*This two part blog feature will follow our adventures through Western Canada in July and August of 2019. We spent time in Jasper National Park, Mount Robson Provincial Park, Abraham Lake / Clearwater County area, Yoho National Park, and Banff National Park.*

Day 1: The first day of the trip was mostly a travel and supplies day. Megan, Kia, and myself flew from Pittsburgh through Toronto and landed in Edmonton around noon. Kevin and Kelsey arrived from Salt Lake City about 20 minutes after us and we met up at the Tim Horton's in baggage claim. About 20 minutes later we were loading up our rental van - a 2019 Dodge Caravan that we later named Merle in tribute of our previous Canadian Rockies car, Pearl. The attendant gave me the usual rental car lecture, told me to get the insurance which I swiftly declined, and went over the fees if we were to get a chip in the windshield. A short while later, we were driving out of a major Edmonton storm with a van full of supplies from Walmart and Cabelas and a freshly chipped windshield courtesy of a passing 18-wheeler. The decision to decline the insurance loomed tall in the back of my mind.

The drive on Highway 16 west out of Edmonton is fairly pleasant as you pass through terrain dotted with farms and lakes. The miles ticked by as we drove through Nojack, Edson, Marlboro, Obed, and Hinton. We crested a larger hill and finally saw the pointy Rockies lining the landscape in the distance. Merle chugged along and got us through the Jasper National Park gates as the landscape exploded with the towering peaks of the Rockies. We hung a left on Miette Road outside of Jasper and drove a mile up to our campsite - Pocahontas Campground, a nice little area in the trees at the base of mount Roche Miette. Last time Megan and I were up this way, the mosquitoes were non-existent. As soon as we stepped out of the van, we started to get swarmed and had to generously apply insect repellent. Despite the long drive and our new flying friends, everyone was in high spirits as we reorganized luggage, built a fire, and made dinner for the evening.

Kia’s camper meal told her to ponder the universe for 20 minutes.

Day 2: The next morning we woke up, did the usual morning breakfast / pack up the van routine, and set sail back into the valley. We were greeted with a rainbow over Mount Coronach as we rejoined Highway 16 and some great looking weather. First stop for the day would be Maligne Lake, the largest lake in Jasper National Park. The drive to Maligne is a wonderful one that runs alongside the Maligne River past Medicine Lake and a long list of mountain peaks. For anyone into history or geology, check out the wiki page here for some really cool info on Maligne Lake. We hopped on our tour boat, pilot by Jen and Carlos, and took off to Spirit Island. Spirit Island is an iconic tied-island near the midway point of an end-to-end journey across Maligne and is a significantly spiritual place to the Stoney Nakoda First Nation tribe. We spent a little bit of time walking around the viewpoints there, then headed back to land.

On the drive out from Maligne, Kevin spotted a little slot canyon below us when crossing a bridge. He got out of the van and did some recon, then gave us the ok to enter the canyon. We hiked a short ways up through the ice cold glacier runoff to a pool in the slot with a janky fallen tree as a ladder. This reminded me of a way less trustyworthy rendition of the tree-ladder in Kannarra Creek, Utah. Everyone but Megan and I went up the ladder and explored the slot to a dead end. After the slot canyon side mission, we stopped in the town of Jasper (one of my favorite places on earth) to stock up for the next few days and get some lunch at Jasper Brewing Co.

Heading west out of Jasper on Highway 16 eventually brought us into British Columbia as well as Mt. Robson Provincial Park. We stopped at the visitor center to collect our backpacking permits for Berg Lake and to watch the humorous orientation video for their code of conduct. Mt. Robson / Berg Lake is considered the “crown jewel” of the Canadian Rockies for backpacking. BC Parks works very hard to keep trail impact to a minimum and to keep the land in pristine conditions. Only a certain number of permits are given out each season that allow you to stay at one of the 7 campgrounds, and we were lucky enough to score permits on our preferred dates way back in November 2018 when the reservation system opens up. After the orientation was finished and the permits were secured, we headed across the street to the Robson Meadows Campground where we ate dinner and prepared our gear for our upcoming 3 day adventure around Berg Lake.

Maligne River w/ the Queen Elizabeth Range in the background.

