Joffre Creek Trail

Following an awesome backpacking trip on the British Columbia side of the Rockies earlier this month, I decided to go back to BC for my next hike. With a work assignment in Banff scheduled on a Friday morning, my boss was nice enough to let me keep my work truck all weekend long in the mountains and save me the trip back to Calgary to get my personal vehicle. Having a boss who enjoys the mountains too made my case easier to pitch! So right after lunch, I made my way to Height of the Rockies Provincial Park. My plan was to go to the Limestone Lakes, a majestic lake basin located right behind the Petain Basin in Elk Lakes Provincial Park. I had planned for a two-day hike to reach the Lakes as it’s a constant climb up to the basin and a full hike-out day on the Sunday.

I was really excited to stop at the Continental Divide sign at the border of Banff National Park in Alberta and Kootenay National Park in BC. It brought me back to all the books I had read in the last few years about the fur trade and the explorers in the Rockies, looking for the famous river that was flowing into the Pacific, the Columbia River.

Stopping along the Kootenay River, I was fascinated by the landscape from the area. BC had a lot of wildfires in the last few years and seeing so many massive burned out areas was quite something.

After a short drive in the Kootenay NP, I had to continue on a gravel Forest Service Road for a solid hour and a half. The road was not too bad but a lot of focus and concentration was required because it was sometimes steep and there was a bunch of junctions and without a GPS, one could easily get lost.

I reached the trailhead just as it started to rain. The sky was so dark, there was no way I would start hiking in these conditions. As a matter of fact, severe thunderstorms and torrential rain came down hard on me and I retreated in my truck for 30 minutes until the sky cleared up a little bit.

I started to hike in light rain, but as I was already soaking wet just from walking from my truck to the trailhead less than 30 meters away, I understood that it would be “this kind of hike” where I’d be soaked through until I settle down for the night.

The trail was wet and muddy, evidently. After a hazardous crossing of Joffre Creek right at the beginning, I started to go uphill. There was a ton of blowdowns but it looked like the trail had just been cleared as the chainsaw cuts were fresh and most of the trail was easy to follow.

The rain never stopped. It was a perpetual drizzle and the entire forest was saturated with water. The section closer to the Joffre Creek was kicking my butt… it was steep, slippery and a new trail had been cut meaning that the ground was still very loose and it was slowing me down. I had to stop frequently to catch my breath. When you add a few rockfall sections to cross on wet and slippery boulders, it makes the trail even harder but I still enjoyed every minute of it. When I got closer to Joffre Creek, I noticed how bad the water was. It looked like chocolate milk coming down the valley. I hoped that I would be able to find a better water source until before the end of the day…

First view of Joffre Creek along the trail.

Joffre Creek

A very muddy Joffre Creek!

The trail maintenance mystery was resolved when I came across a bunch of tools on the trail. There was a crew working on it at the moment but so far, no one was around.

The forest was still foggy because of all the humidity in the air. It was now around 6PM and I figured I still had around two hours to go before reaching the bottom of a pass where I planned on staying for the night. After crossing a fast creek, I walked back into the forest when a dog barked at me while running toward me. Needless to say that he scared the hell out of me, especially since I had just started to increase my “HEY BEAR!” shouts as I felt that this area of the Joffre Creek Trail was a little spooky. Next thing you know, I walked into a camp of a couple of tents where 5 people were sit around a massive fire. It was the trail maintenance crew. Looking at the group, I immediately recognized Meghan, the BC Parks Ranger that Andrea and I had met in Elk Lakes Provincial Park two weeks ago. What are the odds! We both laughed at the coincidence. I was soon questioned on my intentions for the evening as it was getting late. I explained to the group (two BC Parks Rangers, Meghan and Heather and three volunteers) that I was on my way to the little meadow below Sylvan Pass. They then told me that only 15 minutes ago, they were bluffed-charged five times by a grizzly mom with a cub just up the trail. They offered me their last beer and invited me to stay here with them for the night after adding that it was the only flat spot on the trail until the pass. My decision process took exactly…. less than ten seconds! I sat down with them around the fire and we spent the evening chatting about the trails we had hiked lately and shared a few hiking stories. It was fun and I enjoyed their company.

I woke up early after a wet and cold night. The temperature was slightly above freezing and while I stayed warm, my quilt and my sleeping pad were damp from the condensation under my tarp. When the group asked me again what my plans were, I took a few moments to analyze my options. I knew I could push on and reach the Lakes that day, but when the fog disappeared we were all pretty stoked to see that it had snowed higher on the trail. I took out my binoculars and what I witnessed was not just a snow carpet. There was a solid foot of this white stuff and we were all unanimous on the fact that the basin was surely covered with snow because it was higher in elevation than the area we were looking at. I made up my mind to go back down. The basin is made up of limestone tiny peaks and walking on a covered ground was not a good idea. The Lakes will have to wait for now. We all packed up and I offered my help to carry some of their tools down the mountain. It was the least I could do to thank them for the hard work they had done for people like me who likes to go out there and enjoy these trails.

Excited by this mid-August snowfall, we all stopped to admire the scenery that Warrior Mountain offered. Right after crossing another creek, we reached the section where the crew had left a few tools. I volunteered to carry two 10-lbs crowbars down to the trailhead. It was quite hilarious when you think about it. My forearms were on fire the whole time. But who was I to complain when the crew in front of me we carrying chainsaws, garden picks and shovels? They were a real badass group and I admired each and everyone of them for doing what they do every summer.

I stored both cameras to concentrate on the trail on my way down. The crew stopped at a few places to continue the work they had started on their way up. I helped as much as I could and I really enjoyed it. Volunteering in the mountains is surely something I will pick up on in a near future.

We talked for a while at the trailhead and ended up leaving one after the other. But where would I go from there? I didn’t feel like going back home on this sunny Saturday afternoon. I had planned on spending two nights in the wilderness and it was hard for me to think about sleeping in my bed that night. Not that I didn’t miss my lovely Andrea, but my mind was not ready to go back into the civilization yet. Once off the Forest Service Road, I drove once again along the Kootenay River, admiring the snowy mountain tops and the massive steam columns forming above them as the sun was evaporating all that snow.

If I was able to dry all my gear, I was going to try and find another place to spend the night. But the weather was uncertain when I looked toward where I was heading. What did I ended up doing that afternoon? Stay tuned to find out…