High Sierra Topix

Day hiking with binoculars is a great way to explore Canada's brilliant National Parks of Banff and Jasper.  No permits are necessary, and because the famous "Icefield Highway" runs right through such exquisite parkland, there are many highlight areas to hike into.  Most of it is of course, quality wildlife habitat.  To base yourself for these day trips, there are campgrounds, wildly expensive hotels, or quiet dirt roads for free.  We pulled off  three exciting and beautiful day trips, and also did the drive up to the town of Jasper, and then around to Medicine and Maligne Lakes via the Maligne Lake Road.  We enjoyed the quiet edges of scenic pullouts, watching wildlife, or looking for more animals, and ambling up small hills and down to the riversides.  For me, there was a lot of gazing up at the incredible mountains, trying to work out the geo-history, and just being grateful they are there.

We thought to keep going north to visit Mt. Robson, and then to drive down along the western side of the range, hoping that it was the quieter side.  I'm sure it is, but it looked hard to get close to the high mountains for lack of roads, which is probably a good thing.  So we decided to head back down, more or less the same way, though there is a road which parallels Hwy. 1 part of the way-- that's Hwy. 1A.  We saw some of the sights we had missed on the way up.  At the Icefield Center,  (a busy, but fascinating place) we learned that one of the highest points of the Columbia Icefield, called "Snow Dome," is a rare triple divide.  Its meltwater flows into three oceans-- Atlantic, Pacific, and Arctic!  On our last day in Banff, we made it to the famously beautiful Peyto Lake.  We found that it is also famous for the crowding on its viewing platform-- it was like a rugby scrum!   But there too, the crowd was concentrated, and small trails led us far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife.  We went up the ridge to an even better vantage point, as the only other couple were heading down.  Between our ridge and the viewing area, there is a trail that leads down to the shores of this amazing lake, and on up the valley, or across the valley to Caldron Lake, and an easy climb of Caldron Peak. 

All of the day-hikes we made had the potential to be extended in several directions., both on, and off trail.   I only wish I was in shape to hike 20 mile days, day after day-- you could see so much fantastic country!  I also wish the Bull Moose would let me ride them, and the Grizzlies would let me pet them... and a lot of other fantasies.

Here are a few snapshots of various places we visited:

Peyto Lake.


On Moraine Lake.


Hiking above Moraine Lake.


Parker Ridge. 


Wilcox Ridge with a Bighorn Sheep of the resident herd.  I saw about 18 sheep, many large rams. 


Heading up Wilcox Peak. 


Our Day Trips
1st Day-hike-- Parker Ridge.

The day after we came out from our backpacking trip to see Mt. Assiniboine in southern Banff NP, we went up Parker Ridge. 
We had breakfast under a tree, to get away from a light rain, briefly played with the dogs, and then leashed 'em up and off we went.  Nice trail, 2.7 miles to the top of the lovely ridge, and then another rain.  We burrowed into a Spruce tree to stay dry, and watched all the hikers bail out except for a hardy family from northern Saskatchewan, who joined us.  Their little boy and girl loved our dogs, who loved them, and then the rain stopped.  Brilliant view of the North Saskatchewan Glacier, which flows down from Snow Dome, and heads east all the way east to Hudson Bay.  It's the largest of the Columbia Icefields outlet glaciers.  





 Parker Ridge.


After the rain.


N. Saskatchewan Glacier, and its meltwater lake below.  You can extend this day-hike by climbing the ridge all the way to that easy-looking peak in the clouds, or by descending off-trail, 4-5 miles down to the glacier.  That would make for a nice 12 mile day.  



Back down in the valley, a few miles to the NW, is more of the Columbia Icefield, and the Athabasca Glacier.  We got to see it in wonderfully wild weather! 

Believe it or not, the debris on the lower glacier is a bus full of visitors.  Well, why not?!  It's better than setting each one up on a skidoo, and cutting them loose to race up to the neve!


