NEVER KISS A MARMOT ON THE MOUTH (PART II)

I got up early the next morning. I wanted to hike to Odaray Grandview, which is complicated. Only 4 groups (of any size) are allowed to hike there each day because it is in a sensitive wildlife corridor. This rule isn’t really enforced except by the honor system. Still, I wanted to make sure that I was one of the 4 groups that day. The best way to ensure that was to get there early.

Christy decided to skip this one. It is a more difficult hike, and the knee pain she had endured the previous afternoon had been discouraging. She planned to sleep in before spending the day relaxing by Lake O’Hara.

I made coffee and an egg and bagel sandwich for breakfast. I did leave all of the bacon for Christy though. That was pretty sporting of me, but I had one ulterior motive. I didn’t want the smell of my bacon to wake the entire campground. That could incite a riot.

I left the campground at 8am and hike past the lodge and the ACC hut. The lodge was quiet, but people were beginning to stir at the hut. I passed through an alpine meadow, and noticed that it was a cloudless morning. That was promising! The sky had been clear all night, making for a cold morning. So far, the actual weather had surpassed the forecast.

A moderate climb brought me to Schaffer Lake, which isn’t really anything special. I continued up to MacArthur Pass. A trail continues here down the Ottertail River valley, a major bear habitat. The trail is only open to hiking at certain times of the year, and usage is restricted during those times. I turned towards the Odaray Grandview and reached a kiosk. I signed in and noted that I was the first person that day. 3 more groups would be allowed to hike it that day. Starting the next day, the restrictions would increase, as only 2 groups would be allowed each day. Apparently the bears feed in this area a lot in late August.

I wasn’t supposed to start up until 9:30. It was a little after 9 and it was too cold to sit around. I decided that it was close enough to 9:30 and started up. The climb was pretty stout, but it was worth it. The best view was of the peaks surrounding Lake MacArthur. Unfortunately the sun had crested the mountain tops in that direction, making the light harsh for photography. This view would actually be better late in the day, but of course there is no guarantee that you could legally do the hike at that time. There were many other good views as well. Cathedral Mountain above Linda Lake and Cathedral Lake was particularly impressive.

I reached the end of the official trail, which is far below the summit of the actual mountain. I did follow cairns a short distance to get a view of a glacier spilling down the side of the mountain. Some exploration in the opposite direction led to an even better view of Lake MacArthur and Lake O’Hara.

I headed down a bit later, and passed a woman and a teenage girl on their way up. Later I found out that only one other group did the hike that day. Although only 4 groups are allowed, only 3 actually took advantage of it that day.

I returned to MacArthur Pass and hiked the Low Trail up to Lake MacArthur. There are actually two trails leading to it – the Low Trail and the High Trail. They form a short loop, so backtracking isn’t necessary.

My first view of Lake MacArthur blew me away. It is as pretty as Lake O’Hara, but considerably larger. My early start continued to pay off. I had the entire area to myself. I wandered around before working my way to the east end of the lake. I scampered up some rocks above the lake and eventually reached an overhanging section of rock. It looked like a natural diving board 30’ above the water. It was a tempting spot for a swim, but it was still a chilly, windy morning despite the sunshine.

I loitered for a while before other people started to show up. At that point I figured it was time to resume my hike. My plan from there was to hike the All Souls section of the alpine circuit to the Opabin Plateau. Then, if the weather held out, I would continue over to Lake Oessa, up to Wiwaxy Gap, and back down to Lake O’Hara.

I started down the high trail. After a short distance I paused because another hiker was coming up the trail. I was stunned when I saw that it was Christy! This was probably the best surprise I’ve ever received on the trail! I wasn’t expecting to see her until that evening. I was thrilled that she had decided to give the hike a try. She told me that she decided that there wasn’t any reason to hold back. We only had two days left. She might as well go for it and enjoy the area as much as she could. And to think, I was going to attribute her motivation to all that bacon I left her.

I hiked back to Lake MacArthur with her. We returned to the “diving board” and had lunch. Afterwards, we spotted a marmot licking a rock like it was made of ice cream. I’m guessing that it was salty – perhaps somebody peed on it?

We hiked back down the Low Trail together, since Christy didn’t want to descend the High Trail, which is steeper. We parted ways at Schaffer Lake. Christy headed directly down to the day use shelter at Lake O’Hara near the lodge for ice cream. I wanted to continue my hike, but was having second thoughts about my route. It was clouding up rapidly, and the alpine circuit is almost entirely above tree line. It would be a bad place to get caught in a thunderstorm. Instead, I decided to check out the wildflower display in the Linda Lake / Cathedral Lake area. Those areas are on the opposite side of the Lake O’Hara region from MacArthur Lake, but it was only early afternoon.

I descended the Big Larches Trail, mainly because I wanted to see the larches. Larches are evergreen trees, but they are unique because their needles turn gold in autumn. It was too early for fall color, but I wanted to see the trees for the novelty. I was also treated to more entertainment from rodents. First I spotted a pica, which was thrilling. We see lots of marmots, but picas rarely make an appearance. A bit later I saw a chipmunk with a face full of vegetation.

