Taking a visiting Uncle up to Icefields Parkway, Peyto Lake looks much the same as ever – although with considerably less snow and ice on top than in Winter.
Yep, it’s still pretty up there, and it’s been a really mild Autumn.
Category: canada
Yes.
There seem to be Three Sisters rock formations all over the world. Canmore’s hang above town looking picturesque and a little formidable, but there’s actually quite a nice walk up the back of the middle one – the back one is a bit of a scramble, and the littlest one in the front is a low grade climb (on nasty limestone though).
We had another late start, not getting away from home until well after 10am, then trying to get through the golf course, only to be turned back. Cursing the fact we hadn’t just ridden from home, we walked along the road up to the turn off up towards Stewart Creek. Having biked it before, the walk seemed interminable. It couldn’t last forever though, and eventually we were wandering up the hill, and then hopping back and forth across a rather dry Stewart Creek.
The trail climbs steadily as you wander up the creek, and then gets steep and rocky, and a little vertical. We dived off to the left and made our way up through the trees. After a lunch stop half way up, we finished the tree/meadow ascent (the steepest and most awkward part of the whole hike) and were spat out into the huge scree-filled bowl beneath the Big and Middle Sister.
Looking at all that scree and cliff above us, I was wondering whether we’d be able to make it up with baby in tow. But after the first few hundred metres the scree became more and more civilised, and although we were walking near cliffs from time to time, there were never death-defying steep scree slops to scramble across (with a cliffy doom your reward for failure).
Once we hit the shoulder between the Big and Middle Sister I began to relax – it was almost just a flat wander from here! And the views were already gorgeous. Although we could have done without the wind.
At the summit we took it in turns to huddle in the wind shelter with the baby, and jump out and get some photos while trying to avoid being blown off the mountain.
Then it was a quick scree gallop down again, to the meadows and the trees, and down along the creek, back down the track and to the car. Not the best hike of the Summer, but definitely top five. I think I’d read a few reviews of the hike where people complained about the Stewart Creek portion, and how long and awful the hike is, so I was expecting the worst, and really – it’s not many places where you’d have people complaining about a hike this good!
Distance: 19km return
Mountain height: 2,769 m (9,085 feet)
Elevation gain: 1,400 m
Total time taken: 7hr15min
Well I should probably write about our hike up here before the entire canyon freezes up. We went for a wander up here, and although there wasn’t much to it, there was some very fun precarious balancing on wobbly logs balanced over deep and cold looking pools of water, as we edged our way past curved and polished canyon walls.
There wasn’t too much of that before the canyon opened out and the water disappeared. Anyway, a nice little hike as an alternative to Grotto Canyon.
For some reason I’d always though that getting to the summit of Mount Bourgeau involved scrambling. It doesn’t. Occasionally you’re walking on scree (fairly tame and well behaved scree) or near cliffs, but it’s no more a scramble than the walk to the top of Ha Ling Peak – hands are totally not necessary. Also, it is an awesome hike, possibly the best one we did this summer, and everyone should go out and do it immediately.
Thanks to a lovely sleep in, we started out pretty late – I think it was around 10.30am. Which was a bit late for a hike which some people quote 12 hours for. We fairly galloped along though, and even with a lunch break at Harvey Lake, we reached the summit within four hours. The climbing is pretty constant throughout – the elevation profile should make a nice isosceles triangle I think.
I didn’t actually get any good photos of Bourgeau Lake, as it was largely sitting in shade for most of the day. The lake pictured above is Harvey Lake (I think), one of three lakes between Bourgeau Lake and Harvey Pass. That’s Mount Bourgeau sitting to the right of the lake, looming in a cliffy fashion.
Harvey Pass is where a lot of people stop hiking. From there you can see out to Sunshine Village and Mount Assiniboine, and it would count as a fairly amazing view in itself if I hadn’t seen the summit view as well. It helped that it was a gorgeous sunny day (even if a bit on the windy side).
Summit: 2930m (9613ft)
Elevation Gain: 1435 m (2,460 ft)
Return distance: 25km
Split times: Bourgeau Lake: 1hr50m, Harvey Pass: 3hr, Summit: 4hr, Descend from summit: 5hr, Back at Harvey Pass: 5hr38min, Back at Bourgeau Lake: ~6hr10 Back at the Car: 7hr45m