Stanley Glacier Trail
The weekend following the Labour Day long weekend is one of our favorite moment to go car camping. Most parents are busy with back-to-school tasks and since everybody was out enjoying the outdoors the weekend before, it always leaves a calm and almost empty backcountry for us to enjoy. After my hike along the Simpson River Trail a few weeks earlier, I wanted to go back to Kootenay National Park once more. I took my Friday afternoon off and we drove to the Marble Canyon campground early in the afternoon and found only a few fellow campers here and there. We set up camp and went for a nice walk along Haffner Creek.
Our goal for this weekend was simple: relax, eat good food and enjoy the scenery. The view from our campsite was really pretty. I spent a few moments in the hammock while Andrea was taking care of the fire. For once, we would be eating something else than dehydrated food and brought TONS of fresh food! Nothing like a gigantic T-bone steak cooked over the fire with veggies and a glass (or two) of Argentinian red wine from the Aconcagua region.
After a healthy breakfast and a cup of tea, we drove just a few minutes up the road to the trailhead of the Stanley Glacier Trail. My obsession for glaciers is well documented and I had read that this trail offered impressive views of the Stanley Glacier. The weather was perfect and it felt good to be hiking with nothing else than a very light pack on my back!
The trail started with a dozen of switchbacks across a stunning miniature spruce forest. When we were heading east, the views of Castle Mountain in Banff National Park were spectacular. Being used to drive along it, seeing it from a distance allowed us to fully enjoy the beauty of this castle-like shaped mountain.
Castle Mountain (on the left in the background).
Once up on the plateau, we were able to see a few sections of this immense glacier.
The official trail stops really far away from the glacier and multiple non-official trails lead to it on either side of the valley. Although the left side seemed to offer more direct views, we chose the right one because there was no one on it and walking below the tall rock walls looked way more interesting. At this point, I was a little nervous to walk on loose rocks as I was still recovering from my rolled ankle injury, but in the end, it proved to be the perfect opportunity to see if it was fully healed or not (it was).
Happy couple!
What a treat we had half-way up: fall colors were on there way!
We got closer and closer to the glacier but felt like we could still go further up. And as my ankle was doing well, we kept going, making up our own trail in this gigantic scree field.
The valley we came up from.
After a steep and strenuous climb we were finally standing on the lateral moraine of the Stanley Glacier. What a BEAUTY! It was worth all the breaks to catch our breath along the way. We stayed on the moraine for a while to enjoy the 360 degrees views we had from up there. I must admit that looking back towards the valley was almost as pretty as looking at the glacier. The feeling of freedom one can experience while looking at this magnificent landscape is hard to describe.
Stanley Glacier
It doesn’t get any better than this!
Going back down was way faster. Spending more time looking at my feet than on the way up, I couldn’t stop being fascinated by the millions of different rocks that formed this mountain. Layered, dotted, pointy, round…. it was very interesting to look at.
Going down.
And down.
And down again.
Reaching the treeline again, we stopped for a quick lunch. We were both starving.
The sun was now lower behind the peaks to the west and it made for a different perspective on the glacier.
We walked a little faster seeing that the sky was getting covered to the north.
But the clouds eventually cleared pretty quickly and the sun never stopped shining for the rest of our descent.
It was a long way down to the trailhead for our tired legs.
The Stanley Glacier Trail was awesome and I highly recommend it. For a day hike, the views offered are as spectacular as they could be. Back at camp, there was only one thing left to do: drink a few beers around the fire. Blessed with perfect weather the entire time, we had a fantastic weekend. We are both all about the simplicity of backpacking in the mountains, but once in a while, we do need this car camping getaway with tons of “luxuries”!
