Tonquin Valley Trail (4 days)
To complete this 46 km horseshoe, you need to park your car at one end, then get dropped off at the other end. We planned to add some off-trail exploration to our hike as well. The objective was of course the fabled Rocky Mountain Caribou which Dom and I failed to find back in 2013 during a quite intense 2-day hike. Falling shy of Wolverine, is is almost my Holy Grail of BC wildlife. This time we had 4 days to look for them.
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| Source: Parks Canada |
Day 1
We got dropped of mid-day and hiked the 7 km to Astoria campground, a sensible choice having already hiked 11 km earlier that day. There was a Three-toed Woodpecker there (and loads of mosquitoes).
Day 2
We got up pretty early and hiked the longer route via Chrome Lake and Surprise Point. We came across some almost definite Grizzly dropping with fish bones in it, and passed by prime moose habitat but didn't see any moose. We did find 3 confiding Spruce Grouse though. It rained a lot and the trail was a river of mud. Further down, we passed several very pleased fishermen (and a few fisherwomen) returning from the backcountry lodge with tales of spawning Rainbow Trout practically jumping out of the river, and a large Black Bear who was getting in on the action. We looked forward to seeing that! By the time we got to Surprise Point, it as raining so heavily that we were getting soaked. Our rain coats were suitable but neither of us had brought rain pants and our hiking boots were not waterproof either. Some gentlemen invited us to drink tea under their tarp. We put on all our extra clothing because we were quite cold! I jokingly asked them if I could buy their tarp (since they'd decided to leave that day). The guy actually was willing to part with it for whatever I had in my wallet (about 30 bucks). However, they told us that we might instead want to pitch our tent in the horse stable up by the ranger station, just shy of Clitheroe where we had our reservation. We decided to do that. When the rain stopped, we made a go for it, lingering by the bridge to watch the amazing Rainbow Trout spawning and hoping to catch a glimpse of the elusive large Black Bear that was seen there earlier. We found only his droppings. We trudged through a soggy moorland to reach the ranger cabin where the the horse stable afforded us some respite from the rain which was picking up again. It was somewhat biblical. In the evening, we hiked back to the bridge to try again for the Black Bear but didn't see it. I did get a very fleeting glimpse of what I am 95% sure what a Northern Pygmy Owl atop a spruce behind the ranger cabin. There was a couple from Canmore there with her son who were also taking advantage of the shelter. They were going to turn back in the morning but we offered them a ride to their car if they could meet us in the parking lot in 2 days' time, enabling them to complete the full horseshow and not miss the spectacular Maccarib Pass.
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| Grizzly droppings! At the end of the hike 3 days later, a family showed us pictures of a mom and 3 cubs taken the same day as this photo, on a footbridge very near this spot on the Astoria river |
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| Male and female Spruce Grouse |
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| Rainbow Trout spawning in the Astoria River |
Day 3
We packed up and headed toward Amethyst Lake campground, our next camp a short 4.5 km away. Just before passing the Tonquin Valley Adventures Lodge, Matas immediately recognized the form of 4 Caribou resting in the subalpine meadow. I was so juiced!! To me they looked like a pile of branches! We proceeded along the trail toward their area. They then got up and started walking around on both sides of us, feeding on vegetation. They were all 4 of them males. It looked like they too were shedding winter fur just like the Mountain Goats we'd seen earlier. They seemed very comfortable around humans, which made me wonder if this was a behavioural adaptation to avoid wolves? My favourite moment was when the little one walked up to me until he was staring at me from 4 meteres away. Sharing this moment with these highly endangered Caribou was quite surreal. Decided we were satisfied with our encounter, we moved on to camp. We spent the afternoon hiking off-trail in the moorlands beyond Tonquin Valley Backcountry Lodge (visible on the above map). We'd heard this area can have Caribou as well but didn't find any there on this particular day. But the alpine scenery was really spectacular and felt like one of the most remote and undisturbed places I've ever been. Matas was reluctant to drudge through the saturated bog, adamant about keeping his boots dry - a foolish wish. But I stubbornly refused to turn back because I had a feeling we were gonna see something crazy. Eventually we both gave up the notion of preserving dry boots after precariously dodging puddles all morning. We hiked up the rocky moraine at the base of the 'Ramparts' mountain range for a commanding view of three different valleys. It was the most Pikas I've ever heard from one spot.
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| The area behind Tonquin Valley Backcountry Lodge - supposed to be good for Caribou |
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| What we reckon is a Grizzly track (on the main trail between Amethyst camp and Maccarib camp) |
Day 4
On our final day, we got up early because we had about 23 km ahead of us (+ whatever off-trial we were gonna do). We passed the family from the ranger cabin who said they were still game for a ride. Virginia Rails, Lincoln's Sparrows and Marsh Wrens provided the soundtrack for our hike. We broke off from the main trail somewhere near the highest part of the pass, hiking north. We then followed the ridgeline east and then a bit south to link back with the main trail. We didn't find any Ptarmigans but did get some ridiculous 360 views.
After you pass Portal Creek camp there are 8 km to go and they are the longest 8 km you can imagine. Despite passing the family long before, they caught up with us less than 10 minutes after started organizing the car. We were gonna try and fit all 3 of them in but decided it would be more cautious to give the dad a ride over to his car and then he could just go back for his wife and son. It is always satisfying to do some strangers a favour.
We camped at Wapiti campground by the highway that night and rested up for our hike of Mt. Edith Cavell the following morning, bright and early. Too bad the showers were out of commission for the season! We could really use one by this point! At least there are always alpine lakes and waterfalls! While driving over the the charging station to get my camera battery, I had to be careful not to collide with these massive Elk that walked around the campground like they owned the place! Their deranged screams could be heard early in the morning.
