CR2013: Lake Oesa, Field, Castle Mountain Lookout

The day had arrived when Joan and I would be leaving Lake O'Hara. However, we would be departing on the afternoon bus, so there was time to squeeze in one more hike. The morning was overcast,

another incentive to not stray far from Lake O'Hara. We chose Lake Oesa as our destination and set out. This was the view from the circuit trail as it passes near the mouth of Lake O'Hara.

The low clouds were no hindrance to lake navigation. This canoe has passed close by avalanche debris that accumulated in the lake.

As is often the case on unsettled days, weather came up the valley towards Lake O'Hara and the surrounding heights. So far Joan and I are staying ahead of it (this is looking back).

A cloud hangs around the Yukness Ledges as we climb past Yukness Lake.

The weather is still holding up as Joan climbs the stone steps built by Lawrence Grassi.

As we passed by Lefroy Lake we could see clouds and vapors filling the bowl of Lake Oesa, just beyond the bluff.

As we approached the top of the bluff our luck ran out, and it began to rain. We had rain covers for our daypacks, which Joan had modified with snaps. Rain covers are designed for backpacks where the body rises several inches above the point where the straps attach. The straps on our daypacks attach at the top of the pack, so there is nothing for the elastic of the rain cover to snug over. Hence the snaps.

Near the lake we managed to find a large boulder with an overhang on the lee side. At first the only parts getting wet were our boots, and we dug into lunch. As the rain continued a drip developed from the top of the boulder, but Joan and I still managed to work through lunch without much discomfort. After all, we had the incredible Lake O'Hara cookies to boost our energy levels and morale. Then we began the walk back down.

The rain was off and on, lighter and harder, as is often the way in these mountains. When we were well on the way down, about 2:oo PM, we encountered a very blasé hoary marmot.

He wasn't worried about us. Is this my better side? he seemed to ask.

Oh! Aren't I handsome?

By the time we reached Lake O'Hara the view was a mixture of cloud and sunny spotlights.

Then, sadly, it was time to leave. The lodge bus took us to the Lake O'Hara parking area, from which it was a short drive for us to Field and the Kicking Horse Lodge. Fortunately this time there were no fiascoes such as basement or double-booked rooms.

The next day Joan and I avoided the poky breakfast service at Kicking Horse and ate across the street at the Siding Café, in the original location of the Truffle Pigs Café. Not only did we get a hearty breakfast there, served on time, but we ordered sandwiches and chose cookies for today's lunch. There are some grocery and general-store offerings here in addition to meal service.

Before leaving Field we walked up to the Field cemetery, just outside of town. On our way we passed the beginning of the Mount Stephens trail, one of the guided hikes of the Burgess Shale Geoscience Foundation. We'd like to take this hike, but it's offered only on weekends in July and August, and the specifics vary from year to year, so it's hard to fit into the jigsaw puzzle along with predetermined dates for Lake O'Hara.

Joan's left foot was still bothering her, but there was no bruising, so we assumed it was just a sprain. It didn't keep us from reaching the cemetery, and it was time well spent. The information on the graves tells a story of how hard life was here for the miners and early railroad workers. My only photo is of the railroad-themed gate.

We piled our gear into the rental car and headed back towards Alberta, climbing to the Kicking Horse Pass. Partway up, we stopped at the Spiral Tunnels. Click to enlarge this sign, which explains that the original railroad grade at Kicking Horse was so steep that trains frequently lost control and derailed. The problem was solved by creating two 270º tunnels, allowing the train to loop around itself at a comfortable grade.

We were lucky enough to catch a train doing just that. Here you can see the locomotive emerging from the upper end of a tunnel and about to pass other cars entering the lower end.

En route to our next destination, the Delta Lodge in Kananaskis, we planned to repeat a hike from 2004, to Castle Mountain Lookout. This hike is not long, about 3.7 km or 2.3 miles one way, but it climbs steadily for a gain of 530 m or about 1700 feet. The first section is broad, like an old logging road, but closer to the lookout it becomes a trail and crosses a few eroding gullies.

The weather was cloudy and misty by the time we arrived at the trailhead. We hiked briskly and were soon warmed up and sweaty, wearing rain jackets in a light drizzle and, it would seem, inspired by the locomotives at Kicking Horse Pass. Joan's foot felt best at this pace. I didn't take any photos until we arrived at the lookout, where only the foundations of the old fire lookout remained. There wasn't much to see,

 but it was a decent lunch spot.

Our weather karma is not good for this location. Here is what we saw during our 2004 visit. It was snowing, but you can see why a lookout was placed here.

The weather began to gradually clear as we hiked back down. This photo captures the look of the upper trail.

By the midpoint of the downhill hike the valley floor was becoming visible.

We arrived back at the car and continued on to the Delta Lodge, where we enjoyed a dinner at Grappa, the Italian restaurant there, which in our opinion was the best in Kananaskis Village; it's now replaced by Forte. For tomorrow Joan and I decided, given the state of her foot, that we would hike the gentler Terrace Trail between the lodge and the Galatea trailhead. We could turn around at any time, and there would be views down to the Kananaskis River.

CR-2010: Truffle Pigs and the Emerald Lake Triangle

Our first stop on leaving the Canmore helipad was Le Chocolatier, an independent maker of gourmet chocolate truffles, chocolate bars, and chocolate novelties. We bought a small box of truffles as a thank-you for Valerie and Bob at Canadian Artisans B&B, who had graciously stored our extra duffels during our sojourn at Talus Lodge. (We would stock up at Le Chocolatier a week later.)

