"I want to see mountains again Gandalf, mountains!.. and then find somewhere I can rest."
Another summer. Another hiking trip. We've finally tackled the Rockies! For years I have wondered about the back-country of the Canadian Rockies. People come from all over the world to see its ranges and lakes but I think Canadians take the Rockies for granted. Some Canadians travel the world without really getting to our amazing backyard - the Rockies, the Rockies, the Rockies! I have been to the Rockies many times since I was a child and every time I go, it is simply spectacular. To truly get to know the Rockies it would require many trips: you must do a sightseeing tour (Lake Louise, Lake Moraine, etc etc), 2-3 back-country trips, and a winter hike/ski trip in both the front and back-country. If you are a fan of mothernature, you will be mind blown. And trust me, even if your mind is pre-blown, it can be re-blown (bazinga!).
There is no clear name for the route that we hiked but we hiked a loop starting at Mount Shark trailhead, over Wonder Pass, base-camped for 4 nights at Lake Magog, and came back around to the trailhead via Bryant Creek Trail (henceforth referred to as Shark-Magog Loop). Because we started our hike very early in the season (June 10th), the Sunshine Village (Ski Resort) trailhead was not accessible. The Citadel Pass was reported to be still covered in snow. Mt.Shark trailhead is close to the Kananaski country (south of Canmore). This is where most of film Revenant (2015) was filmed; the soundtrack was an EXCELLENT accompaniment during our drive around this area. A fine choice by our very own DJ G. Yoon. G for granny.
We left on June 9th, started hiking on June 10th, ended our back-country hike on the June 16th, and came home on June 20th. We spent all our nights in our tents during the entire trip (front/back-country) and we cooked all but 3 of our meals. We rented a white Dodge Caravan in North Vancouver where our journey began. 5 comrades accompanied me that included the following people: Helena Yoon, Ji-Won Han, Henny Hwang, James Kim, and Joe Myung. We took two tents: Big Agnes Copper Spur UL4 (4pp) and Tarptent Cloudburst 3 (3pp).
As always, the success and failure of a trip depends on who you travel with more so than where or when you go. Each and every one of my comrades have participated remarkably and I thank them for such a great time. The memories that we've created will be remembered for a lifetime. Most notably, I was very glad to have had James on this trip; he's one of my best and oldest friends from childhood and it was a pleasure having him joining me on my yearly hiking trip :D He put in a lot of effort to come on this trip and it meant a lot to me. This trip was also particular because we had a professional photographer join us. Henny of Hennygraphy tagged along and the result of it was an amazing photo album. I actually did not even carry a camera during the entire trip and decided to rely on Henny for photographs. Joe was another special guest who took on a special role for us. He was someone I could rely on throughout the trip for a lot of the necessary chores: a man of efficiency if you will. He could probably go a long way without food or water and he would be last to survive during a disaster in the mountains (I'd probably be the first to go). But I do sincerely hope that someday he can truly LOL. Anyhow, we all have pretty strong personalities but we've somehow all managed to get along. I think it is largely in part due to how long we have all known each other. Apart from Joe, we are all childhood friends. We've have our separations throughout the years, but this trip definitely brought us together again.
Hiking during the early summer season in the Rockies is probably a very different experience to hiking during the mid/late season. At roughly 3000m above sea level, snow doesn't usually clear out until early July. The official ski season ends at around early March and the hiking season doesn't start until July. This means that maintenance at the cooking huts and tent sites are minimal and we were told by some people on the trail that fees are not collected for your stay. I nevertheless paid what is usually due at these sites ($10/night/person). Pre-season means more unexpected weather, lots of rain/snowfall, and a LOT less people. I normally prefer shoulder season over high season and I am glad once again to have hiked it at this time of the year. You get to witness a very different landscape and lets face it, who wants to be so mainstream about hiking.
Although the Banff National Park gets over a million visitors a year, only a small portion of those visitors actually care to venture into the back-country. Consequently, the products and services provided by Parks Canada is mostly focused on the sightseeing tourists and front-country car campers. Information about back-country hiking and bookings for campsites is not clearly provided online. To add to the frustration, because there are so many different offices that manage different areas of the park, different information was provided for us depending on which employees of the park we called. Furthermore, the trail that we covered went through two different provinces (Alberta and B.C.) managed by two different parks (Mount Assiniboine Provincial Park and Banff National park) that were each under two different governing bodies (B.C. Parks and Parks Canada).
This is just a quick overview of the trip and I hope that I can get to the nitty gritty details of the trip on this blog. I doubt that I will get to it anytime soon. Afterall, I have only posted a overview for last year's trip as well. I will get to them someday. Till then, happy trails :)
