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Calgary, Alberta
Canada
88 Posts |
Posted - 08/07/2009 : 1:24 PM
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We originally had planned to avoid all the "wankers" on the long weekend (thanks johngenx for the great word of the week!) by heading into Michelle Lakes and making our way into the White Goat area, with the plan to hike out via Nigel Pass. Friday around noon we arrived at the Owen Creek trailhead realizing that we had forgotten about the prescribed burns going on in that area. Looking up Owen Creek from the highway we could see the burn heading up a long way up the creek - we weren't keen walking through it so we needed to come up with a new plan.
We decided to hike into Pinto Lake (via Norman Creek) and head north along Cataract Creek, likely random camping along the way.
It was a hot afternoon and after slogging up the trail and having a bit of a scree run down the gulley into Pinto Lake, we decided to nap and enjoy our lakeside views. We didn't see anyone else at the lake and we enjoyed our solitude, amazed that for a hike in of only 3 or so hours no one else was here on a long weekend.
      
Heading off nice and early from Pinto we encountered a mama moose with her babe walking the trail ahead of us. We kept making noise and they kept walking forward, until when mama moose started snorting and standing her ground, looking back at us and not moving anymore. We weren't into conflict so early in the morning (or ever!) so we bushwhacked our way out from the lake, finally reaching the Cline and heading along the north side of it for a bit.
Few small fords of creeks, trail fairly easy to follow. Reached White Goat Boundary sign with register - not very active! Cold ford of Cataract Creek and then just stayed on the east side for hours - checked out the cool pictographs on a large boulder (followed Dustin Lynx's book for trail advice and location of this pictograph site). Nice views through the trees of peaks including Cirrus Peak to the west. Black flies horrific and trail littered with deadfall although easy to walk - lots of ptarmigan with chicks and chased a large porcupine for pics but he wouldn't sit still. Finally reached areas with lots of griz diggings - it was here we started looking to cross the Cataract - you pretty much have to at this point because the east side soon starts to be steep shale and you can't walk along it anymore. Here we were above treeline with great views up Cataract Creek with the Front Ranges in the distance. After 6hrs of hiking we were just below Cataract Pass, and took a bit of a break to enjoy the views, swatting the black flies left and right. We saw a tent just east of the creek, and agreed that this was a beautiful area to camp, but the flies were driving us nuts and it seemed so early to set up camp. We decided to go on and made our way up the pass, alpine flowers everywhere on the pass. The pass was level for 300m or so, and soon we were seeing spectacular views of the Brazeau River and Nigel Pass in the distance, with gorgeous glacial lakes just below the the pass.
We realized that the flies were no where to be found up here, so we had a long lunch and enjoyed the views. We could see a group making there way up the steep trail just below us, likely having hiked in today via Nigel Pass. We started making our way down and chatted them up - they were heading into White goat (and had been in there numerous times) and were going to explore the "Valley of the Lakes". There mentioned that the black flies had been horrific for them on the hike in. We decided to not descend so quickly (my fear of the flies) and decided to check out the cool glacial lakes just off to the left. It was a beautiful place to be with stunning views, and we ended up random camping there once the rain started to fall around 6pm.
                      
Up quite early, the peaks to our west were just starting to get lit up with the sun. We made our way down into almost a flood plain and hopped our way through the low water, knowing we eventually wanted to be on the right or east side of the Brazeau. Ahead we could see a tent pitched on what almost looked like a little island amongst the Brazeau - turns out it was a father and son who also got caught in the rain - they wanted to get to Pinto Lake and asked us for some help on what the trail was like to there. We continued in the early morning light along the rough shale trail making our way through avalanche debris and huge boulders towards the Nigel Pass junction. We had a snack there, watching a couple struggle to cross the river towards Nigel Pass without getting their feet wet. Despite us making noise on the east side to alert them that we were nearby they couldn't hear us because of the roar of the river. The female eventually fell into the river (wasn't good at rock hopping without poles) only up to her shins of course!
