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canada general hiking moosling trip reports

The Iceline Trail

The Iceline trail had been on a vague mental to-do list for a while (actually, who am I kidding, it’s no longer a mental to do list, it’s a fancy google map with annotations and hike lengths, filled with dreams of endless time and money). But a few weeks ago a friend wanted to hike it, invited me, I couldn’t make it, but then she came back exclaiming how awesome it was. And so from there a plan was born. Gorgeous sunny weather, Sunday with nothing planned – why not? Let’s go.

We’d never even been to Takakkaw Falls before, which is a big tourist destination, and right where the hike starts, over in Yoho National Park.

How we started the Iceline

The plan was to hike along the Iceline Trail first, climbing up above the Hostel, and then hopefully making it all the way over to the Stanley Mitchell ACC Hut, and then down and out via Laughing Falls and back to the car. There are a few different options for making the loop though – with the option of an extension out along the Whaleback Trail (out to Twin Falls), or a shorter return via Celeste Lake on the Highline Trail.

Gaining the bench, still in the vegetation

But despite a slow start, the Moosling was a champion again, even after his big hiking day yesterday. He warmed up to the trail and delighted in all the rocks and streams as we traversed along the bench below the glaciers on the Iceline. He’s now learnt about stopping and taking your shoes and socks off to soak your feet when you get to a stream though, and was pretty keen to do so at every single stream we crossed.

A stream on the Iceline

The views really were amazing (you can see over to the Wapta Icefield, amongst other very cool things), and it’s definitely one of my top three Canadian hikes – I would love to come back and run it too – maybe covering some of the extra trail we missed this time.

Crossing the stream

And apparently toddler-pace is a steady jog. He only stopped running when he fell down. Or occasionally for help over rocky sections.

Standard view

He certainly put the trail runners we saw to shame.

Iceline views

Eventually though, the running machine needed to nap, and so he went into the Ergo, and we hiked on. Down off the Iceline bench and into the trees again, past some lovely flowery meadows.

Into the flowery meadows

A brief stop at Stanley Mitchell hut, to check things out, then onwards down the trail. We were trying to cover as much distance as we could while we didn’t have to worry about toddler herding.

Past Stanley Mitchell Hut

He woke up not long before Laughing Falls though, and walked the rest of the way down the switchbacks to reach the Falls (and dabble his feet in the water yet again).

The falls above Laughing Falls

Marvelling at the waterfall

After Laughing Falls, the trail did begin to drag a little. We’d walked it in the direction we did in case of afternoon storms, or in case a waning toddler meant we had to turn back instead of continuing around the loop. But the endless trudge was made even more endless as the Moosling began to decide he didn’t want to walk, but he didn’t want to be carried either. He just wanted to find sticks to play with in the trees. We lured him on with leg bridges, and games of chasies, and ‘Find Mama behind the tree’. And eventually Takakkaw Falls were in view again.

Arriving back at Takakkaw Falls

We walked the side trip up to the base of the falls, for the lovely cool spray of a rampaging waterfall on hot hikers. Then it was back to the car and driving home, after a long and satisfying day.

Takakkaw Falls

Distance: 22km
Elevation gain: 875m
Max elevation: ~2230m
Car to car time taken: About 7.5 hours (yes, not a speed assault of the loop by any means)
Trailhead: Takakkaw Falls parking lot, or the road next to it
Toddlerability: No Chariot, but fine with an Ergo/backpack. Lots of rocks and streams.

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canada food general moosling

Post-hiking ice-cream

There’s no ice-cream quite like an after hike ice-cream.

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canada general hiking moosling trip reports

Cory Pass – Edith Pass hike

The Cory – Edith Pass loop has a little bit of rave surrounding it online, as being possibly the best in the Banff National Park. There are also notes about it being strenuous, and easy to lose the trail at one point.

