Aug. 29th, Wilcox Pass

Initially it looked like another nice day and we decided to head back to the Columbia Icefield and Wilcox Pass. The closer we got there the more clouds appeared. It was dry on our leisurely 1 to 2h hike up (maybe 300m elevation) and the views were relatively nice despite the cloudiness. Halfway down it started to rain intermittently. We were a bit too late in the season for the flowers. Wilcox Pass is definitely worthwhile a hike given the views across the valley towards the icefield.

Afterwards the kids wanted to walk from the parking lot to the icefield. I decided to skip that because it looked as if rain was coming very soon. And indeed by the time the three were back at the car it rained heavily.

Half-way up on Wilcox Pass: View towards Columbia Icefield

A big horn sheep

Halfway up on Wilcox Pass: View towards Columbia Icefield

It is a pretty civilized area: There are even some Adirondack chairs ...

Another view towards Columbia Icefied further up

View towards south towards Banff National Park in the far distance

We made it to Wilcox Pass: Rain is in the air ...

The kids walked up to the icefield from the parking lot. I avoided the rain and stayed in the car.

Aug. 26 to 28th, Berg Lake (Mt. Robson Provincial Park)

In the morning we packed up at Wapiti campground and drove to the Mt. Robson visitor centre. We had everything packed for 4 nights (5 day trip). At the begin of August when we visited it, I was told that they typically had enough camp sites at Berg Lake even towards Labour Day and only Whitehorn campground on the way to and from Berg Lake was a bottle neck. When we arrived this time I was told that no camp sites were available at all at Berg Lake despite it being midweek. They offered us only 2 nights at Kinney Lake which after some discussion we booked. I guess we weren't the only ones heading north away from the fire haze. The only upside to the whole thing was that the weather forecast was mixed with rain for Friday (day 3) and definitely bad for Saturday (day 4). When we booked Kinney Lake we weren't sure if we would even see Berg Lake because going in and out looked a bit daunting: 25km and about 650m elevation.

Official Berg Lake trail map

Hiking in to Kinney Lake looked straight-forward: 7km and about 150m elevation. We headed out from the parking lot with the fully packed 5 day gear. It did not make sense to repack all the food again. We figured carrying the packs for 7km and 150m up was a breeze even if they weighted more than necessary.

We had very good weather (blue sky) and Kinney Lake turned out to be a superb campground. I found it much nicer compared to Whitehorn at 11km and 250m elevation or Emperor Falls at 16km and 750m elevation in hindsight. And the 2 latter campgrounds are by no means bad ones. Their advantage is that they are a bit closer and higher up on the way to Berg Lake.

Kinney Lake outflow into Robson River with Mt. Robson in the background

Kinney Lake outflow into Mt. Robson River with Mt. Robson in the background

Kinney Lake: View towards north. Our campground was on the left far end side of the lake. The Berg Lake trail continuous through the valley at the far end.

Kinney Lake

View towards Kinney Lake from our camp site

I was impressed! Toby went swimming in the cold Kinney Lake water

Our camp site for the next 2 nights with the tent and gear

We spent a very enjoyable and warm afternoon at Kinney Lake. The next day the weather was again sunny but we noticed the first signs of haze. We decided we would go as far as we felt comfortable towards Berg Lake and back to Kinney Lake with one backpack containing anoraks and food for the day. We were pretty sure we would reach Emperor Falls but we weren't sure if we would make it further.

View back towards Kinney Lake on our hike towards Whitehorn campground. The Robson River splits here up into several tributaries.

View in the morning from the step up from Robson River to Whitehorn campground towards Kinney Lake (in the back). Please note the haze.

Crossing Robson River via a hanging bridge. The trail is now maybe 150m away from Whitehorn campground.

View of the Valley of a Thousand Falls from the bridge. The trail is leading towards the pass (V section) in the middle of the picture

Valley of a Thousand Falls vista

Valley of a Thousand Falls vista

Going upwards towards Emperor Falls. This is a steep 400m step with plenty of switch-backs

Looking back and down into the Valley of a Thousand Falls from two thirds up towards Emperor Falls. Whitehorn campground is at the left side close to where Robson River vanishes in the picture.

