Autumn On The Canadian Tundra...Part 3. Added Bonus: An Autumnal Haiku.

Autumnal Haiku...

A fleeting zephyr...
Dead leaves flutter in free fall
to detrital Hell.

Peruse more poetry at Haikus From Hell...

Autumn On The Canadian Tundra...Part 2 or Juizhaigou or Bust?

Random leaves on the floor of Fish Creek Park. How many different tree species can you spot?

I was researching potential destinations for the upcoming trip when I came across a place called Juizhaigou National Park, a jewel of a place located in northern Sichuan Province, China.

I vaguely recalled this place was the subject of a recent National Geographic article.

As I browsed through some of the beautiful online photos of Juizhaigou's emerald, azure blue mountain lakes and broad cascading waterfalls, I thought to myself, 'Damn, I've got to go there".

Indeed, further research revealed that Juizhaigou was a UNESCO Heritage Site!

That really piqued my interest.

Sign me up now!!

That was until I read this brutally honest commentary in what seemed like a Chinese tourism website:

"Jiuzhaigou is a picturesque place without doubt, but we will NOT recommend it as one of China's top destinations for independent backpackers.

First, the entrance ticket Y310 [ed. note Y310 is approximately 45 USD] is too expensive. Secondly, the place is so crowded with Chinese tourists in holidays, they are very undisciplined and usually huddle and chat everywhere. The noise murders the natural beauty."

Wow, that was kind of a buzz killer, eh?

Hmmm...chatty crowds of Chinese tourists...their noise murdering the natural beauty.

That last line had me laughing. I envisioned really loud Chinese people playing mah jong on tables set up in the woods.

All in all, I'm not surprised that this place is inundated with native tourists. It's only natural. I witnessed the same phenomenon in Lhasa. It's like Americans flocking to the Grand Canyon. .

Should I go to Juizhaigou or not?

What other places have you gone where the tourists murdered the natural beauty with their noise?

Autumn On The Canadian Tundra...

Stand of poplars in Fish Creek Park...

Well, I think autumn this year in Calgary lasted about five days...

One day in September we were basking in 30 Celsius temperatures. The next day we were huddled around the kitchen stove, drawing on its life-giving heat, as arctic winds blasted across the tundra.

The autumnal photography took a hit as a result.

The extreme cold killed off a lot of the foliage prematurely. Instead of leaves gradually changing from summer greens to autumn golds and reds, they just died, yielding shades of black.

Those leaves that reached xanthophyllic bliss were blown away by a couple of strategically placed windstorms.

Beauty is fleeting at best sometimes.

Enough of this whining...

I better post some pix I took in Fish Creek (some from this year and a few from other years) before the real big snows fly this winter.

Hiking the Rockwall Trail, Kootenay National Park - Day 5 - Judgement Day Or Final Recall...

On the fifth and final day of the trek we woke up to beholden this brilliant view of Helmet Falls.

The final segment from Helmet Falls to the Paint Pots at Highway 93 was pretty much straightforward. Absent were the dramatic ascents and descents of the previous days. Instead, we trekked along a relatively flat trail, through an dense rainforest, along Helmet Creek.

Bunchberry or Dwarf Dogwood (Cornus canadensis) growing close to the forest floor.

Equisetem sp.?

Oh how I miss the taste of cool clear water from a bubbling mountain stream.... Mmmm...

The trail did undulate occasionally. When it did, we were treated to good views of the creeks and valleys surrounding us.

Looking towards the Paint Pots... About 3 km from the Pots, the peace and quiet of the backcountry that I had grown accustomed to was broken by traffic noise on Highway 93. How sad...

Tourists making wishes at one of the ochre-tinted Paint Pots. So strange to be back in "civilization". Very few of them walk beyond this point...A blessing in disguise...

The greenish water resulted from mixing of water from a nearby stream with the springs feeding the Paint Pot.


Ferrous Oxide accumulating on the edge of a Paint Pot.

A particularly brilliant accumulation of ochre.

An ochre swamp.

Ochre intermingling with clumps of green algae making for a surreal landscape...

1.2 km down the trail from the Paint Pots was the end of the trek.

Rockwall FAQs.

Q: Would you hike the trail in a clockwise or counterclockwise direction?

A: It doesn't matter. However, if you want a more difficult first day, start at the Floe Lake end and walk clockwise. Conversely, you can ease into the whole matter by hiking the relatively flat terrain on the Paint Pots end (and then have a double climb to the Tumbling Creek campground the next day). Either way there are giant climbs and knee breaking descents.

