In the summer of
2010 I worked in a small café at the Bolton Creek Trading Post in Peter Lougheed
Provincial Park, Kananaskis Alberta. This isolated campground South of Canmore
hired summer students to serve the influx of campers in the high season.
Since leaving, I’ve always wanted to come back and visit, and Bill was
interested to see where I used to work.
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| The Boulton Creek Trading Post, where I used to work |
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| After a very rainy morning, finally getting some sunshine! |
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| Wassup? |
In 2013, three
summers after I worked in the valley, record breaking rainfall flooded out much
of the area. Highway 40 was in many places, decimated. Hiking trails and
bridges were completely washed out. People were trapped in the park and campers
had to be airlifted out, while the staff was brought extra food and hunkered
down at high ground. Since then much of the damaged bridges and roadways have
been repaired and the washed out hiking trails, re-cut. There are however, a
few remaining bridges to be rebuilt and when Bill and I left to do the Rawson
Lake hike, Thursday afternoon, we knew we would have to find our own way across
Sarrail Falls.
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| Bill makes river crossing look easy |
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| Up at Rawson Lake |
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| Hiking around the lake |
The Rawson Lake
hike was one of my favourites from when I was living in the area. On a calm
day, you can see the mountain perfectly reflected in the lake. I’ve always
wanted to climb up the steep hillside of the mountain cirque but never had the
chance to do it. It’s a challenging climb and the trail crosses through grizzly
bear habitat. After a rainy morning, We finally got some sun once we got up to
the lake and after some encouragement from other hikers, Bill and I decided to
explore further to the top of the ridge.
Much of the trail
still had snow on it. We had to carefully make our way around the lake across
the slippery snow covered banks to avoid an unpleasant dunking in the chilly
glacier fed lake.
The snow banks were
slippery and at some points we were able to slide down the hillside on our
butts.
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| Getting ready for our next challenge, hiking the steep hillside on the right |
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| Lots of fish visible just below the surface |
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| Bill refilling our water bottle in the waterfall |
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| Climbing up the side of the cirque. One of the steepest hikes I've ever climbed |
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| Almost at the top! Looking down at how far we've come |
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| Exhausted and concerned about the fickle weather, but so close to the top! |
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Amazing view over the top of the ridge. A very challenging hike but worth it.
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| Taking in the view |
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| View of Upper Lake and Mt. Indefatigable |
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| Making the long decent back down the mountainside |
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| The trail was still snowed out in some places |
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| Small tree growing on floating dead log |
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| Crossing Sarrail Falls sans bridge |
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| Back down at Upper Lake |
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| Saw this guy on the drive out |
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| Our hostel for the night, Ribbon Creek, Kananaskis. |
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