Mount Robson and the Berg Lake Trail

We continue to be waaay behind in our posts, but only because we're able to jump between sights quickly  in our own car, and are often in a tent with no internet access, and have limited opportunity to write.

And now for the outdoors highlight of our trip - on the recommendation of Shaun (Sarah's brother), we decided to hike the Berg Lake Trail in Mt. Robson Provincial Park.  The trail circles the base of Mt. Robson - the highest peak in the Canadian Rockies (Mt. Waddington in the BC coast range is slightly higher - both are about 4000 metres tall).  You get to see many waterfalls, glaciers, and the not-normally visible north face of Mt. Robson.

Our Lake Louise hike was Sarah's last-minute introduction to backpacking and a warm-up for this hike; fully necessary since the hike in to Berg Lake alone is over 20km uphill with a full pack.  But Sarah did so well at Lake Louise she was more than ready for this hike - though I really hoped it wouldn't rain as much this time.

Ah, Mt. Robson Provincial Park - it's so nice not to have the day-pass fees plus high campsite fees plus, plus, etc. that come with the National Parks.

When approaching on the highway from Jasper, you don't see Mt. Robson at all until you round a corner and are hit over the head with just how big - and standalone - it is.

Mt. Robson as seen from the visitor centre.  Most impressive is that the South face shown here (in a very rare cloudless photo - lucky us) is 3 kilometres from bottom to top.  And the bottom is already 1 km above sea level.

No exaggeration about height - that's 12,972 feet for our American friends

We camped across the highway from the trailhead, and packed our backpacks from our car

The Berg Lake Trail is one of two BC provincial backcountry routes that limits the number of overnight guests per day.  (The other is the Bowron Lakes canoe circuit.)  The trail winds clockwise through the canyons around the base of Mt. Robson - you're close enough to the mountain that you usually can't see the peak.  

We departed around 8:30am, up the very wide and friendly first portion of the Berg Lake trail, used by cross-country runners, day hikers and mountain bikers.  The growling Robson River was our companion.

First view of Kinney Lake

At about 4.5 km we hit Kinney Lake, which was calm and reflective and gorgeous.  On the far side of Kinney Lake (at about 7km) is a campsite with a nice cook shelter, where we took a break and had a snack.

After Kinney Lake, you cross the above bridge, head across a short floodplain, then up a steeper trail that levels out near Whitehorn, our first night's destination at about 11km.  Though it was very warm out (some said unseasonably warm), the black flies, mosquitoes and horseflies intensified and provided extra incentive to get up the hill.

Just before the Whitehorn campground is a nifty single-person suspension bridge.

Ahh, the first day's hike done, and was it ever warm - probably at least high 20s C.  We were in the Valley Of 1000 Falls, which has multiple levels of cliff face on most sides, and lots of meltwater flowing over them as waterfalls.  It was late in the season, though - it's clear there would have been many more waterfalls earlier in the year.

Whitehorn has a classic little ranger cabin and emergency radio, which Sarah loved.  Though the rangers seemed to have this week off, as I never saw them.

We took a little walk up the valley to the bottom of White Falls, next to which we would climb steeply the following day.

The campsite had some traditional outhouses, plus this nifty composting toilet from a company in Montana (most campgrounds on the trail have one).  It's far off the ground, very cozy and comfortable, and even has a window you can open for a nice forest view while you do your business.  Afterwards you throw a scoop of sawdust down the hole to "flush".

The only thing better than a shower with a view is a toilet with a view

Our trusty tent below Robson's towering cliffs

Pasta dinner at the cook shelter

We hauled up some pasta sauce for a treat our first night.  As an homage to my (in)famous backpacking trip with Jim and Jamie to Vogelsang in Yosemite National Park, I brought along a big link of dry salami to add to my pasta.  Mmm, hearty - a day of hiking makes food taste wonderful.  And our new cookset and stove continued to perform admirably, and to shave a lot of weight off Sarah's load.  (Plus, we didn't have a problem centering our pot on our stove - unlike the grandparents next to us who spent half the evening with a pot of scalding water 1/8" away from tipping onto their granddaughter, despite our polite warnings! Zoiks.)

Evening brought on a nice lightning show, low & echo-y thunder, and some light rain from 9:30 to 11:00pm as we fell asleep .  A refreshing end to a sunny and picturesque first day.