Q: How do I book the cabins?

A: You can't. Period. You as normal folk will have to book spots in the campgrounds along the way.

Q: If you were to re-do the hike what would you do differently?

A: I'd definitely go back in the Fall. The Tamarack Larches in this area must look spectacular during autumn when their needles turn colour. Also, if you are trek during high flower season (August), I'd take a macro lens to take pix of those purdy blossums.

Q: Logistically, would it be difficult to hike the Rockwall trail solo?

A: Yes. I only see a slight problem with transport from the trail finish to the trail head. Using two cars is most convenient. However, you can always grab a hitch. Better chance of this happening at the Paint Pots parking lot (more traffic). Or, you can get friendly with your fellow hikers and arrange a ride.

Better yet, stash a bike in the woods and ride back to car at the other end when you are finished.

Q: Was hiking the Rockwall worth the effort?

A: Without a doubt this hike must be one of the premiere multi-day hikes in the Canadian Rockies. The hills are steep but the pay off in terms of scenery (eg. flower-filled meadows, soaring peak) will be inexhaustible. The campgrounds were packed but hiker traffic was sparse out on the trail.

I definitely recommend this classic hike in the Canadian Rockies.

Q: Did you see any bears?

A: Nope. Wish I did though. We were definitely walking through bear territory. Every avalanche slope along the way, and there were many of them, I was looking for them bears. The closest I got to seeing a bear was kaka (poop) on the trail.

Q: Can old folks handle the Rockwall?

A: Yes, I survived the Rockwall. Tip of the day: use walking sticks.

Hiking The Rockwall Trail, Kootenay National Park (British Columbia) - Helmet Creek Patrol Cabin.

The butt end of the massive limestone wall we followed from Wolverine Pass to Helmet Creek looms over the cabin on an early morning...


One of Bambi's relatives (Mule Deer or Odocoileus hemionus) makes an appearance outside the kitchen window. This is better than Planet Animal TV!!

Who needs a mirror to shave when you're after the Grizzly Adams look?

I'm really not into card games but I did manage to play many hours of "sol" a game invented by my friend Ahmed (left). Action was pretty tense during the games. I couldn't understand why they were laughing at most of my strategies.

The stove where I cooked up the ten pound pasta for dinner. It was kind of gross. I should have used more water. That would have dissolved some of the big lumps of soup mix. Well, you live and learn, eh. There was enough leftover for the second night. Thank god for that because all I had left in my food bag were 3 Sapporo Ichiban.

I love these cabins. They were full-on, full service...I could live up here for a couple of weeks.


Well, step right in...

Some kind of groundsel (Senecio sp.?), I think.



Cow Parsnip (Heracleum lanatum) growing out by the shed...

Step up and I'll read your fortune... Ok, this isn't a Zoltan booth. It's the loo. I bet you knew that already. Looks kind of dilapidated but it's really nice inside...

Hiking The Rockwall Trail, Kootenay National Park (British Columbia) - Day 4 - Bubba's Day Off At Helmet Falls...

Day 4 on the Rockwall Trail was a well deserved day off. Not much planned other than sleeping, eating, drinking, playing card games... and visiting the nearby fantastic Helmet Falls.

Early morning at the Helmet Creek Patrol Cabin... Flora was extra lush because of torrential rains the night before. I felt bad for the backpackers hunkered down in their tents in the adjacent campground... BTW, that was Helmet Falls in our backyard...

It took a half hour leisurely walk through the riverine forest to reach the Falls.

Ahmed admiring the Falls. It looked from here that the Falls took a single plunge off the headwall...

But in fact the Falls was composed of two tiers, plunging 352 meters (1,155 ft) to the valley floor.

Tiny-looking Larry's preparing for his close encounter with the Falls.

For the last 72 hours we were treated with mindblowing vistas, but to end the trip with Helmet Falls was tremendous. The spray coming off the Falls was a bit cool, but we managed to lunch up here.

The upper tier of the Falls.

The ubiquitous Western Chipmunk (Eutamias minimus) nibbling on fireweed on the meadows below the Falls. Fauna-wise, we also observed Mountain Goats gracing the bluffs surrounding the Falls and two Golden Eagles soaring overhead.

From the Falls, we looked eastwards, down the valley towards the Paint Pots and Highway 93.

