Category: hiking
This is what you get when you hike up Ha Ling Peak on the weekend….
Although most of the people were on their way back down again – so they weren’t hit by the squall that we found just as we were about to reach the summit (and were so sure we’d be able to race, and be on our way back down again before the rain fell). Instead we got lovely and saturated and hailed on. At least it was over as quickly as it begun though, and was nice and warm again afterwards.
(The squirrels were a mix of tree squirrels and golden-mantled ground squirrels)
(And I didn’t eat the apple)
Another night of rain, and we emerged from our tents to battle the mosquitos once more. Some hearty porridge, and some World Cup chatter with the Dutchies (who were hanging out at the lodge to watch the final) and we were off and hiking before 8am.
Mount Assiniboine had cloud hanging about it today, so we didn’t have a chance for a sunrise photograph – we were lucky to get clear skies the day before. After the prerequisite extra toilet break for me, we quickly covered the trails out past the lodge and then up to Assiniboine Pass.
There we crossed from BC into Alberta once more, and started heading downhill into the Bryant Creek valley. Dropping down and down into the trees, things started to get less interesting. Apart from the prospect of being eaten by Grizzly Bears.
Finally we were down into the valley, and the flat slog out began. My feet started to inflate, and I switched out of hiking boots to hiking in Chacos (sandals).
Eventually we were on double track, and could all walk side-by-side, instead of being on the thin hiking trail that we’d taken down from the Pass. It was around then that we started playing alphabet games – cycling through the alphabet one-by-one, naming countries, then capital cities, and then switching to notable people – from reality or fiction.
The game quickly degenerated, but by the time we hit the edge of the Goat Creek trail system I was starting to struggle to come up with anything relevant for any letter of the alphabet. The game didn’t last too much longer after all I could think of for the letter T was the Teletubbies. It was obvious by this stage that my brain was beginning to fail.
It was around this point that the trail started to go up and up and up and up, and my legs nearly fell off. Finally reaching Watridge Lake, the trail turned downhill again. We sat by the turnoff to the lake and tried to refuel, but I was having trouble convincing my body to get moving again. In the end I was rescued by a lovely mother out hiking with her family. She asked if I was ok, and then came back and offered me an apple juice… and then another… and another: “You look like you need them more than we do… I know what it’s like, I’ve had six.”
I thanked her profusely, and hiked most of the rest of the way out floating on a sugar high. The weather grew stormy and breezy which took an edge off the warm, and we hiked along surrounded by alternating patches of thunder cloud and blue sky, mixed together with a few spots of rain.
So with crisis averted, we made it back to the car with my legs still attached. Definitely not the most inspiring day of hiking, but we did see another moose as we drove out of Mount Shark – it was standing happily in a lagoon ignoring all passers-by. And then I ate a lot of food, and had a massage, and my feet finally deflated and so all was good once more.
Days total hiking distance: 25km or so
Overnight rain made the tent seem warm and snug, although I definitely need to work on my 34 weeks pregnant tent-sleeping system. A thicker Thermarest would have been a good start, and it was really hard to manage without the standard side-body pillow – piles of clothes had an annoying tendency to not stay where they were put. I didn’t even bother trying to sleep inside a sleeping bag (that had been tricky enough a couple of months ago), and rather just used my comfy stretchy liner with a sleeping bag unzipped on top.
A bowl of porridge and some more snacking later, and we were hiking along Golden Valley, away from the campground. Golden Valley seemed to last forever though, with constant uphills that just turned and went downhill again. Although, at around the point when I was thinking that maybe we were just trapped in the valley forever, we came across a swampy lake, WITH A MOOSE IN IT! The moose thrashed about and thundered off into the undergrowth ahead of us, but we never caught another glimpse of it. Still, my first local moose sighting.
Not too long afterwards, we climbed out of the valley and into the Valley of the Rocks. There were rocks. It’s a dry and barren place, and can feel quite exposed with the ridge on the left feeling like it should harbour people waiting to ambush you. The rocks feel like they should have hoards of small furry creatures living in them too, but we saw hardly any – one chipmunk, perhaps a tree squirrel.
We did however, see a porcupine. It galloped up into a tree when it saw us walking past, so we could wander over to have a closer look (gratefully avoiding finding out personally just how far a porcupine can throw its spines).
Eight and a half kilometres of mostly flat walking later, and we arrived at Og Lake for lunch. Here the terrain opened up, we could see Mount Assiniboine again, and the ground squirrels returned!