We began our drive to Field, British Columbia, where we would spend the next two nights at the Kicking Horse Lodge and Truffle Pigs Bistro. On the way we stopped at the tourist mecca of Lake Louise, parked in one of the sprawling lots, and I took this classic photo (taken by many others in better light) looking down the lake.

We needed a leg stretch and had the time, so we walked up the trail to Mirror Lake, about 1½ miles each way. As we started out, the canoe livery launched a photo opportunity for the swarms of tourists who stroll short distances along the lakeside.

Closer up,

After our walk it was on to Field. As we checked in, I took a photo of the original Truffle Pigs Café sign from 1999, when it was a small shop across the street.

The bistro displayed this chalkboard above the bar (click to enlarge to legibility):

Joan particularly recommends the soups and desserts at the bistro.

In the morning we set out with a specific plan. In 2004 we had taken one of the guided hikes to the Burgess Shale, a UNESCO World Heritage site. This highly recommended outing involved parking at Takkakaw Falls, in the parallel Yoho Valley, climbing up to Yoho Pass from the east, and then taking the Wapta Highline, with fabulous views of Emerald Lake, to the Walcott Quarry. Return was the way we came. In a later year we parked at Emerald Lake, walked the west and north shores, and climbed to Yoho Pass from the west. Again we returned the way we had come. Having used these routes meant that we still had an fresh, unexplored trail to try, up to Burgess Pass from the east side of Emerald Lake; from there a short stroll to the Quarry spur would add up to the accomplishment of a complete loop around the lake, albeit in sections on three different hikes.

Emerald Lake is a destination that attracts crowds, so we arrived by 9:00 to find a good parking spot. We quickly reached the Burgess Pass trail, which shoots up from the lakeside in a series of switchbacks through the forest. There are no views for a long time. The climb to Burgess Pass from Field is famous for its forty-eight switchbacks, but the trail from Emerald Lake has at least ninety. I counted them. (Depending on whether you count gradual curves as a switchback; I reached ninety-four.) This climb gains 2750' in about three miles. The trail was wet and root-strewn, with lots of dripping vegetation, so we had to keep our rain pants on even though we were soon down to T-shirts otherwise, despite the chilly air. Our boots got rather wet.

Downed timber created occasional nurse logs along the trail. Here is a close look at what was eagerly sprouting on one of them.

Looking up ...

As we climbed higher the air grew colder and eventually, near the top, we reached a snow line.

At this point a small group passed us; we would see them again soon. Hiking in a gloppy mud-snow mix we reached a fork and took the left-hand path. This was not the route to Burgess Pass, but to a small cairn and viewpoint on a shoulder of the ridge. It was worth the brief detour, because it gave us good views, including this one down to Field, the Kicking Horse River, and the Trans-Canada Highway.

Zooming in on the fossil beds across the way, we saw a group approaching the Walcott Quarry. Always carry your binoculars on a hike.

We would encounter several guided groups hiking to the quarry today, which struck us as unusual. The schedule we were acquainted with from 2004 was just one group per day. Now, Parks Canada as well as the Burgess Shale Geoscience Foundation offer trips to the quarry (limited to 12 per group; I think it was a few more than that in 2004). We speculated that there might have been a larger group visiting the quarry which had been split into several 12-person groups, spaced about an hour apart.

The remaining trail to the pass trended downhill. I kept putting my hood up and down as light snow squalls passed through. Just beyond the pass we met the small group that had gone ahead earlier; they had intended to climb to the summit of Mt. Field today, but given the conditions, with Mt. Field wrapped in clouds, they decided instead to finish the Emerald Lake Triangle: they would continue on the Highline trail to Yoho Pass, descend to the lake, and close a long loop when they returned to the Emerald Lake parking area. It's about a 12 mile trek -- different sources will add or subtract half a mile.

We felt the urge to continue at least to the quarry spur, which would complete our collection of new trail. Once there we debated our original plan to return directly down the steep, wet, closed-in trail we had just climbed. Although it meant extending the hike, we decided to keep going and complete the Emerald Lake Triangle ourselves.

From the spur Emerald Lake began to reappear, as did some mid-day sunshine.

Another twenty minutes down the trail conditions had become cheerful, and we declared it lunch time.

This picture shows how the outflow from the Emerald Basin, below Mt. Marpole and Michael Peak, has filled the northern half of the original lake.

With a bird's-eye perspective, it looks like this:

View Larger Map

Looking closely at the outflow, you can see the hiking trail cuts across it like a ruler for about a mile and a half.

After a gradual descent along the Highline to Yoho Pass, and then a steeper descent to the lake, we arrived at the outflow. It was as if we were in a garden that grew bridges, for the spring floods both damage existing wooden footbridges and recarve and reroute the streams that cut across the delta. Half the bridges we encountered this September were high and dry, remnants from previous years, but there was always a bridge where we needed one. It was a very boring mile and a half, flat and gravelly.

On completing the loop we were tired but pleased with our efforts. We could now say that we had done the Emerald Lake Triangle in one day instead of in three parts. Our evening activities were dinner and repacking; we intended to take only two duffels up to Lake O'Hara the next day, and to leave two behind in the trunk of our Mustang. So yet again we repartitioned our belongings, focusing on what we would need or not need at O'Hara, and certainly not taking the previous eight days' worth of dirty laundry up to the lake.

Next I'll report on five nights at Lake O'Hara, the linchpin of our trips to the Canadian Rockies since we started in 2003.