Tormented skies over Maligne Lake Boat House

A boat coming in to dock near Spirit Island

Our water receptacle lineup at Robson Meadows

Day 3: This day was the big day. The biggest of days. The Grand Canyon of days if there ever was a day (for me). We got up nice and early to get a small meal and last minute packing session in before heading down the road to the helipad. We chose to fly into Berg Lake, bypassing 12+ miles and 3,800+ feet of a hike to our destination. Some call it cheating, I call it making the most of our limited time on one of the biggest trips of our lives. The flight with Robson Heli Magic truly was magical; we flew over Kinney Lake, Valley of a Thousand Falls, past Whitehorn Mountain, and into the Berg Lake valley. Before landing, we skirted the glaciers lining Mount Robson, saw a mountain goat way up high on a cliff, then touched down about 1.5 miles away from Berg Lake Campground where we would be staying.

The hike from the drop-off point to the campground solidified what I was hoping - that Mt Robson Provincial Park would be absolutely insane and breathtakingly beautiful. The perfectly maintained trail took us through some meadows, across a couple of wooden plank bridges, and then dropped us off right into Berg Lake Campground, complete with a log house shelter, pit toilets, and very well placed picnic tables and dedicated camp sites. We claimed a few sites, set up the tents, got our gear together, and headed out on our first hike to explore the area.

The route I chose for our first excursion was Toboggan Falls to Hargreaves Lake (with a fun side mission included) and back down the mountain to Berg Lake Trail that linked back to camp. We started with a 1 mile / 800 foot climb alongside Toboggan Falls, which is a glacial runoff creek that cascades down granite slopes and carved out slots in the rock. We hopped around the sheets of rock before rejoining the trail and connecting with the Hargreaves Lake Route heading Southwest. About 1 mile and a huge scare later (Kevin and Kia thought it would be funny to growl like bears while hiding in the trees to scare Megan and I) we reached the lookout viewpoint over Hargreaves Lake. The lake is fed by the Hargreaves Glacier, which I intended to take us off route to go check out after seeing Paul Zizka’s picture of himself taking a dip in the icy water. We meandered down along the lake and onto the rock slabs that took us to the toe of the glacier. The girls laid out and got some sun while Kevin and I went to touch the glacier and inspect the little ice cave at the toe. I had previously gotten Kevin to agree to jump into the little glacier pond, but after testing out the temperature he was having second thoughts. A little bit of coaxing paired with the guarantee of some amazing photos pushed Kevin into finally stripping down to his swimmers and doing a cannonball + dive into a few of the pools. The water legitimately couldn’t have been more than a couple degrees above freezing, and I commend him on his bravery. We tossed back some food and headed back down the mountain towards Berg Lake (Strava activity of the hike can be accessed by clicking here).

I had been keeping a big secret from Megan for almost 6 months. Back in early February I had bought her a ring and planned to propose to her on this Canada trip. My original idea was to propose at Hector Lake where we had spent our anniversary on our last trip looking at the Northern Lights, listening to elk bugle, and taking a canoe out for some paddles. My plan for Hector got thwarted, so I decided to do it one of the days that we were at Berg Lake instead, and today was the day. What made it extra special was that Kia asked us about how we met and other things pertaining to the start of our relationship, so we got to chat it up about some fond memories from 5-6 years ago on the hike back down. Once we got back to camp, we made a massive dinner, ate, and then headed lakeside to take some “group pictures.” My plan was to set up the tripod and put the camera on a timer to snap pics every two seconds, and eventually the rest of the gang would clear out until it was just Megan and I and then I would propose. The camera started snapping away while we took some group shots and did some fun poses. Then I suggested that Megan and I just get a few shots. I lifted her up and we took a couple, and then I set her down, looked into her eyes, and we both started crying. I got down on one knee and made the best decision of my life, and she said YES!. You can read more about my feelings on Megan and the engagement on my IG post here.

After the proposal, we got changed, made some dinner in the shelter, and busted out the cards for some 500 Rummy. The headlamp light bounced off of Megan’s ring over and over again and she spent way more time looking at the ring than paying attention to the game (she lost by a huge amount). We called it quits and returned to our tents right as a big rain storm hit the area, and dozed off to the sound of the droplets hitting the tent followed by thunder and pieces of the glacier breaking off into the lake all night.