Tips of the Day...

Don't play the CIA-inspired torturous game of who-can-keep-their-feet-in-the-ice-cold-stream-the-closest. Only fools do that.

Don't carry 4 tins of pink salmon for more than 8 hrs while walking over extremely rough terrain.

Don't assume 3 grown men can chow down 10 pounds of salmon mushroom pasta in one sitting.

Hiking The Rockwall Trail, Kootenay National Park (British Columbia) - Day 3 - From Heaven to Hell and Back Again...

I saw the Milky Way the previous night. It was brilliant.

It was lights out early on that 2nd night. I had no problem getting to sleep as I fell into a deep deep slumber (accompanied by purportedly loud breathing) exhausted by the rigors earlier that day.

We awoke to this splendid scenery the next morning. Little did I know there was a glacier hanging around the neighbourhood. Did you catch the joke? Hanging glacier? Ok, my bad... no more geomorphological jokes.

After an extended breakfast (the usual 3 packages of instant oatmeal), we slowly made our way up the meadows of the Rockwall Pass. The cabin is just behind the forest in the background. If you look closely, the trail is on the right edge of the photo. Looks like a posse is after us.

With in minutes we reached the Wolverine Pass junction. The Pass was to the left. The sign said 0.5 km but I doubt is was more than 100 m away.

The summit of the pass demarcated the Kootenay National Park boundary. Remarkably, it was the only passage leading westwards along the Rockwall.

Larry and Ahmed soaking up the scenary on the summit ridge.


Looking westward from Wolverine Pass. Plenty of clear cutting in the valley to the west. It's amazing how these types of developments encroach so closely upon the national parks.

Looking east towards Rockwall Pass and Banff National Park in the distance.

Looking back south towards the now dwarfed Wolverine Cabin.

More wildflowers on Rockwall Pass...

The meadows beyond the cabin seemed to stretch onwards for at least a couple hours. Glorious walking...

Ahmed checking out the massive western limestone wall that dominated the scenery the entire way to Helmet Creek. Between the wall and the alpine meadows was an equally massive glacier-with-no-name.

Eventually, we would take the plunge down towards the glacier-with-no-name. We would stop here for lunch.

After lunch we mounted the spine of the lateral moraine which took us down to a small lake at the foot of a terminal moraine. From that point, the trail climbed skyward taking us right over the tree covered mountain in the background.




The final big climb...

Nearing the summit... Once reaching the peak, we'd finish off the day with a last knee busting 435 m descent into the Helmet Creek Valley.

Most of the descent was through old growth forest but there was the occasional glimpse of spectacular Helmet Falls.

Larry making his way across the bridge to Helmet Creek Cabin...home sweet home for the next two nights...

Hiking The Rockwall Trail, Kootenay National Park (British Columbia) - Cabin on the Meadows

We got here so late last night, at first, we couldn't find the loo in the dark. I had to dig a hole... Ok, I'll spare you further details.

The outhouse turned out to be a pre-formed seat made of green plastic over a hole in the ground. No walls, or roof. Rudimentary loo, but the view out the "front door" was of the spooky Devil's Thumb-like mountain in the background. Not bad a view, eh? Sit back and relax...

Wolverine Patrol Cabin was home for the night. It was beautifully situated on the Rockwall Pass meadows.

Larry fixing up some flapjacks. Mmmm...flapjacks... Sure beat the 3 packages of instant maple spice flavoured oatmeal I had planned for brekkie that morning. In fact, it was the only thing on my breakfast menu all week long. I ought to learn how to cook one day.

Varmint... some kind of ground squirrel. Gee, what do they feed them up here? That critter's jumbo-sized.

"The Backyard". The trail went right over the ridge in the background towards Helmet Creek, the final stop on the circuit.

View Larger Map
Green arrow marks the Wolverine Patrol Cabin...

Hiking The Rockwall Trail, Kootenay National Park (British Columbia) - Day 2

We knew Day 2 was going to be a marathon. After a rather leisurely breakfast at Floe Lake, we set off at 0930.

3 mountain pass summits, 1320 m total elevation climbed, 1150 m descended, 20 km of trail, and 12 hrs. later, we reached the warden cabin at Wolverine Pass.

From Floe Lake, the trail turned to the north, taking us through an old growth forest. Once in a while we'd be rewarded with glimpses of the azure blue waters of Floe Lake through the stands of fir and tamarack trees.

