FOLLY
One
of my favorite dayhikes from our 2005 trip to the
Canadian Rockies was in Yoho Valley in Yoho National Park. That was an 18-mile loop, combining the Iceline Trail, the Whaleback, Twin Falls, and the Yoho
River. Christy had skipped that one,
opting to do a bike ride instead. She
dropped me off at the Whiskey Jack Trailhead, and picked me up at the Takkakaw
Falls Trailhead later that afternoon.
Unfortunately, I left my camera in the car after she dropped me
off. I realized it as she was driving
down the road. So, I didn’t get any
photos from one of the trip’s most scenic hikes.
Returning
to Yoho Valley was high on my to-do list for this trip. This time, Christy would join me. Instead of trying to squeeze everything into
a single dayhike, we decided to backpack it.
We would spend 3 days doing a loop similar to my dayhike from 9 years
earlier.
It
was raining on Thursday morning, but we still got up early. We made breakfast in the cooking shelter, and
the rain stopped by the time we started breaking camp. We left the campground at 8:30 and drove
south. We stopped at Herbert Lake for
photos, and heard a coyote singing in the distance. Then we drove the Trans-Canadian highway into
British Columbia. We stopped at the
Visitor’s Center in Field to get the weather forecast. It didn’t look bad – a 30% chance of
afternoon thunderstorms the next two days, followed by sunny weather.
We
drove to the Takkakaw Falls parking area at the end of the road in Yoho
Valley. It was overrun with people, but
we still took the short hike up to see the falls. Takkakaw Falls, which is about 1,000’ high,
may be the most spectacular waterfall I’ve seen, and it was well worth visiting
again.
We
returned to the parking lot and relocated the car to the correct parking area
for overnight hikers. Then we readied
our packs for the 6 mile hike to the Twin Falls campground. Our strategy for managing Christy’s knee was
to keep her pack weight to a minimum. This
meant that she would carry little more than a daypack. My pack, on the other hand, was a
monster. I’m pretty sure it weighed more
than when I carried it on a solo, 12-day backpacking trip in Glacier National
Park in Montana a year earlier.
Our
trip started with an easy hike through a walk-in campground. We hiked a mile or so, enjoying views back
over our shoulders of Takkakaw Falls. We
reached a spur trail to the river and a view of The Angels Staircase, which is
a high waterfall on a small stream. It
wasn’t the most exciting view, but the river was nice. We had lunch there, before resuming the hike
upstream. Another side trip took me to
the base of Point of Lace Falls, which is a modest drop on a small stream. The main trail then took us up the
valley. Before long we reached Laughing
Falls, which is much more impressive.
There is a campground here, and it looked ok. There were also a lot of dayhikers
in this area. Apparently Laughing Falls
is a popular destination for an easy dayhike.
The
trail climbed considerably beyond Laughing Falls. We eventually rejoined the river, and passed
by a neat little canyon. We crossed the
river on bridges twice, before arriving at Twin Falls Campground. The campground is pretty nice, but it is
quite a ways downstream from its namesake waterfall. We set up camp, and I noticed that the
mouthpiece for my platypus water bladder had fallen off. I searched the camping area for it, but it
was not to be found. Luckily I always
carry a spare.
It
was only 3pm, so we decided to take a side trip to see the Yoho Glacier. We followed a less-traveled trail parallel
to, but out of sight of, the Yoho River.
We hiked through deep forest for 45 minutes or so, before emerging from
the woods above the river. There was a
rocky canyon below us, and a ridge just upstream blocked the view in that
direction. I decided to hike around the
ridge, thinking that the glacier would come into view there. That required a steep descent to the
river. Christy decided to skip it, so I
continued ahead solo.
I
reached the river and hiked upstream, passing around the obstruction. However, there was just more river and rock
canyon on the far side. I continued
upstream towards the next bend, sure that the glacier was near. There wasn’t much of a trail along here,
though the route is marked with cairns. More
scrambling revealed a pair of thin waterfalls high above, and I glimpsed part
of the icefield far in the distance. The glacier continued to elude me
though. I scrambled a little higher up
the moraine, but I was still surrounded by rock. I’d already been gone longer than Christy
expected, so I gave up the quest and hurried back. I returned just before she started to come looking
for me.