Our pilot, Matt. I 100% recommend these guys!

Our playground for three days - the beautiful Berg Lake / Mount Robson Provincial Park

Heading to our campsite. We got an uncharacteristically clear day up there.

Toboggan Falls hike after setting up camp

Berg Glacier from atop the Hargreaves Trail

Shout out to HydroBlu as always for the filter bottles!

Hargreaves Lake with the mighty Mount Robson in the background

Kevin’s icy plunge into the glacial pond

Day 4: The next day, we planned to take it a little bit easier and do some of the shorter hikes in the area. The two adventures I had in mind were to hike to the south shore of Berg Lake and cross the river (if possible) to get up onto the rim of the cauldron lake under Mist Glacier, and to take a stroll north in the evening towards Adolphus Lake. I really wanted to get the Snowbird Pass hike in, but I think it was going to be too much to pack into one day, so we bagged that. I will definitely do it next time we go back though!

The morning started with a sunrise photos of Berg Lake, a light drizzle, and a big breakfast on the shelter porch. I just want to say how awesome it is to have that little log cabin out there in the remote wilderness. It brings lots of backpackers together to eat and share stories, gives you a warm place to get out of the weather if it’s bad outside, and also is host to some events from time to time. After breakfast, we suited up in our rain gear and headed south on the Berg Lake trail for about 1.5 miles and out into the rock field. From there, we made our own path down to the lake outflow, and Kevin and I started scheming on the best place to cross the river. It was a little swift, but not too fast, and we were able to spot some shallower sections after a while of looking. The girls elected not to come with us on this side mission and stay dry. Kevin and I took off our shoes and waded across the river, bouncing across tiny little rock islands as we went. Once on the other side, we geared back up and climbed up the fifty foot scree slope to the ridge.

The view from atop the ridge was absolutely insane. We got a great look down into the cauldron lake with Mist Glacier runoff dripping down into it. A turn to the left and we were able to look out over all of the Berg Lake area, and a turn to the right showed us the evergreen valley and some waterfalls that we would be backpacking into the next day. Kevin said we should go up the knife blade ridge to our left a bit to get an elevated view, and I wasn’t going to argue. We jogged across the scree and large rocks and made our way up to a decent sized boulder halfway up the ridge. The view from on top of the boulder was amazing: panoramic views of the entire area, along with a glimpse of Hargreaves Lake and Glacier from the day before! Top 10 view of all time, for me at least. We spent about an hour up on the ridge, taking some time-lapses and panoramic pictures and taking it all in. We spotted the girls far below us, and made our way back down the slope and crossed the river, saying goodbye to our tiny slice of silent paradise.

The weather started to break when we got back to camp, so we dried out and ate a late lunch while the sun warmed up us up. I went back to the idea of hitting up Snowbird Pass again, but we were teetering on the edge of maybe not having enough time to make it back before sunset. We were also leaving the next day, so I elected to take us on the hike to Adolphus Lake and get back before the sun went down. The stroll to Adolphus is lovely, traversing north on the Berg Lake trail past where the helicopter drop off is at. We walked past lots of wildflowers and creek crossings, and also got to see the ranger cabin and Rearguard Campground. One of the coolest sights that I wanted to check out on this hike was the little boundary marker close to Adolphus Lake. This boundary was the marker between A) Alberta & British Columbia, B) Mount Robson Provincial Park & Jasper National Park, and C) Mountain Time Zone & Pacific Time Zone. We took turns standing with a foot on each side, being in six places at once! I think this is a really cool spot in the Canadian Rockies and I was very happy we got to see it. The trail dead ends a little bit further up at Adolphus Lake, an emerald green lake. I’ve read that this lake is very shallow the whole way across, and also not directly glacier fed so it’s warmer and the best lake to swim in. We didn’t plan to swim there, and that’s fine that we hadn’t because the mosquitoes in the area were awful.