The climb towards Numa Pass was gentle to moderate. Numa Pass stood about 315 m above Floe Lake.


As we gained altitude, the forest thinned, revealing large expanses of alpine meadows.

From here to almost the summit of Numa Pass, we were treated to a stunning profusion of blooming wildflowers with each passing meadow. I have never seen such a brilliant display of colors in the Rockies.



Here I caught Ahmed taking pix of one of my favourite flowers, the Indian Paintbrush (Castilleja rhexiifolia). For photo buffs, he's using the outstanding Fujifilm 30d, the king of point and shoots. The same camera that was stolen from me in Cairo, Egypt.



A field of Tall Purple Fleabane...

The ubiquitous LYDF. Little Yellow Daisy-like Flower. Ok, that ID is somewhat sketchy but I can't seem to find it in my nifty guidebook.

The boys tiptoeing through the Numa Pass meadows. Ahmed is standing by a marker that probably acts as a guide for backcountry skiers in the winter.

Indian Paintbrushes come in all sorts of colours ranging from deep red to pink to, in this case, yellow. I read that colour variations are the result of hybridization amongst these plants, but Ahmed says it has more to do with local environmental effects like soil composition.


Ahmed leading us towards the summit of Numa Pass (the scree/snow covered ridge on the horizon)...

Numa Pass and Rockwall in the distance... We lucked out that day. Hardly any wind.

Look, rabbit ears. That Ahmed's a comedian, eh...

The view north showed clearly our destination: the mammoth rockwall in the distance and the Hill from Hell just in front of that. Before reaching any of those features, we had to plunge 830 knee busting metres down from Numa Pass to the Numa Creek Campsite on the valley floor.

My knees were shattered on the way down from Numa Pass but with scenary like this high waterfall who can complain?

I sat beside this slime mold during lunch.

Nearly at Numa Creek campsite...I think the boys were looking for grizzly "bars"...

Felt like it took forever, but we finally arrived at the campsite. Normally, sane people would stop here for the night. But, silly us would march on to witness even more beautiful sights...

After the Numa Creek campsite, the trail was just up, up, up, and more up towards Tumbling Pass. Ahmed dubbed the this stairway to heaven as the Hill from Hell. Suffice to say, the boys, including yours truly, were quite demoralized.

Whenever possible, it was always fun to look back to see where we came from earlier that day. From our vantage point on the Hill From Hell, the dip in the skyline (right of centre) was actually Numa Pass. Indeed, the pass looked rather intimidating, whether one was ascending or descending it. What the hell were we thinking...?

Good grief... when the hell were we going to reach the top of this hill?

We finally reached the lip of the hill. Foot relief for all!! Pass the fresh moleskin!!

Flat landlubbers we were!! We saw our destiny. Just head to the low point at the end of this meadow... It looked like a walk in the park, a piece of cake the rest of the way.

That was until the trail veered to the right. Again, we started to climb relentlessly... In this photo, The Hill From Hell lies below the lip of the bowl in the foreground.

As consolation, we climbed so high that we found ourselves once again surrounded by alpine meadows and wildflowers. Here, Paintbrushes are surrounded by a dwarf variety of Fireweed.

Had the damnedest time identifying these Beefeater-like plants. But they were indeed Western Anemones (Anemone occidentalis). The fruiting bodies are insulated against the harsh cold alpine environs by the fluffy hair-like structures encasing them. The emerging Anemone flowers are nondescriptly white.

The remnants of Tumbling Glacier... the mass of ice was still very impressive. The summit of Tumbling Pass was along this trail but wasn't marked. Suffice to say, from this point the trail would parallel the lateral moraine in the foreground and take us on a 320 m plunge down to the Tumbling Creek Campsite. (It was also here where we met Mr. Roboto, Hiker Extraordinare. He hoped to reach Floe Lake that night. Good luck, eh...)

Hillside shows the result of eons of glacial action.

Ancient tree stump contrasts in stature with neighbouring wispy tamarack trees...

We finally arrived at the Tumbling Creek Campsite at 19:30. Normally, sane people would have pitched a tent at this point but we had no choice to move on. The cabin was waiting for us on the meadows of Rockwall Pass, about 300 metres overhead. As we climbed, "slowly, slowly" became my mantra. Time was on our side believe it or not with the long summer days. We topped out at about 21:00. The photo shows, from the meadows, Tumbling Glacier to the right and the huge lateral moraine (a faint greyish triangular pile of rocks) left of centre that we followed down to Tumbling Creek.

