CR2012: Buller Pass After the Burn

August 4th dawned with a cloudless sky. The view of Tent Ridge from the deck of Mount Engadine Lodge was promising.

The Alberta FireNet repeater station on top was clearly visible, especially through binoculars.

Joan and I had put Tent Ridge near the top of our list of hikes near Mount Engadine Lodge, but the previous two drizzly days meant that we had time for only our #1 item, Buller Pass, which had undergone a prescribed burn last year. I mentioned the burn and observing the flames last year at the bottom of this post. We were intensely curious how the hike looked now, having had an astonishing post-burn surprise in 2009 at Hawk Creek, which is documented briefly here.

We were eager to tackle Buller Pass, even on a transit day, which meant extra driving time. We dashed out of the lodge without saying proper good-byes, and were on the trail early. It starts with a footbridge and several signs.

Of particular interest are the burn notice sign ...

and the distances. Because of all the climbing, 2200 feet of elevation gain, it's more effort than you would think.

The early section of the trail is gentle and unburnt.

Notice the spiderweb in the sun, in the upper right corner? Here is a closeup.

Just before the rebuilt bridge that ends the gentle stretch, there was another novelty, a wildlife observation camera.

Then we crossed the bridge, reconstructed after the burn, and began to climb.

We entered into the burned zones, which were fascinating and raised many questions. The burned areas were hit or miss, interspersed with unaffected woods. How would a prescribed burn differ from an uncontrolled one? We guessed that a prescribed burn would not be as hot, and wouldn't be started on a windy day, so it would be less likely to jump ravines and watercourses. There were at least three kinds of trees: burned trees (charcoal on the outside, foliage all gone), crisped trees (foliage all brown, but little charring), and normal trees.

In this photo there are many 'crisped' trees, but also some untouched low bushes.

Here, there are crisped and charcoaled trees.

The wildflowers love the sunlight, and burst with color against charred logs. Note, too, the unburnt pine needles on the ground.

In places where tree roots had grown into mounds of organic detritus -- moss, needles, bark -- the charred roots were now hanging in the air.

Looking across the valley of Buller Creek, you can see how the prescribed burn formed a variety of shapes. It was not a uniform holocaust.

Lest you form the wrong impression, I'll note that long segments of the trail were still lush:

Then we came to a bridge recrossing Buller Creek. To me, this bridge is an ominous milestone; the switchbacks after this bridge form the second-hardest climb on the trail. The toughest is the slog to the top of the pass itself.

Twenty or so minutes later on there is a well-known waterfall and pool, larger than it looks in this photo.

The trail comes to a meadow, where the valley splits into two arms, north and south. Here we found a tree that was two-faced, part singed and part green.

The north trail, much less used, goes to North Buller Pass, while the southern trail goes to Buller Pass. Joan and I once tried to hike to North Buller Pass, but were defeated by the steep, pathless scree slope at the end. The trail split happens just after this bridge, where Joan points left, towards the otherwise easy to miss north trail.

The next picture is looking back towards the area of the trail junction, just one minute after the above photo.

By the time of the junction the trees have been thinning, and the trend continues as you continue to climb towards the pass.

That doesn't mean that there aren't spectacular patches of wildflowers along the way, such as here, with paintbrush, columbine, and several white species.

The trail leads higher and further into the valley, with the pass almost visible at the end. The trees become more scattered.

Even up here, there are columbine, as shown above, and spectacular alpine forget-me-nots (also the state flower of Alaska).

As the valley rises and narrows the trail gradually steepens; in a couple of spots there were modest patches of snow (August 4th). Joan and I heard some peeping, and after several minutes of scanning with our binoculars, we saw a baby ptarmigan on the other side of the ravine and rivulet that run down the center of the valley. Then the real climbing began.

It was the kind of trail where most of us would walk a short while and then pause to catch our breath, and drink in the view back down the valley whence we had come. Mount Assiniboine slid into view.

Getting closer to the top.

The pass is a funnel for the wind, and no-one stops at the exact top for long. Most move slightly beyond for their lunching, photography, or just resting.

Here is the view down the far side, taken from where Joan and I sat for lunch.

Ribbon Lake is in the center. Ribbon Creek leaves the lake and goes down to Kananaskis Village on Highway 40. At right is Guinn's Pass, which most hikers reach by the Galatea Lakes trail, on the other side of the mountains behind Ribbon Lake. That is a hike Joan and I want to make some day, but it requires being in good shape; it's a long hike, and the last mile of the climb is steeper than Buller Pass.

Some of the other hikers climbed from the pass up the north ridge to a small promontory. Joan and I didn't.

The view from the pass as we began our return journey. The trail seems to plunge off the side of the mountain.

There is something about the return path that emphasizes the ramparts on the south wall of the valley. Even this photo shows only some of them.

My final picture for this hike shows the view a few minutes before we reach the junction of the north and south valleys, on our way back.

After returning to the car, tired but cheered by our success, we drove south along the Smith-Dorrien Spray Trail until we reached Highway 40, and then north again to reach Kananaskis Village, where we would be staying at the Delta Lodge. This would be our base of operations for the remaining hikes of our trip.