Berg Lake Trail - Day 2

The next day dawned clear again.  Knowing that we had a long, steep uphill ahead of us (500m over only a few kilometres of trail), we wanted to get on the trail before the sun poked its head over the mountain and started heating things up.  So we were on the trail by about 8:30am.

Packing up camp

Camp is packed, and we are ready to rock

Sarah balancing well on the first bit of trail.  Note the sun hasn't reached the valley yet

Ah, and then comes the uphill, ending just after Emperor Falls.  Slow and steady.  I'm in the middle of the photo, and yes that's the trail I'm on.

The top end of White Falls

Falls of the Pool

Happy to be hiking in such nice country

Chad looks towards Emperor Falls

Chad and Sarah wave from in front of Emperor Falls

In late morning, having climbed most of the uphill, we took a break at Emperor Falls.  The meltwater from the Robson, Berg and Mist Glaciers all pours down here, where much it hits a rock partway down and shoots outward in a jet of mist before flowing all the way down to the trailhead and shortly thereafter joining the headwaters of the Fraser River.  It's really impressive - loud and huge.  If you step into the main mist jet, you get soaked instantly.

Mist from the falls

The amount of mist and wind generated by the falls was impressive, as may be seen in the below video clip.

A bit more uphill, and then the path clung to the middle of a loose, rocky slope that skirted the floodplain below.  Many pikas (like a cross between a mouse and a rabbit) whistled at us from among the rocks.  We could see the Mist Glacier in the distance, an impressive example of things to come.

Mist Glacier in the distance

Mist Glacier behind its moraine, with part of the north face of Mt. Robson above.

Big flood plain/slide area, with Berg Glacier in the distance, right

Soon the trail let out onto a large plain that was clearly the result of slides and floods - all round stones and gravel and sand.  Just beyond it was Berg Lake and the Berg Glacier - so named because the glacier calves off pieces of ice into the lake that form small icebergs.

Hargreaves Shelter at Berg Lake Campground

After winding around the lake for quite a while, we finally came to Berg Lake Campground, the biggest & most popular stop on the trail.  It has a huge, glass-windowed shelter, but a few too many people to make it feel like you're truly in the backcountry.  We stopped for lunch on the lawn with a great view of the lake and Berg Glacier before heading onward to our campsite - Robson Pass, the furthest one in the park.

Sarah takes a water break - looking back the way we came, Berg Lake in the distance.

Ranger Cabin near our campsite had a swimming-pool-like  stream outside, complete with island, as well as a seated campfire area and horseshoe pits.  But again, no one was home.  And we could have house-sat!

Our tent at Robson Pass campsite, with the Robson Glacier in the background (which spills down from the north face of Mt. Robson) - only visible from our campground and beyond

I am liking this!

Start of the trail to Snowbird Pass, which we would tackle the next day

After the day's 12km hike, we though we would stretch our tired legs with a little walk - to Alberta!  Robson Pass campsite is only about 1/2 a kilometre from the Alberta (and Jasper National Park) border, thought it's not much of a pass - you might gain 10 feet of elevation before hitting the Great Divide, but that was fine with us!

Welcome to Jasper National Park and Alberta

And on the other side, welcome back to Mt. Robson and British Columbia

Sarah feeling pumped after all that elevation gained, as diagrammed on the left

Chad straddles two parks, two provinces, and the Great Divide, all at the same time

Meadows/valley bottom near Robson Pass campsite were covered in these cotton-like grasses

A little wade in Adolphus Lake

Just inside Jasper a couple of hundred metres is Adolphus Lake.  It's only indirectly fed by glaciers (though streams), and since it's also shallow and it had been really sunny for a few days, it was perfectly swimmable. A great way to cool off after a day of hiking.  (Some people were swimming in Berg Lake, but that's more of a polar bear dip.)

Sunset on Rearguard Mountain, with Mt. Robson behind it.  Perspective is deceiving; Mt. Robson is 1.2 kilometres higher than Rearguard

In the deep twilight, one of our camp mates pointed out a porcupine who was climbing a tree in our campsite.  It looked like a huge, furry, slow-moving cat.  We had heard stories from other hikers about the porcupine, and how it would eat the handles of your walking sticks it you left them out.  While it was claimed he was after the salt/sweat in the handles, we figured it was more likely because he was after the rubber (since we heard porcupines apparently will chew on things like car tires, given the chance).

We fell asleep to a couple of light mountain showers again (summer weather near Robson is usually morning sun & cloud, with patchy showers in the late afternoon and evening).  But it was a great sleep after another great day filled with exercise, fresh air and unbelievable views.