I passed the ACC hut for the second time that day before entering deep forest. A long, gradual descent led to the Morning Glory Lakes. I passed a large group of hikers heading back to the ACC hut along here. On the far side of one of the Morning Glory Lakes I was treated to an outrageous display of Fireweed. I then hiked over a wooded ridge and descended to Linda Lake. There were some nice views from the lake, despite the overcast sky. I then continued towards Cathedral Lake. This stretch of trail featured a mixture of woods and meadows. The meadows were a riot of color, featuring a surprising variety of flowers. The ranger was right – it was an impressive display. Still, my favorite area of the day for wildflowers was the fireweed back at Morning Glory Lakes.

By the time I reached Cathedral Lake the weather was really looking threatening. It was getting late, too, so I decided to skip the climb to the Cathedral Prospect. I’m sure that is a nice view, but with the deteriorating weather, I didn’t see any point. Plus, I didn’t want Christy to worry. I hiked back to Linda Lake, and then took a more direct trail to the campground. The last couple of miles were in deep forest and were pretty boring. Some stretches of forest were pretty, but I was mainly focused on keeping a good pace. I have to admit that I was getting tired. I’d been at it for 12 hours! A cold rain finally began to fall on this final stretch, which kept me moving. I stopped to put on a rain jacket and hat, but skipped the rain pants. This was questionable, but I didn’t have far to go, and I was moving fast.

I found Christy waiting for me in one of the cooking shelters. Both were packed due to the weather. Luckily she had saved me a seat near the woodstove! That warmed me up and dried me out. We ate dinner, played cards, and finished off the whiskey. By the time we headed to bed, the rain had stopped. That was encouraging, as I wanted to squeeze in one more hike the next morning.

LAST HURRAH

Friday morning started with pancakes and the second helicopter rescue of the trip. We watched a helicopter hover above the Wiwaxy Peaks directly above the campground. They lowered two medics before hoisting them and a pair of climbers back up. Later we found out that 2 climbers had been stranded on top of the mountain the previous night, in the rain. Rockfall had injured one of them, and they hadn’t been able to hike down. The climbers were actually lodge employees on their day off. Later we found out that rescue went well, and the injury was relatively minor.

I started my final hike of the trip at 9:30. My goal was to hike the alpine circuit to Wiwaxy Gap and on to Lake Oesa. Finishing that portion would mean that I’d completed all of the alpine circuit except for the All Souls Prospect. It would also allow me to return to Lake Oesa, which was worthy of a return visit. Christy decided to skip this one. Her knee was pretty tender from the previous day, and this hike would be steep and rugged.

The climb from Lake O’Hara to Wiwaxy Gap is pretty grueling. I was short on time, so I did it without taking any meaningful breaks. I met a woman from Edmonton hiking solo during the ascent. She had survived 29 knee surgeries over the years, mostly due to skiing accidents. Somehow she was still able to hike despite all of that damage.

It was a cloudy morning, but the views were still fantastic on the ascent. Most of the views were of Lake O’Hara and the surrounding mountains. However, from Wiwaxy Gap we were treated to a bonus view down the valley to the north. That valley was full of fog, but the surrounding peaks towered above it. I even caught a glimpse of the Waputik Icefield in the distance.

The hike from Wiwaxy Gap to Lake Oesa on the Huber Ledges section of the alpine circuit was a lot of fun. There was a little bit of scrambling, but nothing dangerous or terribly difficult. The views of the Oesa cirque were fantastic from my elevated perspective. The approach is much more dramatic than from the direct route up from Lake O’Hara.

I reached Lake Oesa at noon. I had a quick lunch before descending the trail directly back to Lake O’Hara. I reached the lakeshore quickly despite heavy traffic on the trail. I decided I had enough time to hike the lakeshore the long way. That took me past Seven Veil Falls, which cascades into the lake. Unfortunately, I didn’t find a good view of the falls from the base. It may be possible to bushwhack up to a better vantage point, but I didn’t have time for that. The sky did clear somewhat, which provided more lovely views from the lakeshore.

I returned to camp at 1:40. We had already packed up that morning, so we spent our last hour lounging around the campground. We caught the bus at 2:30, right after it started raining again.

We drove back to Banff and stopped for an early dinner. We returned to the Bear Street Tavern, since it had been our favorite restaurant of the trip. We had wings, pizza, and salad. Then we headed into Calgary. We spent the night at a Holiday Inn Express downtown. Unfortunately we spent quite a bit of time organizing and packing for our flight home. I walked around downtown a little bit, but we didn’t get much of a chance to explore the city.

The next morning we stopped at Phil’s for breakfast. We picked it because they offered a lot of gluten-free options for Christy. Breakfast was very good, and we headed straight to the airport from there. When we checked in, we discovered that Delta had switched our itinerary. Instead of stopping in Atlanta on our way to Charlotte, we would be going through Minneapolis. This was fine with me, since it meant getting home 30 minutes earlier. Also, one of my bags was 8 pounds over the limit, so we had to do a bit of rearranging at the ticket counter to avoid excess baggage fees. Otherwise, the flights home were smooth. The highlight was the Minneapolis airport. Our gate was in an area with a modern, high tech restaurant. Each seat had a computer screen, and you could order anything you wanted right off the computer. I ordered a beer, and few minutes later somebody brought me a tall cold draught. That was just what I needed before that final flight home.

We will probably return to the Canadian Rockies. The scenery is superb, and even after spending 8 weeks hiking in that area, there is still quite a bit I haven’t done. There are also a few places I’d like to revisit, such as Mount Assiniboine and Brazeau Lake.

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