See Tom Dempsey’s photos from hiking in Canada September 9-21, 2015 in day-by-day order:
Click “i” to read descriptive Captions. Click the dotted square to scroll a set of thumbnail images. Add any of the above images to your Cart for purchase using my Portfolio site.
Trip description:
- Three gloriously sunny days with no wind made for perfect backpacking to Garibaldi Lake! Garibaldi Provincial Park is east of the Sea to Sky Highway (Route 99) between Squamish and Whistler in the Coast Range, British Columbia, Canada. A hiking loop to Garibaldi Lake via Taylor Meadows Campground is 11 miles (18k) round trip, with 3010 ft (850m) gain. The top of Panorama Ridge is 17 miles round trip with 5100 feet gain from Rubble Creek parking lot (or 6 miles/10k RT with 2066 ft/630m gain from either Taylor Meadows or Garibaldi Lake Backcountry Campground). The vibrant turquoise color of Garibaldi Lake comes from glacial flour suspended in melt water from Sphinx and Sentinel Glaciers. The volcanic pinnacle of Black Tusk (2319 m or 7608 ft) rises above Mimulus Lake, Black Tusk Lake, and Helm Lake, best seen from Panorama Ridge Trail. The Black Tusk is a remnant of an extinct andesitic stratovolcano which formed 1.3-1.1 million years ago: after long glacial erosion, renewed volcanism 170,000 years ago made the lava flow and dome forming the tooth-shaped summit.
- Global warming/climate change: The Helm Glacier had an area of 4.3 square kilometers in 1928, but declined by 78% to 0.92 square kilometers as of 2009. The Helm Glacier’s melting trend mirrors that of all glaciers in the Pacific Northwest and fits into the pattern of glacier retreat across Canada (measured in the Canadian Glacier Retreat Index). From the early 1700s to 2005, half (51%) of the glacial ice cover of Garibaldi Provincial Park melted away (reference: Koch et al. 2008, web.unbc.ca). The record of glacier fluctuations in Garibaldi Park is similar to that in southern Europe, South America, and New Zealand throughout the last century (the 1900s), suggesting a common, global climatic cause.
- Clouds and rain stopped us from a 20th anniversary hike to Berg Lake in Mount Robson Provincial Park, so we continued on to Jasper NP.
- Snow-dusted peaks rose above fall colors at Medicine Lake in beautiful Maligne Valley, Jasper National Park, Canadian Rockies, Alberta. Medicine Lake is not really a lake but is a natural back up in the Maligne River that suddenly disappears underground. Jasper is the largest national park in the Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks World Heritage Site declared by UNESCO in 1984.
- Viewpoints at Upper and Lower Sunwapta Falls are worth seeing in Jasper National Park – a good rainy-day activity. The falling water originates from the Athabasca Glacier.
- Snow magically dusted Mt. Chephren (3307 m or 10,850 ft) which soared majestically above orange and yellow fall colors in Mistaya River Valley along the Icefields Parkway, in Banff National Park, Alberta.
- Snow covered the Waputik Range above beautiful turquoise Peyto Lake (1860 m or 6100 ft), in Banff National Park. Bill Peyto was an early trail guide and trapper in the Banff area. Suspended particles of glacial rock flour create its bright turquoise color. Bow Pass (2068 m or 6787 ft) is the highest point on the Icefields Parkway, and a side road leads to a crowded nature trail to Peyto Viewpoint (and higher bus road to wheelchair access, a much safer way to walk in icy conditions like we found). The lake is fed by Peyto Creek, which drains water from Caldron Lake and Peyto Glacier (part of the Wapta Icefield). Peyto Lake is the origin of the Mistaya River, which heads northwest. (Early snowfall cancelled our backup plan to backpack the Rockwall in Kootenay NP, which had more than a foot of snow at Floe Lake.)
- In Peter Lougheed Provincial Park, Chester Lake is a delightful hike of 5.2 miles round trip with 1000 ft gain through larch forest. Larches are deciduous conifers (with needles turning yellow-orange and dropping in autumn) in the genus Larix, in the family Pinaceae. Extending the hike to Three Lakes Valley is up to 7.8 miles RT with 1800 ft gain to a lake-dotted limestone barrens. Kananaskis Country is a park system in the Canadian Rockies west of Calgary, in Alberta. I grabbed quick photos of a grizzly bear, a cute pica, and a ptarmigan.
- Sunrise nicely highlighted Mount Kidd which reflected in Kananaskis River near Mount Kidd Interpretive Trail (at convenient Mount Kidd RV Park). Kananaskis Country equals the majesty of neighboring Banff National Park with less crowding.
- Hike along beautiful Galatea Creek to Lillian Lake (7.5 miles round trip with 1614 gain) or on to Galatea Lakes (10 miles RT with 2214 ft gain as we did) in Spray Valley Provincial Park, from H40 south of Kananaskis Village.
- Wind whipped water waves created rainbows at Waterton Lake in Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta. In 1932, Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park joined Glacier National Park in Montana with Waterton. UNESCO honored Waterton-Glacier as a World Heritage Site (1995) containing two Biosphere Reserves (1976).
See also my related articles (with multiple trips consolidated):