It’s definitely a little strenuous. But it’s a hike up a mountain, so you tend to get that. Nothing out of the ordinary though, and certainly not as bad as the spirit-crushing sort of sidewards scree walk of Grotto Mountain or the Tower of Babel. So the uphill wasn’t so bad, but the mosquitos were enough to drive a person crazy.

The traffic noise lasted for a while, but as we climbed above the highway the sound faded. A short scramble over a rock band provided interest, but it wasn’t so scrambley that it was an issue to do it with a toddler on my back (although the accompanying agoraphobics weren’t so keen on it).

And then came the sidling around the slopes of Mount Edith – again, something that was not loved by those who don’t love exposure, but not difficult. And then, Cory Pass. Many rocks, and a ground squirrel, views of the Banff section of the Bow Valley, and more mosquitos. And a view of both Edith and Cory, and the tantalising scrambles to their summits

A brief lunch and we descended into the scree on the far side, dropping down towards Mount Louis – a fantastic view, as you walk around between Mount Louis and Mount Edith, and gradually views down towards Mystic Pass and the Sawback Range open up, and Brewster Mountain appears. The trail-finding difficulties mentioned in some route descriptions would only be genuinely difficult if you were in a white-out, or were particularly bad at trail finding (as were two guys we walked past, who got turned around, failed to find Cory Pass altogether, and then ended up lost in the bush, calling for help to get back to the main trail).

As you round Mount Edith, you enter a damp sort of forest. No more scree, instead a dirt path, and more mosquitos. Occasional views, thanks to avalanche paths, but then simple forest drudgery past trickling streams and through swarms of mosquitos. Perhaps a nice hike, if it weren’t for the bugs, but the constant biting and itching and slapping and flapping didn’t really add to the enjoyment. The few wild strawberries did wonders to improve the mood, although then of course, the Moosling kept trying to find more wild strawberries, and was inclined to try and eat anything he found by the side of the trail, just in case.

The Moosling obviously hasn’t heard of hiking at a toddler pace. He’s gotten the hang of hiking trails, and as soon as you get him on one, he just wants to run along it, as fast as possible. He only requires a little assistance to get down the hills. Or up the hills. “Uh oh”, he says, and holds his hands in the air. That’s our cue to come along, offer a hand, and help him past the spot. On prolonged downhills he’ll happily run along for as long as I’m willing to run with him, bent over and holding his hands.

Anyway, all in all, it’s not a bad hike. Some nice views, close to town, interesting terrain, and a nice stream by the trail-head at the end. The whole thing would be more exciting with a side-trip up one of the peaks, or more enjoyable with the subtraction of the mosquitos from the equation. But alas, mosquitos have to eat too, and we’re tasty and convenient food apparently.

Distance: 13km loop
Maximum elevation: 2350m
Elevation gain: 920m
Trailhead: Fireside Picnic Area, just by the Banff end of the 1A
Toddlerability: No Chariot, but fine with an Ergo/backpack

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bikes canada general

Some more bikey adventures

Tomoe on Razor’s Edge

 

Joel having a rest in a bush (on Razor’s Edge)

 

Alex reaching the top of Prairie View

 

Bike date night (Quaite – Jewell Pass – Prairie View – Quaite)

 

The bike weekend in Golden/Invermere: views from riding The Johnson near Invermere
 

Grapefruit time! Hanging out by the lake after riding The Johnson

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canada general hiking moosling trip reports

Hiking/scrambling Mount Lougheed

The plan to hike up Mount Lougheed was hatched after Alex stumbled across a few online trip reports that suggested it wasn’t necessary to do a terrifying ridge scramble to get to the summit. Indeed, it was possibly no more than a difficult hike.

We set off early on Sunday morning, planning to beat the heat (with a forecast of 30oC and a possible afternoon thunderstorm). The route we followed was roughly as described by Bob Spirko and discussed in the Clubtread forums here. There’s nowhere handy to park, but there’s a well-defined trail most of the way up to Spencer Creek.