We continued on past Four Point campground and towards Jonas Pass, passing a group of 6 who had camped obviously at Four Point the night before. We had been to Jonas Pass once before, and never had explored the glaciers to the west above the pass, so we thought that would be a grand plan as it was only 2pm. The glacier was stunning with a gorgeous lake, and we knew we wanted to explore the area for a while. Stunning place, great cold bath and lots of lakes and glaciers to explore. With a storm approaching in the distance we decided best to stay where we were versus trying to hike over the shoulder. Cool sounds of rock fall off the glacier through the night, lightening and thunderstorms for most of the night but not too much rain at all, we slept very well!
                     
We toyed with the idea of hiking all the way to Maligne Lake in the next two days, but we weren't sure how likely it would be to get a hitch all the way back to the Norman Creek trailhead on Tuesday night (and I had to work Wednesday in Calgary). We decided to hike out today to Poboktan, leaving the trail to Maligne Lake for another time. On the trail by 6am and the mist was running up the valley, which we were soon engulfed in as we made our way up to Jonas Shoulder.
The views from Jonas Shoulder were beautiful in the early morning light, and we could still see our glacial hanging valley in the distance. We made our way down to Jonas Cut-off campground, will some groups just leaving the campground at 9am, and then pretty much hammered our way out to the Pobaktan trailhead (mainly because we were back in black fly and mossie territory).
At the highway before 2pm and we pulled out our Tyvek groundsheet (which had 20km written on it - before we started the hike we only thought we would need a lift that far). After 15 min of discouraged waiting two girls in a rental car (tourists from Thailand - Mary and Kwon) packed us into their car - they were going to the Icefields. We ended up being their photographers along the highway, stopping to take photos at every scenic spot along the highway - it was quite fun hearing about their adventures so far in Canada. At the Icefields we said goodbye, and pulled out our Tyvek groundsheet again (the 20 km was more legit now), and within seconds another couple of tourists (Wally from Nova Scotia and Roxanne from Taiwan) picked us up. Again we acted as photographers for them and heard their adventures - soon to be dropped off at our truck at the Norman Creek trailhead. Thanks to both of those couples for picking us up!
            
Great adventure!
See all our crazy pics at:
http://zeus.theos.com/tdr/cataractpass2009 |
Edited by - Nadine on 08/08/2009 08:32 AM
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High River, (just south of Calgary eh!), Alberta
Canada
1701 Posts |
Posted - 08/07/2009 : 1:41 PM
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The burn up Owen creek is going to turn that into a right mess! I guess in a few years time it will be a real lush flowery valley though if you dont mind dodging falling dead trees.
What a great trip you guys. What is the register for at the Whitegoat sign?
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Calgary, Alberta
Canada
88 Posts |
Posted - 08/07/2009 : 1:46 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Sodbuster
The burn up Owen creek is going to turn that into a right mess! I guess in a few years time it will be a real lush flowery valley though if you dont mind dodging falling dead trees.
What a great trip you guys. What is the register for at the Whitegoat sign?
Yeah I'm not sure how far the burn up Owen Creek will extend. We drove by Owen Creek again driving home to Calgary and it didn't look like they had burned much further - so I'm guessing only a few kilometers in - but I can't say for sure what the burn plans are. But there is no way the burn will go to Michelle Lakes (above treeline) and won't at all affect the White Goat Wilderness Area.
When you enter the White goat wilderness area (another register at Cataract Pass) they have a sign in book. Completely outdated though, no new pages either, so most recent entries if any are scribbled on the cover of the book. |
Edited by - Nadine on 08/07/2009 1:51 PM |
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Vancouver, BC
Canada
718 Posts |
Posted - 08/07/2009 : 3:58 PM
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That's a great trip report Nadine & Co. Nice shots of the area, especially Jonas Pass and Poboktan Pass as they are a segment of the Brazeau Lake Loop I intend to hike.