Dome glacier falling down from Dome Peak, and in its travels, heading into the Sunwapta River, and then the Athabasca, and on northward to finally join the MacKenzie, and enter the Arctic Ocean.


Mts. Athabasca and Andromeda, and a domestic wolf rolling in scat.  River banks are good places to look for Coyotes and Wolves.  They roam the riversides looking for whatever edible thing may have washed up.  Never saw any wild canids-- damn.


Bighorn ewe by the roadside.  We found Bighorn Sheep more than a few times.


Bighorn ewe and lamb.


Young bull Moose. (I'm assuming it's young because the antlers are much smaller than the other bull Moose we saw, but might the antler growth be timed differently?  rlown?)


You're not allowed to ride them.



White-tailed Deer.


Human species, female.


We saw the Deer and Moose on the way here-- Medicine Lake.


Maligne Lake, with a stunning clear sky and rich light after the rain-- nothing malignant* about it.  

*Maligne Lake, River, and Mountain take their name from the French word for malignant, or wicked.  Named by early French traders, perhaps for the turbulence of the river, and its treacherous confluence with the Athabasca River.  [Locals pronounce it "Mah-leen."]

Maligne Lake



Back in Jasper, Lizzie by the intrepid (and only $800!) Plymouth Voyager.  But the town and NP were still effectively shut down due to damage to power lines from the Chetamon Fire, still raging in the NP.  There were load limitations with the temporary generators.  We managed to pay cash for a couple of fuel canisters, so we were all set.  Jasper seems like a nice town.



Two stops, and short walks along the Sunwapta/Athabasca River.



I soon learned that these tilted strata slopes are not trivial!  Steeper than they look, and sketchy scrambling.


We're back at the Columbia Icefield, and ready for another day-hike right across the valley from it.



2nd Day-hike-- Wilcox Ridge and Peak. 

Here's a great example of easy access to the Jasper NP backcountry:  From the TH to Wilcox Ridge the main trail heads to several overlooks, the last being 3 miles in.  You will see 95% of the people on those first 3 miles.  Beyond, a wide open country awaits in several directions.  There's a faint trail to Wilcox Pass, another 1.5 miles distant, so there and back would be a nice day-hike of 9 miles, with an easy 1100' gain. If you want to add more heights and sights, you can hike about 1.5 miles above the pass to find Wilcox Lake, and there are some very inviting peaks and passes to climb from there!  So, you can make it a long challenging trip of 12-15 miles, including nice off-trail travel, or you can turn around at the very first brilliant Icefield viewpoint, at just 1.5 miles in, for a 3 mile day.  We wandered with the Sheep, and then I climbed Wilcox Peak, saw more sheep! and made a small circle back around, for a 9 mi., 2,750' day. 




2 Bighorn Rams, with Wilcox Peak beyond. Soon I would wish I had their skill on the cliffs.







 First of several false summits.

Nearly there.


 Now I'm up, and happy.


Then the weather turned on me.


 ... and chased me back down.


My love of stormy skies puts me at risk.  It's amazing to watch the clouds build, darken, flatten out, and the next thing you know--  Thunder and Lightning, and it's pissing down on you!


The storm did come on that night, and it snowed for the first time in a long while.







We hiked above Peyto Lake to finally see it.



Can you overdose on mountain beauty?!



This is the turquoise Moraine Lake at dawn.  Still cool, but we'd be seeing it in all its glory that afternoon.  We planned our third day-hike high above the lake, to see the Valley of the Ten Peaks, and to get onto Sentinel Pass.  Little did we know, there was a Mama Grizzly with her cub up there!  

3rd Day-hike-- Moraine Lake to Sentinel Pass.


Trail to Sentinel Pass.






Sentinel Pass.  We were told that a Griz and her cub were up there, above the small lake.  Pretty exciting news!


