robson from the highway
Date: 24 August 07
You drive right by Mount Robson on Highway 5, but most of the time, including the day we arrived, you can't see the summit. The mountain is so big that it attracts a lot of weather.
on the trail
Date: 25 August 07
The width of this trail gives you an idea of the number of people that travel the route. Lots of people just do the first section into Kinney Lake, a nice day walk in itself. You are allowed to take bicycles as far as Kinney, and in fact, the trail was wide enough for a motorized vehicle.
devil's club
Date: 25 August 07
More information can be found here.
We also have it on the coast, and it has medicinal properties.
We also have it on the coast, and it has medicinal properties.
rainforest
Date: 25 August 07
This area gets a much larger amount of rainfall than most other areas in the Rocky Mountain region, because of the weather attracted by the mass of Mount Robson. As a consequence, the forest more closely resembles the rainforest of the British Columbia coast, with cedars and hemlocks, instead of the pines and spruces that predominate in the rest of the parks.
leh dipping his hands in the robson river
Date: 25 August 07
The Robson River is a tributary of the Fraser River, which empties into the Pacific at Vancouver.
stormy peaks
Date: 25 August 07
We had all kinds of weather on this trip: from brilliant sunshine to snow.
bunchberries
Date: 25 August 07
My friend Brenda Guiled tells me that the 'berries are edible, but the seed is big and the flavour isn't much - not even as good as another freeze-dried meal.'
UBC Botanical Garden and Centre for Plant Research article
UBC Botanical Garden and Centre for Plant Research article
leh full of energy after the walk to kinney
Date: 25 August 07
Aw c'mon, it was only about 7km on an easy trail!
crossing a creek
Date: 25 August 07
Because this trail is so heavily traveled and because it's a BC provincial park, it had exceptionally good bridges throughout it's entire length.
suspension bridge in the valley of a thousand falls
Date: 25 August 07
This is the bridge right at the Whitehorn campsite, about 11km from the trailhead.
ranger's cabin at whitehorn
Date: 25 August 07
The ranger's cabin is across the Robson River from Whitehorn campsite, where there is also a cooking shelter.
brian cooking dinner
Date: 25 August 07
This was at the Whitehorn campsite. I've been using a cartridge stove for the last couple of years because of its lighter weight, but somewhat reluctantly because of the cost of the fuel and the waste of the throwaway can - though I am able to recycle the cartridge at MEC.
we ate this?!
Date: 25 August 07
Yes indeed, that was dinner! I've also been using freezed-dried dinners in the last couple of years; yes, they're glop and taste pretty bad, but they've helped me cut a few pounds from my pack.
whitehorn campsite
Date: 25 August 07
We carried our winter tent on this trip because it was the only tent we have that was large enough. It was a bit cramped for the three of us and though the winter fly keeps it relatively warm inside, it was kind of overkill for this trip. For trips like this I'd like to get something a little larger that weighs about six or seven pounds.
valley of a thousand falls
Date: 26 August 07
It may not have a thousand, but it definitely has a lot; this valley is a magical place.
below the falls
Date: 26 August 07
This might have been below White Falls, but in any case, the water shooting around this curved channel at very high speed was more impressive than the falls themselves.
the pack
Date: 26 August 07
We brought along the 'big' tent this time; a 'three-person' Sierra Designs Stretch Dome with a winter fly - that's the big red bag on top. It's a totally skookum tent, but with heavy-duty stakes and lots of tie-out lines, it's probably over 10 pounds, and not really big enough to accommodate the three of us comfortably. But it worked. Note also the bear spray on the side of the pack; unnecessary on this trip, but we had two cans between the three of us.
leh and rumi in front of emperor falls
Date: 26 August 07
The mist was so thick, it was hard to snap this picture before the lens got totally fogged. Had it been a slightly warmer day, we would've gone right over to the falls for a shower.
that beautiful colour
Date: 26 August 07
Every glacier lake in the Rockies seems to be a slightly different hue.
