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Spokane, Washington
USA
15 Posts |
Posted - 11/21/2010 : 12:57 PM
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In late July 2010 my friend Kyle and I hiked the Brazeau Loop in Jasper National Park. This trip is a 50 mile loop that begins at the Nigel Pass trailhead in northern Banff National Park near the Jasper National Park boundary. We spent five days hiking with four nights on the ground. On the first day we hiked over Nigel Pass and spent the night at the Four Point Campground. From Nigel Pass, I especially enjoyed the view into the upper Brazeau River canyon towards Cataract Pass.
 
The second day we hiked through Jonas Pass and over Jonas Shoulder. We camped at the Jonas Cutoff campground. This was an amazing day, with the majority of our time spend above treeline. As we entered the subalpine area below Jonas Pass, we met two hikers coming from the opposite direction who had just spotted a grizzly bear. The bear had moved across the canyon, and was out of view. While traversing Jonas Pass, we spotted two mountain caribou high on the ridge above us. It was a hot and sunny day, and we watched as the caribou lay down on a snow field to apparently cool off. The view from Jonas Shoulder was amazing, with mountains and peaks in every direction. We both noted that as we hiked through Jonas Pass it seemed as if new mountains would appear, and the view would change suddenly and dramatically. The sheer scale of the landscape was immense.
   
The third day we traveled over Poboktan Pass and descended John-John Creek. We camped at the Brazeau Lake Campground. Poboktan Pass had more of a subtle beauty with large areas of open and gently sloping alpine terrain. The descent of John-John Creek dropped us back into the forest with some portions of rough, partially washed out trail. The hiking was somewhat tedious in some sections, but we enjoyed the views of Brazeau Lake in the distance. We both voted the Brazeau Lake Campground as our favorite campground of the trip, and we were able to explore the lakeshore from the campground.
 
The fourth day was a short day, and we traveled to the Wolverine South Campground for the night. This is a smaller campground located in scenic meadows near the shore of the Brazeau River. At dusk, it began to rain and rained hard most of the night. On the fifth day, the clouds cleared in the morning, and we had another beautiful day. The section of trail from the Wolverine South Campground along the upper Brazeau River to below Nigel Pass was one of my favorite sections of this hike. The view of the river meandering through lush meadows framed by huge mountain peaks was a grand wilderness scene not soon forgotten. We continued back over Nigel Pass and to the trailhead. I enjoyed this trip and would recommend it to anyone interested in a scenic backpacking trip in the Canadian Rockies. |
Edited by - Jeff78 on 11/25/2010 10:53 AM
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1097 Posts |
Posted - 11/21/2010 : 6:03 PM
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| Awesome - thanks for sharing. |
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876 Posts |
Posted - 11/21/2010 : 8:55 PM
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| Glad you had nice weather for one of the classics. And great you spotted a couple caribou too! |
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Salmon Arm, BC
Canada
894 Posts |
Posted - 11/23/2010 : 11:39 AM
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| Brazeau was one of my all-time best BP trips. It's great to see you shared the same experiences with grizzly and caribou, and better weather than I had! Thanks for sharing, Jeff. |
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Jasper, ab
Canada
1028 Posts |
Posted - 11/25/2010 : 2:47 PM
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| Really nice pictures and very good report. That is a beautiful area. How I miss summer, it's only late November |
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Brazeau Loop
