Skip to main content

Day 103 - Glacier Canada

I started the day disappointed but finished the day elated. My planned visit to the most beautiful area in the Canadian Rockies, Lake O'hara, would have to wait until another trip as the buses were full and the weather too cloudy/gloomy to warrant the 12 mile hike in/out. So I drove two hours west to Glacier Canada. 

I first secured a campsite near old railway spiral loop tressels. 

Then I hiked the 10/10 boot rated Abbot Ridge trail, going steeply up a forested hillside then by a glacial lake then up and nicely-graded trail which opened to the craggy peaks of the Selkirk Range. 

After an easy but still intense 200 foot sloped snowbank crossing (much easier with newly learned kick-step technique and mini crampons), I ascended to a meadow with a fire watch hut and water tank, then proceeded up the ridge. 

The ridge winded around the other side of the mountain and concluded with breathtaking 360 degree views of multiple valleys and glaciers.  Despite being late in the day, I scrambled higher up the ridge past the trail end.

And took a celebratory pic among the vast mountain range. I would drive west tomorrow out of the mountains, concluding a two week voyage through the most beautiful mountains my eyes have ever seen. 

The sun painted the trail down the mountain like a master artisan paints his canvas. You can see why I ended the day elated. 




Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Day 161 - JMT Purple Lake and Tully Hole

We got our first glimpse of smoke far across the valley as we climbed higher. Up on a ridge after a morning climb, we followed a side trail to an open viewpoint beyond the trees. Selfie:) The smoke, while visible, seemed to give the mountains a blue glow-- like a highlighter to a sketch. You could still see the edges of the mountain ridges, the story of their creation. We could hike in this. But the smoke looked worse farther south. Or it was getting worse as time rolled incessantly forward.  On day two we had ran into a northbound hiker we nicknamed Speedy Steve. Speedy Steve had hiked 18 miles a day through eight consecutive smoke-filled days, including atleast three "very bad days" when he couldn't see the surrounding mountains, the sun glowed a haunting orange and ash accumulated overnight. On the way to Purple Lake we ran into three dirty, beat up, tired north-bound hikers with a similar story. They had to spend one night in an emergency hut at Muir Pass to avoid the...

Day 48 - Canyonlands Island in the Sky Pt 2

Mountain biking the 100-mile 4x4 White Rim Road is said to be a great American adventure. But without any water, you need a follow truck to carry your water and gear, and reservations must be made three months in advance. So I just decided to hike down 1500 feet to the white rim and hike the road a bit.  Steep, steep, steep was the descent down the Goosberry trail, but I reached the rim level in only 45 minutes!  I hiked further down to the white rim road and then past to the very edge. Looking around for a possible path down to the river bottom 1000 feet below was a fun task, but a hard one as the "white rim rock" has a solid sheer 50-150 feet dropoff. I found one possible path down but a lone Nalgene bottle left down below the white rocks indicated an aborted attempt down. I continued to walk the rim for a few hours, finally climbing a small Mesa edge to enjoy the high view of the other side.  After a brief respite, I walked back an hour along the Jeep 4x4 road to the G...

Day 41 - Escalante Coyote Gulch

This one or two night Coyote Gulch hike was an easy test of my newly learned navigation skills.  Anxious to get started I awoke at 545 just as the sun was rising.  I followed an obvious landmark, a tall thin spire called Chimney Rock, northwest to Hurricane Wash (a drainage running into Coyote Gulch).  After a couple of hours of walking up over and around slick rock, I entered the famous Coyote Gulch.  The walls around me raised up, darkened and th water flow increased--like nature hinting at the scenic beauty ahead.  The normally crowded Coyote Gulch was fairly empty on this early Thursday morning, giving the canyon a very peaceful and quiet feeling-- fragile almost. Down steam, I ran into the famous Jacob Hamilton Arch and then thirty minutes further-- the Coyote Natural Birdge. Both were beautiful due to their see through the wall character, but both would be overshadowed in my memory by the Stevens Arch tomorrow. Pics.  By 1pm, I had hiked for six hours...