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Finally stopping that crazy suffering that is ice, climbing to concentrate on great ski tours!
3505 Posts |
Posted - 08/07/2009 : 4:04 PM
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Great trip report!! The 20km sign was brilliant!!!!
A few years back we went through Owen Gorge over Unnamed Pass and Michelle Lakes to Pinto Lake, then over Cataract Pass, Jonas Pass, Jonas Shoulder, the Poboktan connector, Malinge Pass and finally over the Skyline trail. For anyone looking for a superb long distance backpack with a ton of interesting scenery and varied trails (we did the boulder field near Cataract Pass in a pounding rain storm, fun...) it is incredible. We often went a couple days without seeing another person.
BTW, my Dad was 67 at the time and carried his food/fuel/etc.
We camped at Trapper Creek, which is only 5-6km from the trailhead of the Skyline. We went to the restaurant at the Maligne Lake dock! It was AWESOME! Hot coffee, cold milk, hot food, pastries, we loved every bite. On the last night we went to Signal Mountain, rose early, raced down the fireroad, went to the public pool in Jasper, had a shower and then hit the buffet breakfast at Becker's. They lost money on us.
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Calgary, Alberta
Canada
88 Posts |
Posted - 08/07/2009 : 4:31 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by johngenx
Great trip report!! The 20km sign was brilliant!!!!
A few years back we went through Owen Gorge over Unnamed Pass and Michelle Lakes to Pinto Lake, then over Cataract Pass, Jonas Pass, Jonas Shoulder, the Poboktan connector, Malinge Pass and finally over the Skyline trail. For anyone looking for a superb long distance backpack with a ton of interesting scenery and varied trails (we did the boulder field near Cataract Pass in a pounding rain storm, fun...) it is incredible. We often went a couple days without seeing another person.
BTW, my Dad was 67 at the time and carried his food/fuel/etc.
We camped at Trapper Creek, which is only 5-6km from the trailhead of the Skyline. We went to the restaurant at the Maligne Lake dock! It was AWESOME! Hot coffee, cold milk, hot food, pastries, we loved every bite. On the last night we went to Signal Mountain, rose early, raced down the fireroad, went to the public pool in Jasper, had a shower and then hit the buffet breakfast at Becker's. They lost money on us.
Yeah we were thinking how if we had more time we would hike to Maligne Lake and do the Skyline, because that would have made for an awesome adventure!
Great job for your dad on that trip, I hope I will still be doing this cool stuff when I'm in my late '60s!
We are experimenting with writing things on our Tyvek ground sheet - we have GAS written on it as well and we were going to try it next if the "20km" sign didn't work! |
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Jasper, ab
Canada
1029 Posts |
Posted - 08/07/2009 : 4:35 PM
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| really nice pictures and great report. That's a beautiful area |
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972 Posts |
Posted - 08/07/2009 : 4:35 PM
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looks like a nice hike!
i've been into cataract pass before but i will have to check out these other areas too....they look nice. |
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Calgary, Alberta
Canada
35 Posts |
Posted - 08/07/2009 : 7:28 PM
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| Thanks for the trip report. Looks like a lot of fun! |
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Happy go lucky, plaid wearin, postholin, safeway gaitor sportin, old-school film shootin, giver of many regards
Abbotsford, B.C.
Canada
13453 Posts |
Posted - 08/07/2009 : 10:15 PM
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Looks like great interesting country, as much mountain scenery to enjoy. Would like to check this out some day, interesting shots of the bleached looking drifthorns... Like the lake and the high mountain at the back "shots."
K |
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Popkum, BC
Canada
5887 Posts |
Posted - 08/07/2009 : 10:37 PM
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| Really cool. I absolutely love those Chinese lanterns! |
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Pinto Lake-Cataract Pass-Poboktan Jul 31-Aug 3/09
