The Bighorn River

Fri. 7 to Sun. 9 September:                       THE BIGHORN RIVER

This was a continuation from my Jasper trip, and took me to a beautiful double waterfall and a remote fire lookout hill.

Fri. 7 September:  Crescent Falls

A short way east of the Bighorn Dam, on the David Thompson Highway, there is a side road which leads to the Crescent Falls campsite.  This gravel road stays high above the Bighorn River which flows through a deep canyon.  The road then drops steeply down to the campsite, at the head of the canyon.  Here a series of two beautiful waterfalls plunge down into the gorge below.  The upper falls are particularly impressive, as they drop from the curving cliffs which give the falls their name:  Crescent Falls.

Having found a perfect campsite beside the river, I set out on foot to explore the falls.  I was able to find a way down through the cliff-band to a vantage point directly below the upper falls, on a wide, flat rocky platform dotted with trees.  At the moment the river was quite low.  To see the falls at high water would be a sight worth seeing.  They were spectacular enough today.

Heading through the campsite up-river I did a recce for my trip tomorrow.  The river opens up into a wide valley, ringed by forested hillsides and distant peaks.

I was ready for tomorrow’s trip, which I expected to be a challenging adventure.

Statistics
Crescent Falls
Fri. 7 September
Total Dist.	2 km (hike)
Height Gain	50 ft.
Max. Elev.	4,660 ft.
Time	1 hr. 2 mins.

Other Stats.
Dep. camp:    1.44 pm Ret. to camp: 2.46 pm	Temp: + 21 C Cloudless

Sat. 8 September:  Bighorn River Lookout

You won’t find this one in any guidebook.  This was an altogether more challenging trip.  Last year I had noticed, in the local hiking guidebook for this area, a reference to an “abandoned fire lookout” on a remote ridge above Crescent Falls.   Like Chungo Lookout, it wasn’t listed in Mike Potter’s “Fire Lookouts” guide.  After the triumph of Chungo last year, I was curious to see if I could reach this one too.  It looked to be an easy day hike from Crescent Falls campsite.  I succeeded, although sadly there was no trace of an abandoned fire lookout building at the top.  Nevertheless it was a good workout and a worthwhile destination.

The local guidebook was very handy in pointing me in the right direction, although immediately at the start I had my biggest challenge.  The trail begins from the tenting campsite, a couple of hundred yards up-river from my own campsite.  Since the book was published, a few years ago, the river has eaten away at the shoreline, at a bend in the river, removing the trail, and leaving a high cliff, which dropped straight into the swirling waters.  So instead of happily strolling along a good horse trail along the right bank, I had to dive straight into the water and make two crossings to reach the trail further west. 

Thanks to my extra large dry bag technique, I stayed dry, although the water came up to my thighs and the current was strong.  This was a different proposition from my crossing of the Elbow River last week.  For most of the summer this river would be far too dangerous to navigate.  Even now it was a little tricky.  I could see that several horses had used this trail.  On horseback would have been the best way of fording the river.

The trail stayed on the right bank for a while.  Then at a cliff, it crossed to the other side, requiring another slightly tricky ford.  Now it stayed on the left bank.  This rough horse trail used to be the fire road I imagine.  After another few kilometres on this muddy trail, after passing a horse corral, the road swung uphill to the left in a tight curve.  This was the moment of truth.  An unused fire road might easily become impassable due to fallen trees and new growth.  This one was free of obstacles the whole way up, although the road was a mess of large puddles (with handy bypasses).  Higher up, the surface had deteriorated on the steep sections.  Overall it was a very walkable trail.

It was also long and increasingly steep the higher I went.  There were no views until I reached the first top.  They were worth waiting for, even though the trees obscured a good all-round view.  The wall of mountains to the west was spectacular. 

I was now on the top of a series of rounded forested mountaintops.  The fire lookout was located at the far end of the range, so I still had some way to go, along this undulating trail, down and up a couple of times.  Finally the road came to an end where the ridge narrowed and fell away to the south.  Here was a small clearing with the remains of a large campfire in the middle.

The views westwards from here were excellent.  Far below was the Bighorn Dam and the eastern end of Lake Abraham with the David Thompson highway running beside it.  The distant mountains of Banff National Park framed the horizon.  Views north and east were obscured by the trees on the ridge.  This fire lookout was probably a cupola on a steel tower, to allow all-round views over the tree tops.  The reason this trail is in such good shape is that it seems to be part of an off-road vehicle route.  I could see recent signs of a trail bike having been up here.  It would be an exciting ride, especially on the grueling rocky steep sections near the top.  It would also be a wet and muddy ride.

By now it was quite hot up here, with no breath of wind.  The summit was a very pleasant place to sit and relax for a while in the sun.  Back down on the horse trail beside the Bighorn River, I turned left to follow a short trail out onto some wide mountain meadows.  Turning homewards, I stopped to explore every side path, for views of the two upper falls.  I found the first one, just a small ledge, but pretty.  I never did find the other upper fall.  I came down to the edge of the river twice, and saw several small cataracts, but no waterfall.  At high water, this would be a spectacular river.

A little further down the trail, I came across a young couple who were hoping to see the upper falls.  It was good to meet people after a lonely day in the wild high country.  Thinking I could avoid the last two river crossings, I headed up the steep bank to get above the cliff.  I would not recommend this route to any reader.  It was a hot struggle through deadfall across a forested hillside.  But I made it safely back to camp, a little exhausted, after a journey of twenty kilometres, four river crossings, and over 2,000 feet of ascent.  There was plenty of time to sit in the sun beside the river with my feet up.

Early the next morning I was on my way home.  This had been a fitting finale to a week in the mountains, with all objectives achieved.

Statistics
Bighorn River Lookout
Sat. 8 September
Total Dist.	20.0 km (hike)
Height Gain	2,165 ft.
Max. Elev.	6,463 ft.
Time	7 hrs. 18 mins.

Other Stats.
Dep. camp:    7.37 am Ford:              8.17 am L/O site:      11.13 am Meadows:     12.57 pm Ford:              2.14 pm Ret. to camp: 2.55 pm	Temp: Just above freezing to the mid-20’s C Cloudless, no wind