'the helmet' on mount robson
Date: 27 August 07
The smaller peak below the summit is known as 'the helmet'.
hargreaves shelter
Date: 27 August 07
There is a hut right on Berg Lake for use by backpackers; you are not allowed to sleep in it, but it can be used for cooking and has a woodstove. We were told that the Alpine Club of Canada wants to build a large mountain hut at the lake, but there is some opposition to the idea on the grounds that it will have a negative environmental impact on the area.
a painter at work
Date: 27 August 07
We learned later that this painter and another who was working nearby were helicoptered into the lake by BC Parks to do paintings that would be auctioned off to raise money to improve facilities in the park.
truffula trees
Date: 27 August 07
Leh and I don't know what these plants are really called, but they remind us miniature versions of the truffula trees of Dr. Seuss's, The Lorax.
helicopter
Date: 27 August 07
There were lots of helicopters in the park and especially on this day. Apparently they are only allowed to land in the park on Mondays and Fridays, and on this Monday this helicopter was making continuous runs back and forth to the ranger cabin above the Berg Lake campsite. It seems that they were ferrying equipment up. A helicopter ride to the lake costs $800 for four people, plus GST.
brian on his way to the toe of robson glacier
Date: 27 August 07
Taken by one of two women from Vancouver that I met on the trail.
receding robson glacier
Date: 27 August 07
This sign is more than a kilometre from the toe of the glacier.
lake in front of robson glacier
Date: 27 August 07
That is the base of Rearguard Mountain on the right. The peak of Mount Robson is out of the picture further to the right.
michael and andrea from jasper
Date: 27 August 07
I met Michael and Andrea on the trail above the Robson Glacier and we walked most of the way to Snowbird Pass together, and then down to the toe of the glacier later. Michael works for Parks Canada, and Andrea works for an HIV clinic in Jasper.
michael by a waterfall
Date: 27 August 07
This little waterfall emptied into the river that drains the Robson Glacier.
rearguard mountain
Date: 27 August 07
There were dramatic changes in the weather throughout the day.
the underside of a glacier
Date: 27 August 07
Shot hoping that a chunk of it wouldn't come down on my head...
plant near the tip of the glacier
Date: 27 August 07
Can anybody tell me what kind of plant this is? It was growing where nothing else was.
headwaters of the robson river
Date: 27 August 07
This water eventually empties into the Pacific at Vancouver.
flats at the base of rearguard mountain
Date: 28 August 07
As seen in the morning from just outside out campsite on the other side of the creek from Hargreaves Hut.
emperor falls and robson
Date: 28 August 07
This view almost looked like something artificially generated on a computer.
black pyramid
Date: 28 August 07
From this vantage point the upper part of robson looked like a black pyramid.
leh and rumi with the shoji family
Date: 28 August 07
We met these folks up at the Hargreaves Shelter; they own and run the Mount Robson Ranch.
shoji-san at mount robson ranch
Date: 29 August 07
After we got off the trail we visited the Shojis at their Mount Robson Ranch. This historic ranch is an incredible location and great place to stay if you're looking for accommodation near the mountain.
grace showing off her hop plant
Date: 29 August 07
Grace, a Chinese-Canadian born and raised in Regina and fluent in Japanese, works summers at the Mount Robson Ranch. She encouraged a hop plant to overcome this old phone booth.
mount robson ranch, main lodge
Date: 29 August 07
The Mount Robson Ranch dates from 1921 and the Shojis are the third owners of this historic property. As it happens, the grandparents of Brenda Guiled, one of our neighbours here on Saltspring, helped to build the original buildings.
leh in the car
Date: 30 August 07
After an overnight drive, we were back in Vancouver to pick up groceries and drop off Jessica's pack on Commercial Drive.
berg lake trail map
Date: 03 September 07
This is a scan of the brochure handed out at the information centre, showing the dates and places where we camped.
http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/explore/parkpgs/mtrobson.html
http://www.spacesfornature.org/greatspaces/mtrobson.html
Google Earth placemark
Google Map
http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/explore/parkpgs/mtrobson.html
http://www.spacesfornature.org/greatspaces/mtrobson.html
Google Earth placemark
Google Map