Summary:
- 2 days hiking in with a heavy backpack
- 2 days doing day hikes from Berg Lake
- 1 day hiking out (this was too big a day for us)
- Perfect weather, sunburn was to be our biggest problem.
Day 1 – Base to Whitehorn
- Any day with big packs is a challenge for us. At least we were taking 2 days to get up to Berg Lake.
- The campsite at Whitehorn is very pleasant, and almost exactly halfway up, at least in kilometers if not in vertical elevation.
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Day 2 – Whitehorn to Berg Lake and Toboggan Falls
- Emperor Falls was the high light of this hike. Stunning, huge and a wonderful place to get soaked on a hot day.
- It takes a long time to cross the gravel plain that marks the downstream end of Berg Lake. But the site of Berg Lake and its glacier exceed expectations.
- We set up camp, and had a few hours to scramble up Toboggan Falls. These sculpted waterfalls and pools are surprisingly varied. The steepness of the slope is enough to make it challenging, but not dangerous.
- Berg Lake campground is wonderfully located across the lake from the glacier. The almost continual calving of the glacier was a highlight. Several times an hour, you were hear a crack, followed by the sight of a new small iceberg in the lake. Because of the time delay of the sound, we never actually saw a chunk falling, only the aftermath, and the waves from it eventually reaching our shoreline.
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Day 3 – Day Hike around Hargreaves and Mumm Basin
We spend out first day hike doing a big loop around the back of our campsite.
- Hargreaves is a steep climb up trails and scree
- Followed by a traverse across, which wended through some alpine meadows.
- The boys continued up to Mumm Basin and its associated lake. And played in the snow.
- Then back down to our campground to prepare dinner and watch the lake.
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Day 4 – Day Hike to Snowbird Pass
This day hike went up out the end of the Berg Lake valley, and then went up along the edge of the Robson Glacier. The trail then made a sharp turn into a huge alpine meadow with Snowbird pass at the end of it.
- The Robson Glacier is HUGE (and dirty on top). On the way down, we peaked into some of the caves created by the internal rivers. Magic.
- From the alpine meadow, we thought it would be interesting to head up to a cirque. Neat, but pretty much just another moonscape.
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Day 5 – Hike down and out
This turned out to be tough. For us, 22 km is a long way and we are slow.
- I don’t find that down is that much easier than going up.
- We took our time and had a long lunch at Kinney Lake.
- The heat wave in Jasper hit us as we covered that the last 5 km.
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