On the pass.  We re-met the East Indian family whom we had helped to view the Bears, sharing our 2 binocs with them (and many others).  They had to take our pictures, and we theirs.  They were wowed by my rough Hindi--  I still remember a bit of trail talk, eg., how to ask: "Where the hell is the trail to _______?"  and "How far is it?  And of course:   "Ees pahar ka naam kya hai?  (ie., "What's the name of that mountain?")  It takes very little Hindi/Urdu for a Yank to stand out.  Anyhow, the Bears were  down by the lower lake.... lazing about, nursing, playing, and finally entering the water to cool off.  We watched them for about an hour, and the antics of the cub were hilarious!!






Saw them again on the way back.  About 12 visitors were stopped on the trail, viewing them with fear and fascination, as we were too close.  An off duty Park guy knew the Bear well, and told us that we were way too close (`40 yards!), but that she, aka Bear # _ _ _ , is a really docile Bear.  Luckily she got up, and moved off into the forest.  Our dogs got good marks again.  They hadn't made a sound, not a growl or a yap here at the Bears, nor before, at the Moose, or the Bighorn Sheep.




With the sun in the west, the color returned to Moraine Lake!

Mt Rundle.





That's the road south, toward home.

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Day-hiking means fast travel, with light backpacks, and it feels great!  But it's' kind of all or nothing with the weather on a day-hike.  I mean that w/o a tent you can't wait out the weather, so you have to play the game of judging what the weather will do... but as they say: "Only fools and weathermen predict the weather."  Without overnight gear, you can pack all the right clothing layers-- including rain gear!   You can also carry a  more extensive medical kit, in case you have bad luck with Bears. Another benefit of day-hiking in Bear country for us, was the lack of long, scary nights in the flimsy tent.  We ended our days in a super-comfortable bed, in the (presumably) Bear-safe little van.  Of course, there are downsides to this method-- no starry, starry nights, and no waking up in the morning, out there amid the beauty.  

On this short trip, we saw many of the iconic places in Banff and Jasper, but we feel like we just barely scratched the surface of those Parklands.  There is so much to see and do up there, especially if the weather is kind to you!  It's worth noting that twice before, on my way to Alaska in early summer, I stopped in this very same area, planning to backpack all around, and was totally shut down by sleety rain, and such dense clouds that my friends and I never felt that we had even seen Banff or Jasper!  This third time indeed held all the charm.  

Fantastic photos, Ian! What an amazing trip! Thank you for some great vacation ideas.

The Banff to Jasper Road is great! We did it, but in a trailer. We found nice campsites that were either free or low cost and no problem with availability. Did you do the short hikes to all the waterfalls? It was very smoky when we went so ended up skipping the long views and concentrated on all the great waterfalls. The Columbia Icefields visitor center was a zoo! I could not believe how crowded it was. Most were big busloads of international visitors, so once on the road there were not equivalent cars. The storms actually make for better photography. I love your storm lighting shots. This makes me want to go back again!

PS, there are some great hot springs on the way up to Banff.

This area is also great for winter road trips. Way back in 1970 my roommate and I hitch hiked from Laramie Wyoming to Banff for winter break! We were out on the road thumbs (within gloves) out in nearly -40F. The first car always picked us up out of pity. A cafe-motel owner gave us a "free" room that we paid for by being waitresses on Christmas Eve. We did crazy things back then.

You really made me want to plan a trip there for 2024 or 2025. The photos are so evocative and it's so amazingly gorgeous. At least there's a lot of time to plan and consider the many options (like update our passports, drive there, fly and rent a car, take the train for part of it, etc.). It's nice to know from WD's post that there's not a problem with campsite availability.

I am not sure if the campsite availability is normal or a fluke. Getting a campsite near Banff did need a reservation. Interesting thing there was that there was one area for "hard-sided" vehicles only, and another for tents and canvas pop-ups only (which had an electric fence around it to keep bears out). I cannot recall the name of the campground we stayed at. We did that trip last week in August, 2015, not sure if the situation is different now or not.