The well defined trail eventually peters out, and then there’s a little bush-bashing and random route-finding and you’re suddenly beneath the imposing back wall of Mount Sparrowhawk. From there, it’s a simple wander along, either in Spencer Creek or in the meadows just above it. The terrain along here was unexpectedly awesome, and a trip just to this point would still be worth doing – especially given that we had the entire place to ourselves on a busy long weekend in the middle of summer.

Looking up towards the scree slope and seemingly impassable rock bands

Towards the end of Spencer Creek – well, the end of its life as a creek – you’re faced with the realisation you’re right in the middle of a rather enormous and very impressive cirque. From there, it’s onwards and upwards on the enormous scree slope of doom.

A short break on a little grassy bench, after the first 100 metres or so of scree

The scree slope was fairly straightforward, with a nice waterfall to wander over and have a look at. We found a little pile of snow, desperately hanging on to life just nearby. Then, just as things were beginning to appear impossible, and we were faced with increasingly impassable looking rock bands, a cairn appeared high and to the right, just by a notch in a high rock band. Making your way up to the notch involves a very easy scramble, and a little walking on steep scree.

I made it to the notch carrying the Moosling in the Ergo, but Alex didn’t fancy the exposure, so I found a comfortable place for the menfolk to nap in the sun while I screed it to the summit.

Beyond the notch, I wandered straight up the scree, and then up a weakness in the white rock bands. With hindsight, or an accurate trail description on me, I would have gone further to the right and gained a nice scree spur to follow to the summit ridge. Instead I was stuck on my slightly spicy weakness, hoping it wouldn’t get any less weak. When I hit the summit ridge, it was a tiny narrow thing too, with the huge wall of Lougheed 1 facing me on one side, and the dominating back face of Mount Sparrowhawk on the other – it was a very intimidating view, and I was half-inclined to high-tail it back down the mountain from there.

Where I arrived at the summit ridge – not knife-edge, but I certainly wasn’t dancing about up there – nice view out to Spray Lakes though

The false summit

But the real summit only seemed to be about a hundred metres away, so I carefully made my way across. Once there, I could see that I’d just reached the top of the scree spur, and the actual summit was just a short walk a little further along. I was just about on my one hour turn around time, but enough time to reach the summit, sign the log, take some photos and head back downhill again.

Aha, that one’s the real summit.

Views of Lougheed 1 from the summit (the summit is Lougheed 2). Some do the scramble between these two peaks – I find even the idea a little terrifying – look at that ridge!

You can see Canmore from the summit… as well as Wind Ridge, Pigeon Mountain etc

I was tempted to try and find the easy way down, but I didn’t want to risk getting myself in the wrong place and getting cliffed out, so it was back down my rocky weakness, to the happy scree slope, into the notch, and back to the napping menfolk in the sun.

The way down from the summit, back along the ridge (with Mount Sparrowhawk lurking off to the left, as it was inclined to do)

Obligatory summit self-portrait

There’s no nap like a mountain scree-slope nap

The rest of the scree slope down was a little interminable after that. My legs had already had enough down-climbing, and the scree was often unforgiving rather than enjoyably surfable. The Moosling did find scree surfing a fairly hilarious activity, and spent a lot of time laughing at us on the descent. Taking off shoes and dabbling our feet in the creek at the bottom of the slope was a blessed relief afterwards.

Sans pants creeking – the safest option when a toddler is involved

He thought the thick moss combined with the creek were pretty much the most awesome things ever (with the-vast-array-of-rocks-available-on-a-scree-slope in a marginal second place)

Return distance: 13.6km
Elevation gain: 1515m
Mount Lougheed (Lougheed II) summit: 3107m
Toddler rating: The Moosling was happily hiking some of the lower trail through the trees (with some hand holding help needed for steep or rocky bits), wandering along in the meadows, and even had a go at hiking up and down in the scree. Plenty of rocks to throw and a couple of streams to play in, and he was happy the whole day. He’s still travelling in the Ergo when he’s not walking under his own steam, and easily falls asleep back there.