Wilcox Pass
Tuesday 18 June, 2024
Looking down from Wilcox Viewpoint at the Columbia Icefield and Athabasca Glacier.
It was quite an epic hike getting up to the viewpoint west of Wilcox Pass, but the views were also epic.
We had to leave our lovely place at the Sunwapta Falls Rocky Mountain Lodge. We had planned to spend the next three nights camping in Jasper, but, given forecasts of below-freezing temperatures, had booked an ordinary Ramada room 42 mi/68 km away, far outside of the park, in Hinton, AB. It would be a lot more time on the road and much more expensive than camping, but it was still less than half the price of the Sunwapta Rocky Mountain Lodge.
By the time we packed up, arrived at the trailhead, and set out, it was nearly 12:00.
The trail started out in a pine forest dusted with snow. Eric took a picture of me standing on a bridge.
Eric photographed Western blue flax.
Eric also photographed some yellow spring flowers.
View of the Columbia Icefield on the way up the trail.
I saw how a cirque protected the glacier within it from melting by shading it from the sun.
About halfway up the 400 m (1,312 ft) we would climb, we reached this lovely viewpoint with some of the Parks Canada red chairs.
Another tourist took our picture in the red chairs.
View from the red chairs: Athabasca Glacier (left), Dome Glacier (right), and Icefields Centre (below). On the far right is Snow Dome, the triple watershed mountain (having drainage to the Pacific, Atlantic, and Arctic oceans).
Eric at the viewpoint, with our path ahead behind him.
Bighorn Sheep inhabit the area around the red chairs.
A juvenile Bighorn Sheep.
Snow. So pretty, and yet such a menace. The recent snowfall covered the trail in many places. We had GPX tracks, so we weren't lost, but we were frustrated and delayed by continued postholing. Knee deep, even hip deep sometimes, our feet broke through again and again. The views were stunning, but the hiking was miserable.
At last, after slogging uphill and through snowdrifts for three and a half hours, we reached Wilcox Pass.
We were now faced with a decision whether to try to reach the viewpoint, 1 km/.6 mi away. It was already 15:15. On the plus side, it being so close to the summer solstice and at such high latitude, we still had about seven hours before sunset. On the downside, our lodging for the night was two hours' drive away.
I'm sure you can guess what we did. Eric said that we had come all this way, and what we had really come for was the viewpoint.
The remainder of the hike was a slog up to one false summit after another, through snow and mud. While the elevation of the viewpoint was not much higher than that of the pass, the false summits meant we were losing almost as much altitude as we were gaining. It took unbelievably, another hour and a half to reach the viewpoint.
But the views were outstanding! Athabasca Glacier with Icefields Centre below.
Close-up of the crevasses in the Athabasca Glacier.
Once we got there, I was so excited by the view that I took several telephoto shots of icy and glacial beauty. This is Mt. Athabasca.
Mt. Athabasca (left) and Mt. Andromeda (right).
Slope of Mt. Andromeda.
Dome Glacier, flanked by creatively-named Snow Dome (left) and Mt. Kitchener (right).
Snow patterns high up on Mt. Athabasca.
Wilcox Ridge, just beyond Wilcox Pass. We did not have time to attempt it.
Marker in the rock at the viewpoint.
Us at the Wilcox Pass viewpoint.
It was 16:45 before we started heading down. I fervently hoped we could return to Mather before 21:00. Going down turned out to be considerably easier, especially once we got past the worst of the snow on the trail.
We returned to the red chair viewpoint more quickly than I had expected, and I got my camera ready with the telephoto lens in case the sheep were around.
We rounded a corner and were ecstatic to see this view before us!
Mommy and Daddy sheep were right next to the trail! There was no sign of the youngster. All the same, I didn't want to turn my back to them, and moved along sideways, telling them all the while that we meant them no harm. This encounter was breathtaking, and yet I was relieved to round the next corner and be out of sight.
These were the largest animals that we saw on the entire trip, that weren't very close to (or on) a road; and they were the only animals that we saw when there were no other humans nearby. It was a little scary, but also very special.
We came down through the pine forest, which was much less romantic this time, as the snow had all melted.
We reached Mather at 19:45, after just about eight hours of hiking. What a relief it was to remove our boots, which had inevitably become damp with all of the postholing. I was pleased with the performance of my Icelandic wool socks.
On the way to our lodging in Hinton, Eric stopped to take a picture of this elk by the roadside.
I did not get out of Mather, but it was quite a scene with the elk and the road.
We managed to reach the Ramada in Hinton a little bit after 22:00. Later than I would have preferred, but I had to admit that the views had been amazing and that the hike had been worth it.
Map of our climb up to the Wilcox Pass viewpoint.
On to central Jasper National Park.