The most common itinerary for doing this loop involves hiking in to Three Isle Lake on the first day, heading up to Northover Ridge and back down to Aster Lake on the second day, then hiking out on the third day. The overall distance is somewhere in the vicinity of 35km (the actual distance is a bit unclear due to inconsistencies between the guidebook / maps / trail signage), so we knew it would be a very long day.
Angie arrived at my place at 0500h and we arrived at the North Interlakes parking lot at 0630h (as a side note, I wouldn't bother leaving a car at the Upper Lake parking lot ... you don't really save much and you may actually increase your overall distance). The parking lot was packed, which meant that the various campsites along the route would be busy.
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| The prerequisite shot of Joy, taken at sunrise. |
The sky was perfectly clear and the temperature was nice and brisk. I was hoping that we would get up high before the air warmed up too much. We left the parking lot at 0645h.
We arrived at the Forks campground (7.8km) at 0840h, about 2 hours after leaving the parking lot. One family of three was busy starting a fire (Forks is one of the only backcountry campsites I know of that allows campfires) while another couple was starting to rustle. We used the outhouse here and quickly left, wanting to gain a bit more distance before taking a real break.
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| Three Isle Lake and Mount Putnik (2940m) on the right (with the snow), left peak is unnamed. |
We arrived at Three Isle Lake (11.6km) at 1000h, a bit over 3 hours after leaving the trailhead. We were pretty happy with our progress up to this point, so decided to take a break on the south side of the lake, near the spur leading to the park patrol cabin.
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| The pass (snow-covered) that leads up to Northover Ridge, with Defender Mountain (2790m) on the right. |
After leaving Three Isle Lake, we turned south and headed into the valley leading up to the start of Northover Ridge. That's when we saw the snow. There had been a big dump a couple of days ago, and the signs of that snow were everywhere. The switchbacks leading up to the pass had upwards of 50cm of snow in some spots. We were a bit concerned, but there were enough footprints leading in the direction of the ridge that we figured we could at least make an attempt.
As we got closer to the pass, what I thought were two cairns on top proved to be two backpackers who were taking a long break. We would eventually catch up to them above Northover Lakes.
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| At the pass. Northover Ridge follows the left. On the far right is Defender Mountain. To the left of that is Onslow Mountain (2790m). |
The pass was fantastic (1145h). Here, I wished I had brought my tripod and panorama gear. As it was, I made do with an impromptu panorama which turned out okay.
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| Coming down off the high point of Northover Ridge. Starting to skirt Northover Glacier. |
The ridge walk was very nice. The scenery was beautiful on both sides, and the exposure in parts was pretty exciting. Northover Glacier was also quite impressive. In one part, the glacier was separated from the north side of the ridge by about 4 feet, making for what looked like a never-ending crevasse.
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| Northover Glacier was very impressive. Mount Northover (3003m) on the left. Tough looking scramble! |
We encountered several backpacking groups going the other way. They warned us of a sow and two cubs in the Aster Lake area.
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| Northover Lakes (on the B.C. side). |
I was amazed at the amount of snow in the non-glaciated areas. Maybe this ski season will be a good one after all (my theory is that since last season was so amazing, the next one is sure to be a letdown).
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| Back into Alberta (1345h) |
After coming back into Alberta and reaching Aster Lake, things took a turn for the worse. We were walking along Aster Creek but missed the intersection for Foch Creek. We continued south on the trail to Marlborough Pond until it became clear that we were surrounded by huge mountains with no easy escape. I knew that we should have been heading NE at that point, but were still facing S, and the trail had degenerated into sporadic bits of dead grass and smaller rocks. After gaining a high point to survey the surroundings, I decided we needed to retrace our steps and head back to Aster Creek. This wasted about 2 hours of time, and by that point I was getting concerned that our headlamps might see some use. Fortunately, we were able to find the Foch Creek intersection fairly quickly, and after a bit more backtracking to make sure we were where we thought we were, we started climbing again on the west slopes of Mount Sarrail (3174m).
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| We stopped here to filter some water. This is the tricky downclimb which, when covered with snow, is problematic (1730h). |
The downclimb next to Fossil Falls is the only real tricky spot on the entire route, made so by the occasional presence of snow. Fortunately, it was clear and we even had a spot to filter some water (there was no way I would be carrying enough water for a planned 12 hour hike, so I brought the filter). Hidden Lake and Upper Kananaskis Lake were both in view, which was a relief after all the bushwhacking and route finding issues we had had.
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| Very large moose near Hidden Lake. |
The rest of the trail was mostly straightforward, although there was some confusion due to a new trail which none of our resources had (it's in the new Daffern book though, which I didn't have with me). We eventually reached the car again at 2020h, roughly 13.5 hours after we had started. The total distance was probably somewhere in the vicinity of 37km.
Lessons reinforced:
0. Don't follow the person in front of you, just because you think they know where they are going. There's a good chance that they don't.
1. Map + compass + knowledge is almost always better than a GPS.
2. Be conservative in route selection.
3. Be conservative when you think you are lost.
In the end, I think I'd do this again in a day, but with my full complement of camera gear and leave at home the stream crossing gear (we used it, although it was not necessary).
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