We got to the parking lot very early on July 15th so that we would be the first hikers on the trail, eager to see any of the shier wildlife. To our surprise, the alpine section of the trail was till cordoned off, despite it being advertised as opening "early to mid July." Our best guess is that basic tourists tend to walk around the snow patches, trampling the alpine plants in the process. We skipped the barrier and enjoyed the trail to ourselves, careful to walk over the snow patches and not to step on any of the alpine vedge. It was quite cold, misty and a bit rainy and I think still too early in the season to see much wildlife up there. We think it must liven up later toward August and September. No wildlife of note (other than a couple rosy finches flying over) but we saw a seriously cool rainbow from the top. We hurried back down to avoid running into any trouble for our clandestine hike.
We'd planned on chilling in the campground for the rest of the day and then doing another hike the next day but it was not even noon yet so we figured we could easily squeeze in Wilcox pass that same day. But before we did anything else we wanted to go into town to find a badly needed laundromat and get gas, more of those craft beers (Folding Mountain - soooo good!) and some overpriced but very good pizza from Northface. Then we headed south for Wilcox Pass. A suicidal bighorn sheep darted across the highway just before we reached the Icefield tourist area. It took some effort to find the trailhead for Wilcox Pass trail (there are 2) but eventually we found it. Evidently it is an extremely popular trail, judging by the overflowing parking lot. The abundance of people didn't seem to matter because they were spread out quite a bit on the trail (it is 8 km long but continues as a 'wilderness route' well beyond that. Furthermore, the wildlife on this trail are so used to people that they are actually much more tame and easy to observe. Take this Bighorn Sheep for instance:
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| Columbian Ground Squirrel |
The main reason we came here was because I wanted to see the big Bighorn Sheep rams, but it is an outstanding trail for scenery alone. Check this out:
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| Mount Athabasca viewed from the Wilcox Pass trail |
We spotted 4 Bighorn rams resting quite far off the trail, but didn't want to go off-trail for photos due to all the other hikers around. We continued till the end of the trail then turned around at the 4 km mark. We played with the idea of continuing but we were pretty hiked out at this point and didn't see the prospect of seeing much more wildlife so we headed back. On the way back, those 4 Bighorn rams were no longer there. To our delight, they showed up further down the trail and then walked right in front of us; one was 3 m from me at one point while we sat on the ground taking pictures. They made some funny faces!
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| Least Chipmunk |
We returned triumphantly to the car and debated our next move. Should we leave Jasper and move on after only 1 day of day hikes? Should we hike Parker Ridge? Or will it just be more of the same? We didn't think we could get views any more epic than what we'd already seen. We called Revelstoke and Glacier NP to ask about the backcountry conditions. The guy said that most routes are still snowbound so that kind of eliminated that option. I suggested going into Alberta to look for Great Gray Owls and Yellow Rails near Cochrane, but Matas wasn't keen on the idea as it was fairly out of our way. But a serious group of old timers (some kind of hiking club) spoke very fondly of a certain Iceline Trail in Yoho National Park. It is a 22 km loop. Neither of us had ever been there, so we decided to go for it, despite the fact that our bodies were worn out and the last thing we wanted to do was another knee-crusher. We said "lets just go there, check it out and then decide." When we got to Yoho, we drove up a winding road up a spectacular valley flanked by glaciers and waterfalls on both sides. Halfway up, there was a Grizzly Bear walking on the side of the road! My camera went full machine gun. But it was a bit sad because the bear looked starving. It walked up the the back of our car and sniffed around the back hatch (where all the food was stowed). Up at the campground, a couple told us that 1 hour earlier they'd seen a similar-sized PURE WHITE Grizzly Bear with it along the road! They must have been siblings. We couldn't find any more bears despite trying.
The upper campground at Yoho is absolutely epic. You have to park your car then use a wheel barrow to tote your stuff about 200 m to the camping area which is equipped with bear lockers. The lack of cars gives it a backcountry feel but without hiking a huge distance to get there. A huge waterfall dumps glacier water into the Yoho River. What a setting to camp in!
Needless to say we did hike the 22 km Iceline Trail (what else was there to do?). There wasn't much wildlife but the views were breathtaking. We'd seen so many glaciers and mountains that we were ready to go home by that point. Our bodies were broken.
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| Little Yoho Falls |
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| Audubon's Warbler |
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| American Dipper |
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Gray-crowned Rosy-finch - the only alpine bird species we spotted on our long hike
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| The edge of the treeline goes straight from forest to rock barrens |
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| These are the falls near our campsite but viewed from above |
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| View from the road, hiking back to camp |
Mt. Revelstoke National Park
We left Yoho in the morning for a visit to Mt. Revelstoke, to drive up the recently opened Meadows In The Sky Parkway. Despite spending a field season there, I never managed to make it up back in 2013 so I really wanted to check it out. The ranger said he had not seen any Northern Hawk Owls or Grizzly Bears this year, which were the two species we were keen on seeing. But the short hike we did was quite scenic anyway. The subalpine meadows were still mostly covered in snow and the backcountry camping was still closed (too much snow). Although a few Glacier Lillies were blooming here and there, a favourite food of the Grizzlies later in the summer.
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| The few patches of meadow that were not covered in snow were decorated with Glacier Lillies It was the 11th day of the trip and we were ready to go home! We drove to Kamloops and looked for Great Gray Owls at a spot where Ramata and I had found one 3 years ago, but it was uneventful. We camped at Tunkwa Lake Provincial Park, then spend the morning driving along a forest service road looking to spot a Moose (if we had, we would have spotted every possible species of hooved mammal on the trip). We fell short of that goal but were ready to go home by this point! We'd started our trip on the afternoon of July 6th and it was now July 18th. We'd hiked about 170 km by my estimation. We really needed a shower. |