Suffice to say, we were exhausted at the end of the day (21:30).

Not tired enough to scarf down Ahmed's delish pasta dish though.

Hiking The Rockwall Trail, Kootenay National Park (British Columbia) - Days 1-1.5.

I hope that you, the loyal readers of BTOG, are having a fine summer.

Every summer, it seems, I embark on some kind of big adventurous trek in the Rocky Mountains.

I just came back from Kootenay National Park, British Columbia where I completed, along with my pals Ahmed and Larry, the spectacular Rockwall Circuit.

Larry (left) and Ahmed at the Floe Creek trail head ready for five days of wahoo fun in them Rocky Mountains. The clouds were pretty low and threatened to burst open on us any moment that day. (Back in '95 we snickered at the Europeans who used trekking poles while walking in the Himalayas. We called them the "clickety clacks" 'cause we could always hear them coming. Its come full circle. I can't imagine not using the poles now. My rickety old knees thank them.)

First came the crossing of the Vermillion River. Its kind of obvious in the photo, but in 2003 a massive forest fire swept through these parts, traveling up the Floe Creek valley... almost to Floe Lake itself.

Bridge over the River Vermillion. Moments after this shot, the skies just opened up. For a few minutes there I thought the trip was going to be damp and miserable. The weather turned for the better as the rest of the trek was brilliantly hot and sunny (except for third night).

The Floe Lake hike was pretty popular. We started at about 2:30 pm and came across large packs of dayhikers (many who were elderly) heading back to the parking lot.

More evidence of fire history.

Fireweed (Epilobium augustifolium) seemed to proliferate in the burnt over forest.

I neglected to bring my macro lens but the 18-200 mm (zoomed out) was an adequate substitute. The bokeh produced by this all-in-one lens was surprisingly nice as seen in this pic of more fireweed.

The boys sitting on the only bench along the way. Floe Lake was nestled at the foot of the mountain in the background (left). Up till this point, we were gaining altitude gently, following the valley floor. All hell broke loose after this little break. The trail would gain about 1000 m in the next 2 km following a set of heartbreaking switchbacks, ending finally in the alpine meadows of Floe Lake.

Common Stonecrop (Sedum lanceolatum). Succulent stems and leaves are purportedly tasty.

More Common Stonecrop. Low lying (10-15 cm tall), Stonecrop grows in scree slopes.

Golden Buckwheat (Eriogonum flavum).

Tall Purple Fleabane (Erigeron peregrinus). Pretty, ubiquitous plants (60 to 80 cm tall).

Tall Purple Fleabane from the side.

Common Harebell or the Bluebell Bellflower (Campanula rotundofolia)

The Cree Indians used the dried roots of the Common Harebell to stop bleeding and swelling.

Looks delish but the Common Harebell is packed with nasty tasting alkaloids and are passed over by grazers.

Home sweet home. After 5.5 hours, we reached the Floe Lake, the first over night stop in the Rockwall Circuit. Did I mention that we stayed in Warden Patrol Cabins along the way? Once I got a taste of staying in these rustic log cabins, I swore I was never going back to the primitive practice of roughing it in tents.

I've stayed in other cabins, in Glacier National Park (BC), but none were comparable to the palatial digs of the Floe Lake cabin. Propane gas fixtures were to die for.

Soft bunk beds!!! Man, the Wardens live a cushy life. I could imagine the New Year's Eve parties they've had here over the years...

View of the Rockwall and Floe Lake from the deck of the cabin. The "Rockwall" is actually part of the Vermillion Range of the Rockies, extending 40 or so km to the north. Floe Lake is named for icebergs calving off the glaciers found at lake's edge.

The Nitty Gritty...

If you plan on approaching from the north, look for the Highway 93 junction on the Trans Canada. Drive south at this point for about a half hour.

We chose to hike in Buddhist-esque tradition (i.e. clockwise direction). In this case, look for the trail head at the Floe Lake parking lot (A). If you're an animist (Bon), hike the trail in a counterclockwise direction starting off at the Paint Pots parking lot (E).

For the record we camped at Floe Lake (B), then Wolverine Pass (C), and finally at Helmet Falls (D).

A very good reference for the hike is found in the Canadian Rockies Trail Guide (Patton and Robinson).