Some lessons learned.
Day 5 Sawback Lake CG to Mt Norquay Parking Lot, 26.2 km, 315 m elevation gain, 649 m elevation loss, 6 hrs 32 min.
We were all keen to get going in the morning so we decided on an early wake up of 5 am. I think Micah and I started moving shortly after 5 am maybe closer to 5:10 am. We packed up our tent as quietly as we could as there were others in camp that we did not want to disturb. We all had our water already prepared and ready for breakfast because the water source was on the complete opposite side of campground and is close to a 10 minute round trip. There is a tiny little stream a bit of scramble down from the eating area but it is pretty difficult to scoop up any quantity of water.
We left camp around 6:20 am being as quiet as we could as we passed back by the tents full of hopefully sleeping backpackers.
Jordan and Micah lead us down the trail. Micah and Jordan quickly sped off at a furious pace. Bent and I picked up our pace but they stayed ahead of us all the way up and over 40 Mile Summit. Just to clarify the word Summit, in the name 40 Mile Summit refers to a pass. In the Rockies using the word summit to refer to a pass is not uncommon. The word summit comes from Latin “summus” meaning highest. For passes it would have referred to the highest point reached when crossing a pass. The Name “40 Mile” applies to both the pass and the creek that flows south to Banff townsite. The name arose from the fact that where the creek crosses the railway it is 40 miles from both Mini Thni and Kicking Horse Pass. The name was given to the creek during the surveying prior to the building of the railroad.
I started to get concerned as we went through the junction with the horse trail. You actually had to turn off the main trail that we had been following all morning onto the hiker trail. I started to wonder if Micah and Jordan had gone the right way. Shortly after turning onto the hiker trail Bent stopped to take off his rain pants. Knowing that Bent was a faster hiker than me I kept going down the trail.
I started run/walking down the trail to try and catch up to Micah and Jordan. Bent was happy as it allowed him to stretch his long legs and keep up with me without running. Bent and I both yelled but we got no response from the other two. One of the issues that I had was that I was the only person with a map or the route on my phone. Plus the intersection of the trails at Mystic Junction CG is a little messy. More of a triangle than an intersection. In the big picture I was not worried about Jordan and Micah getting lost in the backcountry. But they could have got a little confused or turned around and I simply did not know where they were.
We caught up with them at the junction of the hiker trail and the trail leading to Mystic Junction CG. They had never been lost. In fact they could hear us yelling and had responded so they believed all was good. I was not very successful at masking my annoyance so Jordan apologized saying “sorry dad”. One upside was that we had now done 10 km in just over 2 hours. So we had moved down the trail very quickly. Some people may not like hiking so fast but once over 40 Mile Summit and onto the Hiker Trail we were buried in the woods and there really was not a lot to look at. To quote Bent it was a bit of a “green tunnel”. Some lessons that I learned from all this are:
- more than one person should have the route on a phone or other GPS device or have a map
- If the group splits then people should wait at junctions so that everyone can touch base and so that everyone goes the correct way
- If the group members plan to split for the day or part of the day, there needs to be communication about the plan, someone in each group should have knowledge of where they are headed and have the route on GPS or have a map
Micah and I had backpacked from Mt Norquay to Moose Meadows via Mystic Lake with Volcano back in 2019. Volcano was a retired sled dog and really did not know how to negotiate a stream crossing. This is Micah coaxing Volcano over the same steam that Bent is crossing in the photo above. It took Volcano several tries to get across. The bottom photo with Volcano from July 12, 2019 while the top photo with Bent is from August 2, 2024. Quite the difference in water flow.
The mountain in the foreground is Mt Fifi. The precise origin of the name for Mt Fifi is unknown. In the 1950″s park officials noted that the name had been in use for a long time so they recommended the name become official. The name was approved in 1958. Mt Louis was named for Louis B. Stewart (1861-1937), Dominion Topographical Surveyor, who surveyed Rocky Mountains Park (now Banff National Park) with his father, G.A. Stewart, in 1888. The name was approved in 1904. Mt Louis is one of the most recognizable mountains in the Sawback Range and is visible when driving westbound from the Trans-Canada Highway.
We stopped for lunch at the bridged crossing over 40 Mile Creek. We had covered 22 km in 5 hrs. We had about a 30 minute break. Bent and I set up in the shade with me on my chair. Micah and Jordan sat by the creek but in the sun. It was only about 4.5 km back to the car with a well graded 150 m of elevation gain.
Cascade Mt was named from the translation into French or English of an Indigenous name meaning “mountain where the water falls.” The first known use of the name was by Dr. James Hector of the Palliser Expedition in 1858. The name Cascade Mt was approved for mapping purposes in 1956. The mountain was historically known as Stoney Chief. For those people who have not seen Cascade Mt there are a couple of long waterfalls on the side visible to the Trans-Canada Highway.
As we made our way into the parking lot I took off running for the car. In what can only be attributed to my age Micah sprinted passed me in the impromptu race. We arrived back at the car just before 1 pm ending Part II of our group hike for 2025. What was planned as a wilderness adventure through Jasper National Park ended up with two excellent trips through some of the spectacular wilderness that is Banff National Park. Not sure when this group will get back together again but it was a fun and memorable last couple of weeks. Big thanks to Bent, Jordan, Anfin and Micah for trusting me to organize the trips. Till next time.