snow on the higher reaches of Kananaskis, and this sight and sound will likely be common for the next month.

After an hour of prowling the lake and it's clearing, I turned to head back. I found my tracks had almost no definition, after being allowed to melt for the hour or so I was up there. That leads me to think that the bear tracks I had discovered on the way up were pretty fresh, as they were well defined. I couldn't even find them on the way down.

Half way down the logging road, I met three hikers on their way up. They were probably in a much better position to enjoy the hike than the Japanese tourists we met two weeks ago. At the parking lot, I dug out the field glasses and checked out the ridge to the south of Mount Black Prince. There are some serious overhangs along the ridge. If they collapse, they'll make for pretty spectacular avalanches.

From there it was homeward.

Chester Lake
Starting elevation: 1917 m (6289 feet).
Highest elevation: 2009 m (6591 feet).
Elevation gain: 92 m (302 feet).
Distance: 2.8 km (1.7 mi).
Time: 0:55.

Black Prince Cirque
Starting elevation: 1734 m (5689 feet).
Highest elevation: 1829 m (6001 feet).
Elevation gain: 95 m (312 feet).
Distance: 5.3 km (3.3 mi).
Time: 1:54.

This was an early season hike that was probably too early. My friend Jan has wanted to get out on a hike, and we've been talking about getting out there. Today was the day. I was hoping to find something reasonably memorable, but totally forgot to take into consideration the season. In my defense, I've never been out before July before, and had no idea what to expect.

I tried to pick a novel and reasonably challenging hike, so we headed to Black Prince Cirque Trail. This is one of those trails with the numbered posts that you can follow along with a pamphet that you are supposed to pick up from dispenser at the trail head, except that those dispensers are always empty.

As we pulled into the parking lot, several people were gearing up, with poles, packs, parkas and whatnot. There were twenty-five or thirty, all well equipped, and probably Japanese tourists. We waved and were on our way in minutes.

The path started nice, a shady forest path along the creek, to a bridge that crossed to the other side and seemed to backtrack for a long way. Then it pulled away from the creek to an old logging road.

At the bridge, there was snow. Lots of bare ground but well packed snow along the path too. On the logging road, the sunny side had some bare ground, but we were still on snow, mostly. It was hard and supported us nicely, so some initial misgivings faded as we continued. I was a little worried about getting into deep stuff that we would get mired in.

About half a kilometre in I realized I hadn't started my GPS, so some of the data below is fudged. The logging road was steeper than I expected, but we did well with the hard pack. At the end of the logging road there was a high-backed bench. Walking up to it, I realized I was standing on it, with at least a foot of snow on top of it. The back must have been really high to stick up as much as it did.

Around this point, we heard a distant rumble, and scanned the mountains ahead to find an avalanche. It looked like smoke drifting down the distant cliff, but the sound attested to something much, much more powerful. It was such an evisceral sound, even at the distance. Not loud, but I could feel it in my chest. We heard it a couple more times while we were there.

Continuing on, the path began to wind through the trees, and we could see how much snow there was. The ground around the trees was bare, but it was at least a couple of feet below what we were walking on. Old animal tracks confirmed the depth. Or not so old. What was probably an elk had been through, occasionally breaking through the crust. I would guess it passed through only a day or two before us.

The climb gentled after the bench, and for awhile we even descended, but with the snow becoming heavier. And then I broke through. I found myself in snow up to the hip, and probably not close to touching bottom. Luckily the crust was strong enough around me, that I was able to pull my leg out. I just did a quick measure, and I figure I was in about 80 cm.

Jan and I looked at each other. The day was warming, the crust was softening. Time to turn around before the path we'd already traveled became impassible. Looking at the GPS data, the distance from our turn-around point to the parking lot was 1.9 km. So we were withing 300 m of Warspite Lake. Close, but no cigar.

The descent was quick and easy, as descents usually are. We met the Japanese tourists about half way down the logging road. They had stopped to remove layers since the day was warming up. We did tell their guide that we were not able to make it to the lake, but that they could probably go some of the way up.

After we passed them we found that they had churned up the snow on the logging road a fair amount. We wondered if we should have suggested they abandon the trip.

Back at the parking lot, it was snack time. And stretch time. While we were standing and chatting, that far-away rumble came again, bigger this time, and with it a gust of wind that roared through the tree tops.

For all the snow and not being able to get to the end, I think this was a pretty good hike. It was a sparkling day, with a cloudless and incredibly blue sky. Good company adds so much. But it's a trail that I just might have to revisit.

Starting elevation: 1733 m (5686 feet).
Highest elevation: 1831 m (6007 feet).
Elevation gain: 98 m (321 feet).
Distance: 3.8 km (2.4 mi).
Time: 1:45 (estimated).

Today was totally impulsive, but good. I've been restless for the past couple of days, and finally this morning decided to get the heck out of town. Where to go?