Hiking
up to the glacier had seemed like a good idea at the time, but it wasn’t really
worth the effort. Even worse, we ended up getting a much better view of the Yoho Glacier from the Iceline Trail later in the trip.
We returned to camp. That evening, I took a short hike up to Twin
Falls. We were heading that way the next
morning, but I wanted to visit the falls when the light would be good for
photos. I hiked upstream, passing a cool
little canyon with its own waterfall.
Switchbacks followed, and a bit later I arrived at the Twin Falls
Chalet. http://www.twinfallschalet.ca/
There
wasn’t anybody there. I hiked down to
Twin Falls Creek and the official overlook.
I didn’t like that vantage point for photos, so I hiked downstream a
short distance. This led to a great view
of the falls. Twin Falls is a spectacular
500’ drop, and taking the hike up there that evening was worth the extra
effort.
I
returned to camp, and Christy and I had a late dinner. We spent the rest of the evening playing
cards and enjoying some Canadian Whiskey and apple cider.
WASTING TIME
It
was cloudy the next morning, and it started to sprinkle during breakfast. I’d just started packing up when the rain really
started. We crawled back into the tent, figuring it would pass quickly. We ended up napping for 5 hours, until late
morning. It was still raining at that
point, but we needed to get moving. As
we packed up, I grumbled about which part of the 30% chance of afternoon
thunderstorms in the forecast that this related to.
We
broke camp a bit before noon and hiked up to the Twin Falls Chalet. The chalet was temporarily closed. According to the sign, the owner had to hike
into town to get supplies. We had lunch
on their porch, where we were sheltered from the rain. We had to fight off the local squirrels, but
otherwise we had the place to ourselves. Afterwards, the rain finally stopped. We hiked down to the creek so that Christy
could see Twin Falls.
From
there, we had planned to hike to the top of the falls and then over the
Whaleback. However, with the rainy
weather, we decided to skip it. The
descent from the Whaleback is steep, and the wet conditions would make it even
harder on Christy’s knee. Instead, we
took an alternate route from the chalet directly to the Little Yoho Valley
trail. This trail looked much easier on
the map, but it was more difficult than expected. After passing a small pond, we wandered
through a boulder field that was quite tedious.
Reaching
the Little Yoho Valley Trail was a relief.
We hiked upstream through deep forest, passing occasional openings full
of wildflowers. We met one family along
here with a 3 year old girl. It was good
to see them out backpacking despite the marginal weather.
We
hiked up the Little Yoho Valley and passed the Alpine Club of Canada hut. We continued on to the campground, which is
huge. It was a busy place, but we found
a nice spot close to the creek. After
setting up camp, I briefly considered taking an afternoon hike. However, the sky clouded back up, and a huge
thunderstorm rolled through. It featured
heavy rain and hail. Afterwards it
cleared, and I again considered a short hike from camp. However, yet another storm rolled through,
killing the last of my motivation.
I
was a little disappointed, as I had originally planned to hike to the summit of
the Whaleback on this trip. I had hiked
the Whaleback Trail on my previous visit, but that route passes far below the
actual summit. I had also hoped to
explore Waterfalls Valley, which is upstream from Twin Falls. The foul weather derailed those plans, but I
still had high hopes for the final day of our trip.
We
had a chili dinner late that evening. It
was the first cold night we had experienced in a while, so chili was a great
choice! They sky finally cleared off
just before dusk, guaranteeing a cold night.
YOLO YOHO
I
got up at 6:15 on Saturday. It was very
cold – well below freezing. It was not
the ideal morning for an alpine start with cold cereal (and no coffee) for
breakfast. Still, I had one more side
trip on my agenda, and I had to do it first thing that morning. I had already missed out on the Whaleback
summit and Waterfalls Valley, and didn’t want to go 0 for 3 for the trip.
My
plan was to hike to Kiwetinok Pass and to climb Mount
Scott Kerr. From the campground, I hiked
back down to the ACC hut to cross the creek on a bridge. The bridge was icy, but it was still better
than wading the creek in sub-freezing
temperatures. Once on the other side I
followed good trail upstream. Before
long I reached a creek draining a small glacier. I rock hopped it and continued up the
valley. Shortly after the stream I began
a stout climb. This entire area was
close to tree line, and the final climb brought me out well above the
trees.
