CR2016: Mt. Stephen Trilobites and a Peek at Emerald Lake

Mt. Stephen

Joan had been trying for years to include a Mt. Stephen guided hike into our Canadian Rockies schedule, to see the renowned trilobite beds. This year it finally clicked into place for us to visit this UNESCO World Heritage Site.

We were awakened by thunderstorms about 2:00 am the night before, and by later pre-dawn rain. Grabbing a quick breakfast and packed lunch at the Cathedral Mountain Lodge, Joan and I arrived at the gathering point, the Yoho Brothers parking lot in Field, ten minutes ahead of the scheduled 8:30 meetup.

Yoho Brothers Parking

In the past a Mt. Stephen visit was offered only by the Burgess Shale Foundation, and even though Parks Canada now supplemented with its own hikes, we had signed up for the Foundation's departure.

There were three other guests, a family group from Oregon, making a total of five for our guide, Kaila, who is an enthusiast who works part time for the Burgess Shale Foundation while also working full-time in Calgary. After tromping through Field we arrived at the start.

Kaila explains our route

A close up of the sign.

Do not go there except on a guided hike.

The lower part of the trail had several sections that were all clay and roots, treacherous after last night's rain, but Kaila kept a careful pace for us, much as Dave did at Mistaya Lodge last year, with occasional interpretive stops. Joan and I made good use of our hiking poles.

We soon passed under huge corrugated plastic piping, roughly a meter in diameter. This was a diversion drain for the mountainside, protecting the town, which sits on top of unconsolidated clay. Too much water infiltration could lead to shifting foundations.

After gaining some altitude we had an early peek across the valley.

Looking back to Field

A level stretch of ridge offered us a rest stop.

A pause in the climb

A goodly way up there was a lockbox with selected treasures. This was another chance to pause, and for Kaila to radio to the Parks Canada group ahead of us on the trail.

There were plenty of items to admire.

Trilobite fossils were called "stone bugs" by the railroad and quarry workers who discovered them. Trilobites were on earth for 300,000,000 years, until the Permian Extinction, also known as the Great Dying.

Choice Stone Bugs

We continued on and up. There was a minor mixup about schedules when we arrived at the main quarry; the Parks Canada group was still there. Our group enjoyed a half-hour lunch just outside the quarry, which had the advantage of not deducting lunchtime from our quarry-exploring budget.

The Kicking Horse River was far (2600') below.

Field, the Trans-Canada, and Wapta Mountain from the quarry

Kaila opened another lockbox of prime specimens.

Not all of them are trilobites, such as this one, amazingly well preserved.

Then we were set loose to explore and find stone bugs on our own, but not to keep.

Which ones to take a picture of?

 All of them??

As we searched we heard occasional claps of thunder, but the storms appeared to be tracking up adjacent valleys, and the sun was still shining.

Only a portion of the beds was open to us, for our safety and to preserve the rest for future research.

Secteur Fermé

Our hour was almost up, and the group began to pull back together for the descent.

Joan and I and some gathering clouds.

We launched into the steep downhill. Pausing again at the lower lockbox, Kaila gave us another geologic talk. The thunder began to boom louder, and about one-quarter of the way down it began to hail; the ice balls were up to pea size. I received a few conks on the head, and the ground became carpeted with the white pebbles. Each new clap of thunder brought a fresh round of hail, sometimes with rain mixed in.

Our pigs, binoculars, and camera were in the daypacks and the daypacks covered, but Joan and I, thinking that this would soon pass, didn't put on our rain jackets. And once the daypack covers were in place it was out of the question to expose everything in them to fetch the rain jackets. This reminded us a lot of our decision coming back from Odaray Grandview a few days before.

As long as we kept moving Joan and I stayed warm. Kaila asked if we were OK a few times, but we were doing fine. Although second-guessing our judgement, of course. The rain and hail stayed with us almost to the bottom of the trail. Joan and I returned to the car (barely crossing the tracks ahead of a train) and returned to Cathedral Mountain Lodge, where we washed out our hiking shirts and pants. The pants especially had picked up a lot of splashed crud.

Tomorrow would be an easier day after nine days of intense hiking.

Emerald Lake

The next day was essentially a transfer day to Golden, but we filled the time with a trip to Emerald Lake. First we slept an hour later than yesterday, and grabbed some evil snacks at The Siding to serve as lunch. When we stopped at the Yoho National Park Visitors Center in Field, we ended up chatting with a staffer who had previously worked both at Mistaya Lodge, which we'd visited the year before, and Purcell Mountain Lodge, tomorrow's destination.

Emerald Lake is a hugely popular location, frequently appearing on motor coach itineraries. When we arrived the parking lot was already full and cars were parked along the road, as they almost always are.

And it's early yet.

We started off clockwise around the lake, and saw a kingfisher.

The trail around the lake crosses a broad plain of gravel outwash from the mountains to the north. Trees and even orchids are colonizing the rough ground.

This debris is very slowly filling Emerald Lake, as the satellite view shows.

From the loop we walked up the Yoho Pass Trail. This is the line in the above photo headed north from the loop across the plain. Spring floods destroy or relocate the several footbridges here every year.

Joan and I picked a lunch spot just before the trail began a steep climb up to the pass. We enjoyed our sweet breads, tarts, and brownies before returning to the loop trail.

The west side of the lake is much wetter than the eastern side. All the moisture that gets dumped on Mount Wapta, Mount Field, and Mount Burgess flows down to Emerald Lake on this side.

Here we met a family group coming the other way, including a young man wearing an Otterbein College T-shirt. Otterbein is only about 30 minutes away from where Joan and I live! He was spending the summer in Lethbridge with a local family while participating in a baseball development program.

When we returned to our car the line of parked vehicles was enormous.

It's like this almost every day.

Then it was on to Golden, where we had to be at the airport at 7:15 am the next day to catch our helicopter to Purcell.