Well, I'd heard Barrier Lake was decent, not too strenuous, and I thought it would be relatively flat, since the trail skirted the lake. Well, yeah, if you stick to the trail that skirts the lake. But according to the signs along the path, that part of the trail is for bikes and horses.

I walked across the dam, nearly freezing in the biting wind that was blowing across the lake. It wasn't really that cold, but the wind was really blowing, and it was a relief to get across the dam an into the trees.

Every trail junction had a sign, with a map of the trails in the area, and a rivet marking the location of the sign. Very handy. I decided to head south along the lake on the bike trail, to see what there was to see. Three boats on the far side of the lake, inflatables maybe, each holding about six people, heading toward the dam. That probably explains why the parking lot was full.

At the point where the lake narrows was another sign. I would have missed the path but for the sign, as it wasn't much more than a clear path through the forest (and what more does a trail need to be?) This was the start of the Jewel Pass Trail.

Steady climbing all the way. For awhile if followed high up the side of a valley, at the bottom of which water rushed through the rocks toward the lake. There was one curious point where that sound completely disappeared. I think I had just stepped over and down a small ridge. The rocks were still at the bottom of the valley, some ten or fifteen metres below, but no sound at all. A couple of hundred metres later, it was back. Quite odd.

After awhile, the path started to disappear under snow. Hard and crusty, and probably a foot or two thick at times, it easily supported me. I crossed a small bridge that was just showing through on one side. There was another place where I'm sure there was a bridge under there. If not, I'm glad the snow supported me, because it was probably a two metre deep snow bank.

Parts of the path were steep, with a couple of switch-backs in places. Most of the time it was a steady upward climb, with snow getting more plentiful. It wasn't really deep, but what was on the path was melting a lot in places, and I managed to break through once into ankle deep ice water. Chilly! But mostly I could edge along the side of the path to get past most of the puddles and slush.

Suddenly, I came across another sign, with its rivet indicating I'd reached the junction of the Jewel Pass Trail and the Prairie View Trail. To continue left would have lead me down the east side of Heart Mountain and the TransCanada. I went right to continue the loop back to Barrier Lake.

There was more snow at this level, about 1600 metres. It's interesting that the GPS was fine through the forest on the Jewel Pass Trail, but as soon as I started this new trail, it lost its signal. I stopped a couple of times in clearings to see if it would find itself, and it did. But it lost the satellites almost as soon as I started moving through the forest again.

From here on the path wasn't bad at all as far as being wet and muddy. That's mostly because it was under snow. There had been some traffic though, so it was easy to stay on it. Many footprints, though I wasn't too sure of the vintage. Sometimes they looked fresh, sometimes they seemed several days old.

Anyway, more climbing. I was becoming concerned that I wasn't on the right path, as I was well past the halfway point and still climbing. And the snow was becoming a little heavier, although still not an issue. But I began to wonder if I would reach a point where I would have to turn around and retrace my steps. At that point it would have made for a four and a half to five hour hike, and I only really wanted three hours.

Finally, at just over two hours, and about 1800 metres, I reached the end of the forest. And the ground for that matter. What a view! The trees went right to the edge of the cliff face, so I was right on top of it almost before I noticed it.

Now where the heck did the path go? To the right, the forest got thicker and crowded the edge of the cliff. And the cliff seemed pretty much a shear drop. To the left, the trees ended but it was bare rock sloping up to the edge. and going upward, too. I went that way a little, and was able to see a couple of well worn paths in the rock. I skirted a couple of really deep crevasses in the rock and climbed down to one of the paths.

It rose steadily to a high point on the ridge, where I notice two women standing. OK, so I was at the right place. They had come up the other way, basically taking the same loop I was taking, but in the other direction. Elevation 1896 metres (about 6200 feet).

After taking in the view for awhile, I started off. There was what looked like a huge billboard right on the ridge. It was at least three metres on a side, and made of metal, probably aluminum. I would guess its a reflector for radio transmission, but who knows? Just past that, the path turned into a scramble. It was wet and muddy and slippery, and there weren't many handholds. But I took my time and after about thirty metres vertical it turned into a steep switchback.

At the point where it turned to cross a ridge, I met another couple making their way up. They said it was pretty muddy for some distance. I found it muddy and wet, and often full of slushy snow. But I was mostly out of the wind, and in the sun. It was fairly steep so I lost altitude quickly.

Once I got onto drier trail, I passed a half dozen other couples on their way up. Hopefully they had some extra layers in those packs. It was chilly in spots and some of them looked woefully underdressed.

Down a long switch back, then out of the trees, across the dam and back at the parking lot.

Starting elevation: 1378 m (4520 feet.
Highest elevation: 1896 m (6220 feet).
Elevation gain: 518 m (1699 feet).
Distance: 13.92 km (8.65 mi).
Time: 3:22.