Margaret close to Falls of the Pool

I did not always watch the kids carefully! Since I was already quite a bit ahead and waiting for them ... It was here that a lady recognized me and asked if I was on the WCT 2 weeks earlier. The world is sometimes a small place! We chatted afterwards for a while about our mutual impressions of the trail. Afterwards a solo German female (Petra) asked if someone could help her figuring out what went wrong with her smart-phone. It was no longer taking pictures ... Since it was a MSFT phone my so much smarter kids all pointed towards me (they are Android folks). And little me was not able to figure it out right then and there. I guess I was stressed with so many people expecting me to figure out a smart-phone I had never used ;-) :-) But later on, after a decent rest on a bench at Berg Lake and some time to think about the phone I figured out the problem and a little while later Petra showed up and I was able to oblige and got it working again ... :-) As it turns out Petra also hiked on the WCT 4 years earlier and her story was about someone hiking with her and falling into an Owen Point meat grinder with a subsequent rescue mission by the Parks Canada folks ...

Falls of the Pool

Emperor Falls. It is possible to walk quite a bit closer. But you will get wet!

Halfway between Emperor Falls and Berg Lake. The valley widens and we are now just above the treeline. It is very beautiful there. Great views.

Halfway between Emperor Falls and Berg Lake: View towards Mt. Robson with Mist Glacier

Halfway between Emperor Falls and Mt. Robson: Mist Glacier

Relatively close to Berg Lake: Mt. Robson with Mist Glacier

Berg Glacier: We rounded a corner and suddenly the whole vista to the north was visible

An inukshuk pointing the way. A lot of stones in the Mt. Robson area have interesting patterns.

Vista with Berg Glacier and Mist Glacier close to Berg Lake

Berg Lake itself with Berg Glacier: Beautiful

Berg Lake and its glaciers. View from my napping bench.

Berg Lake and Berg Glacier close to Marmot campground

Mt. Robson and Mist Glacier close to Marmot campground

View of Berg Lake and Berg Glacier from my bench

View of Mt. Robson and Mist Glacier from my bench

Berg Lake and the view northward: Very enjoyable

My bench! I actually had a nap there when the youngsters went to for their exploration and swimming. It was here where I figured out what the problem with the camera was.

Very colourful plants near my bench

Mt. Robson with Berg Lake and Mist Glacier

Toby couldn't resist!

Coming out of the ice cold water afterwards. I would never swim in this glacier cooled lake. But kudos to the next generation ...

A more reasonable girl: At least she didn't jump into the cold water.

Berg Glacier and Mist Glacier

View across Berg Lake towards Mt. Robson and its glaciers

Heading back towards where I was napping

Mt. Robson and Mist Glacier

Petra's gift for fixing her camera: A group picture with one of our cameras. Toby is still wet and (somewhat) cold

Mt. Robson in the evening

Emperor Falls on the way down towards Whitehorn campground with a side peak of Mt. Robson

Kinney Lake in the evening sun

Kinney Lake in the evening sun. The campground is on the left where the main tributary flows into the lake behind the knob with the trees

We made it all the way to Berg Lake and the 25km round trip was simply superb. It is one of these top drawer trails in the Rocky Mountains. No question. The trail is compared to the WCT a super highway: All stones and tree roots are exactly where they need to be allowing you to actually move forward and upward while having a look at the superb and diverse surroundings. This allowed us to spent upwards of an hour at the lake. We certainly would have loved to stay at Berg Lake a night or two and do further hikes in the surrounding areas. Berg Lake, Mt Robson and its glaciers and the valleys leading to them are simply super. Similar to Lake Magog and Mt. Assiniboine in some sense.

The next day we slept in quite a bit. By the time we headed back from Kinney Lake towards the parking lot rain was in the air and it started to rain on the last km. We arrived wet outside, but dry inside at the parking lot hut. Later we drove back to the Wapiti campground near Jasper. We had dinner at Kimchi House in Jasper. Margaret and I had lunch there on our way to Vancouver (so no pictures here). This time the meal was equally good but we had 2 Bavarian kids with us who suddenly were no longer hungry ... Sigh! They have yet to appreciate fine food from around the world! But Anna and Tobi got their own treat. Elks (wapitis) were right beside the street near our campground. So they hopped out of the car and did more exploration while I headed back to the tent with the car. This night it rained super heavy (I don't recall experiencing such a rain during camping trips in my last 10 years (maybe back in Holland). But we were well protected by the tent and the tarp above it. Maybe it was a good thing that there were no camp sites available at Berg Lake ... We were dry and cozy.

Wapitis near our campground