CR2012: Two Drizzly Days

The next two days, August 2nd and 3rd, featured morning rains that reduced our hiking. At first, after nine days of hiking, we welcomed the idea of an easier day.

Mr. Moose made a morning visit and departure from the wallow.

The tops of the mountains were in the clouds during breakfast, and showers drifted across the meadow.

After a while the rain retreated, although the sky remained gray. We assembled our gear and took a 2½ hour walk along trails that don't show up on the map:

On the far right is the Smith-Dorrien/Spray Trail, the road from Canmore. A second road roughly parallels the Smith-Dorrien as it goes by the Mount Shark Helipad and on to a parking area. Our mini-hike today was on trails in the green area between the two, starting from Mount Engadine Lodge, and on the Mount Shark road only long enough to cross a bridge.

I neglected to take any pictures of the unofficial trails. We had a fun, exploratory walk, a good lunch, and were rained on for only ten minutes, toward the end. Soon after our return to the lodge a young male deer walked through the parking area and stood, indecisively, atop the road bank. His antlers were still in velvet.

That evening Mr. Moose visited again.

We watched from the deck, which was still wet from the afternoon shower.

The next day we also got off to a late start due to some early showers, but not as late as the day before, and took a much longer leg-stretch. Referring to the map above, we drove to the Mount Shark parking area (not the helipad), and hiked along the main route west, the Watridge Lake trail, which is not easy to see on the map amidst the tangle of cross-country ski routes, although it's obvious on the ground. We hiked past the Karst Spring cutoff, having been there twice before, and reached the left end of the map, lunching at the second creek crossing. We were within spitting distance of the warden's cabin, which we should have investigated but did not.

This sign greets you at the parking area.

It's a warning-in-advance; the Bryant Creek trail is the continuation of our route beyond the warden's cabin, heading up to Mount Assiniboine.

The first part of our walk was on a broad trail, a road really, with the forest on either side. Mountains with interesting strata poked up across the Spray Lakes Reservoir.

The road starts out in the open, with the trees recessed from the trail, but before you reach the Karst Springs trail it narrows somewhat and you're truly in the forest. Beyond the Karst Springs trail, it looks like this:

At the tip of the Spray Lakes Reservoir, things began to happen. First, the Spray River trail came in from the left just after we crossed a bridge. This photo is looking back at that bridge.

Most of the action is along the Bryant Creek trail, at least according to the trail sign.

The Spray River trail is definitely single-file. As the sign above shows, it's a long way to anywhere interesting.

This is the view standing on the bridge and looking down towards the not-quite-visible Spray Lakes.

We continued on the main trail, which briefly paralleled the Spray River. (The hide-and-seek sunshine made the two exposures for the next picture an odd mismatch.) On this stretch we are briefly following the Great Divide Trail. The Great Divide Trail goes from the U.S. border to north of Jasper; it's recognized by hiking organizations, and shows up on the GemTrek map for Kananaskis Lakes, but it's not officially recognized or supported by Parks Canada.

After crossing the Bryant Creek bridge, we stopped for lunch within sight and sound of the rushing water.

It was an eventful lunch. Joan spotted a pine marten crossing the bridge; sadly, I didn't get to see more than a split-second blur. I was facing the other way, you see, and had to turn around, and a pine marten is much faster than that. An osprey circled overhead and then set course for the lakes. Towards the end, a troop of teenage males came down the trail and decided to take a break here, which encouraged us to start walking again.

This is a picture of the bridge, looking back from our lunch ground.

It's reinforced to carry the weight of horses.

This is the downstream view from the bridge.

We quickly arrived back at the Spray River trail junction. This sign tells us that it's 5.4 km (3.4 miles) back to the car.

We covered about 7 miles this day, which isn't bad for a late-start day. And we returned to Mount Engadine Lodge in time for tea (yum).

There was a great moose show at the lodge after dinner. First, a female moose appeared.

There was great excitement on the deck.

Mama moose had a youngster, and she was none too pleased when a large male approached the wallow.

She charged at him, persuading him to trot elsewhere for the evening. As the darkness deepened she continued to sip at the waters. The skies had cleared, giving us hope for good weather.

We were ready to tackle another extended hike.