After a few minutes of lingering around at the lake, we started making our way back to the campground. Kevin had a good idea along the way to take a side trail that led to a knoll overlooking the north end of the lake. Since we couldn’t do Snowbird, we figured this would be a nice little side hike to do, and it did not disappoint! When we reached the top, we were awarded with more panoramic views and were even able to catch a great view of the Robson Glacier toe heading up into snowbird pass. It was a good consolation hike and this was another little spot I’m glad we stopped at. Megan, Kia, and Kelsey had a little dance party atop the knoll, and then we headed back down as the sun was setting behind the mountain range. We got back to camp, changed, ate dinner, and played cards in the shelter for a long while. We were up pretty late and shut the shelter down!

Kevin and I scoping out potential river crossing spots

You could say I was a little excited about that view

Kevin on the knife blade ridge. Hargreaves Glacier in the distance.

One Leg Meg on the way to Adolphus later in the day

Alberta / Jasper NP / MST <—-> British Columbia / Mount Robson / PST

Megan found a rock she really liked up on the knoll

Panoramic of Robson Glacier / Snowbird Pass feeding Berg Lake under Rearguard Mountain

Midday clothes dry out in the shelter (taken by Kia)

Day 5: This was our sad day, the day we leave Mount Robson Provincial Park. We got up a little earlier, made breakfast and then packed all of our gear up. Megan and Kia had one final cup of tea out on the shelter porch while taking in the views of the mountains and glaciers. Another backpacker snapped a pic of us out in front of the shelter, and then we were on our way!

I'll reiterate again - the Berg Lake Trail is a masterpiece. The trail is just groomed so nice and takes you through so much varying terrain with so much to see. We worked our way alongside the shoreline of Berg Lake and then headed through a scree field. The trail got slightly muddy (but nothing major) as it dropped down into treeline. We took the side trail out to Emperor Falls, one of the coolest falls I've ever seen. Emperor Falls stands 150 feet tall with a rock ledge forming a water rooster-tail halfway down and sits at 5,300 feet elevation in the park. The water spray was pretty gnarly coming off of the ground, and I was hesitant to stick around there too long, but the closer you get to the falls the less spray there is. We hung out there for a short bit then continued down the trail.

After a short distance, the trail then drops about 2,000 vertical feet to the valley below. The views are pretty big and there are waterfalls galore. I loved this section of trail, although it was getting a little hard on the knees with a massive backpack full of camping and camera gear. We made a few stops at the lookouts along the way, then eventually hit the valley floor and took a lunch break. All around were giant mountain walls with waterfalls streaming down them and it was really lush and green. We continued on, crossing a handful of bridges and eventually went back up a little bit into the forest. We were then spilled out to the northern part of Kinney Lake, another turquoise gem hidden in valley. We stopped for another snack break and noticed black clouds starting to roll up through the valley. It looked like heavy rain, so we got back on the trail to try and beat the storm back to the van. We hit the section of trail where it turns into a wooden boardwalk, and the sky unleashed a heavy downpour on us. I packed up all of my camera gear and we broke out the pack covers and rain jackets and trudged forward. We made it back out to the parking lot a short while later, and most of the group soaked their feet in the river and relaxed. Our total hike out was about 14 miles, 4.5 hours moving time (6.5 total with stops), and we maintained a good pace of 3.1mph when moving. In total between tallying up my Strava activities and iPhone GPS data, we hiked 36.26 miles in our three days in the park. Not too shabby!

The next 2 hours were spent driving back across the the BC / Alberta border and into Jasper. We checked into our room at the Tonquin Inn, showered, and got in contact with family to let them know we were alright. We also got to share the engagement news with family and friends for a little bit, then headed out to meet up with everyone else at Famoso in town. The waitress we had was incredibly overwhelmed with our massive order of food, and we had to give her the rundown of our big backpacking trip so far and that we haven't been eating much for almost 4 days. She thought it was hysterical and did her best to get our order right. We all got our own full pizzas plus some appetizers (Kevin got TWO!) and housed everything. With stomachs full and smiling faces, we did some light shopping and headed back to the room for a luxurious night's sleep on actual beds.

CLICK HERE FOR PART 2!

Megan and Kia drinking their last cup of tea at Berg Lake

Emperor Falls from the adjacent ridge-line

Megan crossing the swinging bridge near Whitehorn Campground

Last picture I took on Day 5 as it started to rain. Almost to the van!

CLICK HERE FOR PART 2!

Canadian Rockies Expedition: Part I

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