In August of 2011, our small but pleasant americano-canadian company decided to go for a little walk in the Canadian Rockies. After thoughtful meditation over the map, the rough six-day route on Mt Robson and Jasper Park was laid. Under the moans of my non-bear-proof friend I bought a heap of anti-bear bangers and ran my car to Calgary to collect my friends from their many flights in. After the last member of our expedition was hounded down, a complicated topological problem arose, namely: how to cram four persons with four huge backpacks into my little car. The miracle of compact packing made its knightly business, but in my soul, I was happy to be the driver, because this status released me from having different strange things stowed on my head, shoulders and knees.
Stuffed like a cat, we drove to Mt Robson Provincial Park. This park is relatively small compared to its huge neighbors, but it keeps the highest and most difficult to climb mountain in the Rockies, which also gives the park its name. In the evening we were in the camp near the trailhead, where we celebrated our union.
In the morning, the gods decided that the sun is an excessive element in our journey and turned it off. The sky became grey, pale and muddy with unpleasant allusion to the rain. But a plan is a plan, so we packed our backpacks, bought permits for hiking and camping in the park and started on our path.
Our target for the first day is the far end of Berg Lake that is 22 kilometers from the start, but for now we are going along Robson River to Kinney Lake. The trail up to Kinney Lake is wide and not too step, so people bike to the lake and even take very little dogs for a walk. Here is the lake.
From the lake the trail starts to shoot up to Berg Lake via Valley of a Thousand Waterfalls. I should mentions that it is the rare case when I believe in numbers taken from names. My bill to the gods for non-photogenic weather was unbelievable.
On the train along the river to the wall sustaining the Berg Lake.
From this point the trail goes up a bit more, near the really huge waterfalls with personal names.
White Falls
Falls of pool
Emperor Falls
Now we are on the plateau and are walking along the river to the Berg Lake, to which the glaciers from Mt Robson crawl.
We are at the camp already by dusk, so there is only time to set the tents, prepare supper, and try to appeal to the gods with hopes for proper weather tomorrow.
To be continue:
Day two
Day three
Golden squirrel
Marmot
Day four – first half
Day four – second half
Day five
Pika
Day six
Day seven -Sentinel Pass
Sentinel Pass – Ground Squirrel
Rockies Fungi