I
continued on, still near the creek. I
was directly below Mount Scott Kerr, which was my ultimate goal. Before long, I reached Kiwetinok
Lake directly below an impressive snowfield leading up to the pass. The snow was hard and the slope was steep, so
I skirted around most of it. This was
necessary anyway, since the ridge featured an impressive cornice. From the pass, I enjoyed a lovely view of the
lake below and the barren peaks surrounding the pass. The view west down the valley was pretty,
too, with another range of snowy peaks, the Selkirk Mountains, visible in the
distance.
The
route to summit was pretty obvious. I
headed straight up the ridge from the pass, staying just west of the snow. The climb eventually became steep, but it was
never much more than class 2 scrambling.
There was one short stretch on a steep scree slope that made me
uncomfortable. I had a motivation check
there, before continuing up. Fortunately
I was able to get onto better rock after only a few steps.
I
reached the top of the ridge and followed the upper edge of a vast snowfield up
to the named summit. There are
additional rocky summits beyond this point, including one that is higher, but
for some reason the first summit is the named peak. I was glad, because I was pressed for
time. I hung out for a few minutes in
the early morning sunshine and enjoyed the view. It was similar to the vista from the pass,
but more encompassing. I particularly
enjoyed the birds-eye view of the Waputik Icefield east of the Yoho Valley.
I
attempted to return to the pass by the same route, but ended up a little off
course. It’s funny how different things
look when heading downhill! This route
worked out fine, and I ended up back at the pass unscathed. I followed the trail back to camp. On the way, I passed a couple we had met at
the campground the previous evening.
They were from Canmore, and did a lot of
hiking in the Rockies. We chatted
briefly, and I found out that they were planning to climb the same peak. I gave them some route info and wished them
luck.
When
I returned to camp I discovered that Christy had packed everything up. That really made my morning! We had lunch in the sunshine before heading
out. It looked like we would be treated
to a beautiful afternoon, which was great since we would be hiking one of the
most scenic trails in the Canadian Rockies.
THE ICELINE
A
long, gentle climb brought us out of the Little Yoho Valley onto the Iceline Trail. The Iceline contours high above the Yoho Valley, staying just
below the cliffs and glaciers that form the western boundary of the
valley. Early on the best views were
behind us. Once we cleared the trees,
views opened up to the north and east.
Initially the vista encompassed the Waputik Icefield, the Yoho Glacier, and countless peaks. We also passed directly below a number of
small glaciers. Those glaciers feed
several alpine tarns, which created countless vantage points for photos.
This
trail was extremely busy, but that was to be expected, given the perfect
weather, incredible scenery, and relatively easy access. We
continued south, and the peaks around Lake Louise and Lake O’Hara came into
view. We were also treated to distant
views of massive Takkakaw Falls on the far side of the gorge. From this vantage, you could see the entire
run of the stream, from the glacier that feeds it to a series of upper
waterfalls and cascades, before the final spectacular plunge. As we hiked, we moved closer and closer to
the falls. We were even treated to a
colorful rainbow in the spray from the falls.
The
final descent was grueling. Switchbacks
moderated the grade somewhat, but the trail still dropped quickly to the bottom
of the valley. That final descent was
nearly 2.000’, and it was really hard on Christy’s knee. We took it slow and stopped for a few breaks,
but that didn’t help much. Eventually
she just wanted to get it over with. We
finally bottomed out at the Whiskey Jack Hostel. I let Christy wait there with our packs,
while I took the short walk back up to the end of the road to retrieve the car.
From
there, we drove back to Lake Louise and checked into the campground. This was our second stay at this
campground. Fortunately we reserved it
in advance, as it was completely full.
The campground is ok and conveniently located, but large and very
busy. It’s also close to a very busy
railroad, and trains pass by frequently.
We
drove into Banff for dinner. We ended up
at the Bear Street Tavern, which was outstanding. We shared chicken wings, nachos, and a huge
salad. It was a great meal, but the
chicken wings were definitely the most memorable part.
Back to the Canadian Rockies
Back to Hiking and Backpacking Trip Reports
Please remember to Leave No Trace!