After a lunch at Og Lake (spent watching ground squirrels) we walked on through the Og Meadows. By Og Creek. The reappearance of the ground squirrels made everything more entertaining, and the trail here was easier walking again – a lot less up and down and roots and rocks.
A short walk later (and a short being rained on, and standing on top of a rock because we could) and we were entering the trees, and the network of trails that surround Mount Assiniboine Lodge. Tantalisingly close to Lake Magog now, we kept coming across trail junctions with helpful signs telling us we were now 500 metres closer than we had been 500 metres ago. They were preferable to the ones that told us we were no closer, despite having walking 500 metres.
My feet began to protest, my legs threatened to fall off, but we finally made it to the Lake Magog campground – where we found all of the campsites were miles away up an enormous hill (on going down the hill the next morning, we found they were strangely close).
After a brief collapse and lathering with mosquito repellent (there were hoards of them!) we wandered down to the shore of the lake. Well, Brendan wandered down, I had to spend some time convincing my legs that they could still carry the weight of me, and then Alex and I headed down after him.
We sat by the lakeside, throwing rocks at it and eyeing off the totally improbably looking approach to Hind Hut, that sits under Mount Assiniboine (up those cliffs below its right shoulder).
Dinner in the fancy cooking shelter followed (for both us and the swarms of mosquitoes that live there) before a couple of games of Monopoly cards and then escape into the tent to read.
Days total hiking distance: 16km
A lazy early morning start and a lift up to Sunshine Village was followed by some pack organising, some last-minute cherry eating, and a start up the hill out of the Village at about 7.45am. Past the scenic construction work, and the beginnings of the new Strawberry Lift, and we were into the meadows.
The ground squirrels obviously sleep in as well, and were only just beginning to hop out of their burrows and scoot around. We dropped our packs and wandered over to Rock Isle Lake – blue sky and not a breath of wind, and too early for the bus to be running and bringing other hikers up here, the lake was calm, still and peaceful.
It was easy walking across the meadows, a smooth flat path, and beautiful views, and lots of ground squirrels running around to provide distraction. There were absolutely hundreds of them, standing up on their hind legs, and squeaking, and poinging through the undergrowth, diving into holes and then peering out suspiciously. Even a few chasing each other round in circles.
For a long time all we could see when we looked back was the ski resort infrastructure sprawled out all over the mountains, but eventually it faded into the mountains, and you could barely pick out the lift towers from the meadow land they were standing on.
A few drifts of snow still lay around, and we had a few to walk over before we reached Citadel Pass – but there were none of the waist-deep drifts that the Banff Parks site had warned of, and the trail was easily passable. We ran into a couple of people who’d been warned off doing the hike – apparently the trail was still snow-bound. We laughed, and thanked the Parks office for keeping the trail quiet for us (and then wondered if it was the same Banff Parks guy who’d warned our friend off doing this hike last Summer, and warned us against doing the Egypt Lake ski tour a couple of months beforehand).
We reached Citadel Pass for lunch – it seems to mark the end of the Sunshine Meadows, and quite a few hikers who’d caught the first shuttle bus up were beginning to turn up. With only 4km to our campground, we had a long lunch and lazed about in the sun and watched the day hikers come and go (and a few keen lightly-loaded overnight hikers who were making the full 30km to Assiniboine Lodge, where they’d get to sleep in a bed and have food cooked for them).
Out and away from Citadel Pass, we started going downhill, gradually at first, and then the land around us changed entirely as we dropped into a valley and started following switchbacks through lush overgrown forest – still speckled with tiny flowers though, like the alpine meadows, although the ground squirrels disappeared (to be replaced with an occasional tree squirrel or chipmunk).
I was glad for the occasional shade of the trees, as the sky had stayed mostly clear, and the sun was doing its best to bake us – with the assistance of the complete lack of wind. The trail was dusty as we kept switch-backing down and down and down.
Finally things flattened out, and a few hundred metres later we arrived at Porcupine Campground, guarded by three ground squirrels standing sentinel on the cooking tables. As some have said, it’s a little like camping in a hole, and lacks the scenic lakeside views you get at some of the other campgrounds along this trail. But it’s quite a charming little hole.
Of course after a clear sky all day, some clouds had gathered to rain on us just as we went to set up tents. Some Englishmen turned up shortly afterwards though, so I’m assuming they brought the rain with them. Apart from them and the ground squirrels though, we had the place to ourselves, and spent a peaceful night eating quite a lot, and lazing, and reading, before retiring early to the tents.
Days total hiking distance: 14km
