Paradise Valley

I've looked down into Paradise Valley on a number of occasions from Sentinel Pass, but never actually been in it.

We had the requisite group of 4 for an area perpetually encompassed by bear restrictions / closures. Starting off at the small parking lot along Moraine Lake Road, we ran into a number of trail runners who were taking advantage of the gentle slope of the trail.

Our intention was to do the loop in a clockwise fashion, but little did we know that our information was stale. The first suspicious sign was the appearance of a trail marker at a 3 way intersection, but no indication on the sign as to where the third direction went.

Lake Annette with some shoulder of Mount Temple in the background

Lake Annette, at the base of the north face of Mount Temple, was quite peaceful on the way up. We rested here for a bit, had some snacks, and then moved on.

The trees finally open up (Mount Hungabee in the background)

We quickly reached the turnoff for the campsite, and the Giant Steps came soon after.

Picturesque cirque

The Giant Steps were busy with dogs and people. We followed Paradise Creek up to where it starts and had lunch.

One of the Giant Steps ... not that giant, in my opinion

The trail to continue the loop was overgrown, but clear enough that we followed it until it abruptly ended at a knee-deep creek about 15 feet across. Scouting up and down our side of the creek, I found a damaged bridge which had clearly been removed a while ago. Since the trail obviously continued on the other side of the creek, we crossed and continued on.

Rene showing no fear

Further along, the trail started to dwindle a bit, and then we came upon another crossing sans bridge. At this point, we were about 1km from the uptrail, so we decided that instead of getting wet again, we would bushwhack back to the main trail. It was clear that this part of the loop was no longer maintained and perhaps even impassable.

40 minutes of steep hiking through sharp brush and felled trees later, we were back on the main trail and started back towards the car. We reached the aforementioned 3 way intersection and at this time and realized that the third direction was the closure of the loop. I guess it's not a loop anymore!

Back in Canmore, we gorged on poutine and greasy burgers.

Afterwards, Carmen discovered that the loop was closed in 2007 to allow for a larger grizzly habitat. My guidebook was from 2004 and Karen's guidebook was from 1849, so neither of us were to blame!

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