The Passionate Hiker: Grotto Canyon

Sat. 11 May: Grotto Canyon - and Beyond

Not many people travel as far up this spectacular mountain valley as we did today.

Grotto Canyon forms the lowest part of Grotto Creek, which stretches for many kilometres up into the mountains. It is spectacular, and that’s why it is also popular, even when the snow and ice are still partially blocking the way. Today my perennial hiking partner J was accompanying me.

The route starts in an unexpected manner, with the powerline trail from Grotto Pond leading past the modern Baymag Magnesia plant, throbbing with energy this morning. But we soon turned up into the mountains and the modern factory was immediately forgotten. We entered a steep-sided canyon, with a small stream running along the gravel floor.

At the first corner we were faced with packed snow and ice which filled the floor from wall to wall. Luckily, as an afterthought, I had packed my MICROspikes, and J had his Yaktraks, so a slightly hazardous, slippery journey became a stroll. Somewhere along this section were the pictographs, but we did not see them. We passed areas of smooth limestone along the canyon walls, caused by the force of the water racing at more than two metres height through the gorge.

Up on the steep walls of the canyon we noticed many clips and karabiners, awaiting the hordes of climbers who make this their home most days of the year. On our way down, several of them were already at play, suspended from the rock, trusting their lives to tiny metal pins in the rock wall. A long rope had been attached to the cliff from a point several hundred feet above the canyon.

Soon we came to “The Forks”, a tee junction in the canyon. Up to the right was a semi-frozen waterfall, known as Grotto Falls. We climbed up the icy draw to admire the slender spray of water descending into a snowy hole. Back down at the junction, the main canyon turns left into the most spectacular section. Here the walls are vertical, and the passageway narrow. We were forced to hop from one side of the bubbling stream to the other, to keep our feet dry.

Finally the valley opened up a little, and we came to the hoodoos, complete with cave, accessible by a short, steep scramble up the loose yellow sandstone. Perhaps most people stop right here.

Grotto Creek continues up a long, gradual valley, which is forested and steep sided. There is a sort of trail up here, but the route consists mostly of rock hopping, crossing the stream back and forth to pick the best path. We climbed gently and steadily, past some smooth rock slabs on our right, gaining good views of the Grotto Mountain cliffs to our left. Finally the streambed opened out a little and we came to a small inukshuk, marking (we think) the end of the green trail shown on the GemTrek topo map.

This trail proved too tempting to stop here, so we continued up to a point where the valley flattened out a little and widened into a river of rocks. For a while our stream disappeared underground but reappeared a little higher up. After a bend in the riverbed, we passed through a narrow section, and into the final straight stretch of valley. Ahead of us the mountain wall enclosed the valley. The streambed would soon take a sharp turn to the right and climb steeply up the mountain slopes.

This was a good place to stop for lunch. It was warm, with a perfect light breeze helping to keep us from overheating. The lively stream threaded its way along the rocky valley floor.

The journey up through the valley seemed to be almost flat. I had wondered why it had felt such hard work. Now as we returned back down the valley, it was a much steeper downhill slope than we had realized. The creek dropped down and down for an eternity. I later calculated we had climbed over 1,800 feet from the trailhead at Grotto Pond. We had gone much further up the valley than any of the guidebooks describe. I calculated we reached grid reference 231624, for any map readers who may be interested. It was worth the extra effort.

We were almost back at the cave before we saw the first people of the day – a young couple. From here, all the way back through the canyon, we met more than twenty day trippers. Many were wearing sneakers, which must have made their journey up the canyon quite tricky in places. We stopped to offer advice to several people wanting to know what was ahead. Talk of canyons and caves helped to give them encouragement.

By now it was a hot afternoon and we sped back down the trail to the car. Grotto Canyon is popular for a good reason, but I made a mental note to avoid it on a warm summer’s weekend.

Statistics:

Total Distance: 14.6 km (hike)

Height Gain: 1,890 ft.

Max. Elev.: 6,235 ft.

Time on Trail: 5 hrs. 47 mins.

Start hike: 7.55 am

Forks: 8.50 am

Inukshuk: 10.47 am

Far end: 11.23 am

Inukshuk: 12.03 pm

Forks: 1.06 pm

Ret. to car: 1.42 pm

Temp: +6 to +24 deg.C

Weather: Warm, sunny, occasional breeze

Trailhead at Grotto Pond on Hwy. 1A

Contrasting mixture of industry (Baymag Magnesite Plant) and mountain scenery. The pathway skirts the Plant.

Heading into Grotto Creek. Above is Grotto Mountain (8,878 ft.)

Some long sections of packed snow and ice in the lower sections of the canyon.

Signs of past water erosion in the canyon walls. A small stream was running along the creekbed.

Grotto Falls, reached via a steep, icy draw.

The path to this cave is steep and slippery.

Continuing on up into the upper Grotto Creek

Grotto Mountain. This large boulder toppled down into the creek from the heights above.

This inukshuk marks, we calculated, the end of the trail shown on the GemTrek topo map. We continued up the valley beyond this marker.

A baby inukshuk??

Higher up, Grotto Creek widens out. Signs of gigantic flash floods in past years. Ahead is an outlier of the Grotto Mountain peaks.

The upper canyon.

A lively stream in these upper sections of the valley. Ahead is the final leg of the valley floor. The creek then turns right and heads up the mountainsides. We turned around here (approx. grid ref. 231624).