Two Banff Classics

Sat./Sun. 17/18 August:  Two Banff Classics

Saturday:  Molar Pass

Early morning colors above Banff

There’s no point in my repeating the guidebooks on these two trails in Banff National Park.  Both routes are highly popular, and for a good reason.  Nevertheless, I was surprised by the superb scenery on offer for a relatively small amount of energy expended.  The trail up to Molar Pass is long (twenty kilometres round trip), but almost flat for the first five kilometres, before rising to the Pass.  The route to Bow Glacier Falls is also mainly flat, with one steep staircase to climb in the middle section.

I had stationed myself at Tunnel Mountain campsite in Banff.  By booking a few days ahead, I was able to select my favorite campsite in Loop J, a quieter area at the northern edge of the huge campsite, which was quickly filling up for the weekend.  From this base I made my journey west along the Trans-Canada Highway, then north along the Icefields Parkway, each morning.  Red sunrises and almost empty roads were the reward for an early start.

Molar Pass trail starts at the highway bridge beside Mosquito Creek campsite.  After a short, steep section it soon settles down into a pleasant stroll beside Mosquito Creek.  After five kilometres I reached the back-country campsite, where a family group was enjoying breakfast.  I would meet them up on the trail to the Pass later in the day.  The campsite looked almost empty as I passed through it, and across the creek on a simple half-log bridge.  Now the grade steepened a little as the trail swung from east to southeast and up to Molar Pass.  The huge cliffs of Mt. Hector came into view to my right, with a slender waterfall dropping down from a glacier high above.  At the junction with North Molar Pass, marked by a quaint signpost, I met a girl who was backpacking down from Fish Lakes.

Molar Pass trail now swung south, and finally climbed above the trees to an open scree slope, leading to a notch in the cliff and the high meadows of the Pass above.  I wandered across the Pass to get a good view southwards to the twin buttresses of Molar Mountain.  There was still some color in the meadows.  A large clump of purple foxgloves ( I am NOT very good with my botany) made a great foreground for some photos. 

There had been some intermittent showers during the journey, but never anything serious.  The sun also made guest appearances, and usually just at the best time to capture better pictures of the steep-sided valleys and high meadows.

As I dropped back down the Pass, I noticed a small bird at a creek crossing, which was hopping up and down, its feet in the cool water of the stream. It seemed to be doing a sort of dance.  I took a movie of this, which C has set to music, and it features on YouTube, with one “hit” so far (me!).

As expected, I met three or four small parties of hikers coming up the trail as I dropped down to the campsite and back along the valley to the road.  In fact, I had expected more crowds.  A large group was heading up to North Molar Pass just as I was coming down to the junction. 

The round trip was twenty kilometres, so I was ready to put my feet up by the time I returned to the car, and had driven east along much busier roads to Banff.  But there was to be no idling.  I was soon on the road east to Canmore where M and her band were setting up in the Canadian Legion for a flood relief concert that evening.  I enjoyed their practice sessions.  M and I bought ice creams and wandered around the busy streets to the Bow River before I headed back to my campsite.

Statistics (Molar Pass):

Total Distance:        21.0 km (hike)

Height Gain:              1,775 ft.

Max. Elev.:               7,775 ft.

Time on Trail:           6 hrs. 34 mins.

Dep. car:                    7.28 am

Mosquito Ck Camp:  8.58 am

Jn N Molar Pass:       9.41 am

Molar Pass:              10.50 am

Jn NMP:                  12.03 pm

M Ck Camp:            12.36 pm

Ret. to car:                 2.02 pm

Temp:                 +10 to +19 deg.C

Weather:           Scattered showers, cloud, sunText to follow

Good bridges across Mosquito Creek

Mosquito Creek campsite, under a green canopy

Northern flanks of Mt. Hector massif

Beautiful waterfall below the glacier

Close-up of watefall

Meadows below Mt. Hector

Junction for North Molar Pass and Molar Pass

Approaching Molar Pass in a brief rain shower 

Standing on the Pass looking back to the trail above the scree

View back down to Mosquito Creek

Molar Mountain (9,912 ft.) 

The Molar Pass meadows

In the high meadows

The Molar glacier

Good views from the Pass back down the trail

This little bird was hopping up and down on the rock:
see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vPbO3sKKPE

Sunday:  Bow Glacier Falls

Mist rising off Lake Herbert

Another early start this morning.  By seven a.m. I was heading west up the Trans-Canada Highway.  A short distance north along the Icefields Parkway, Lake Herbert caught my breath.  A mist was rising off the waters and the reflections of the mountains were startling.  Today’s hike started at Num-Ti-Jah Lodge, beside Bow Lake.  I was early enough to have the place almost to myself, in a parking lot which would soon fill to capacity with coach parties.  In fact, I had the entire trail to myself until I was part way back down the steep middle section.  Not many people can say that they have hiked to Bow Glacier Falls and not met a single person on the way there.

It was mostly overcast as I followed the northern edge of this milky green lake, surrounded by mountain peaks.  The sun would provide more color on the return journey.  After a nice easy section beside the river, the valley closed in and a set of steps led up the headwall.  As Gillean Daffern mentioned about the trail to Three Isle Lake, these stairs must have been built by seven feet tall giants!  Halfway up the steps I came to the junction with the trail up to the icefields and the alpine Bow Hut.  This path crosses the canyon on a chock-stone which had fallen from the mountainsides above and neatly stuck in the canyon sides, creating a bridge.  I clambered up onto the rock, just to say that I had done it!  Continuing up the Bow Glacier Falls trail, I came to a grand viewpoint of the Falls.  The wide sweep of cliffs rose to the glacier above.  Here is the start of the Bow River, which flows east to Calgary and on to Hudson Bay.

I walked up to the very edge of the Falls, onto some slippery rocks, which had scrape marks on them, caused by the glacier which, not too many hundred years ago, would have covered the valley I was standing in.  The Falls thundered down from the high cliffs.  There were also several mini-falls flowing down the cliff faces, making this a noisy and watery place to stand.  I was reluctant to leave such a magnificent setting.  It would have been exciting to visit the glacial lake which lay hidden above the cliffs, but it would have taken a serious climb to get there.  To the south and west I could see several glaciers, forming part of the gigantic Wapta Icefield.  M has traveled across it, but I know this is one trip I will never make (at least, this time around).

Dropping back down to the lower valley, I started to meet other hikers, yet it never became too busy, still being mid-morning.  The sun reflected in the blue-green waters of Bow Lake.  I idled beside the sparking lake, enjoying the warm sunshine.  The red-roofed Num-Ti-Jar looked an ideal place to spend a cosy weekend.  Of course, the parking area was a frantic scene with four coaches parked and their occupants milling around beside the lake. It was time to escape this hornet’s nest and join the busy traffic back to the city.  I had tackled two of the classic Banff Park trails, and had not been disappointed.

Statistics (Bow Glacier Falls):

Total Distance:   9.6 km (hike)

Height Gain:         445 ft.

Max. Elev.:       6,825 ft.

Time on Trail:    3 hrs. 15 mins.

Dep. car:             7.56 am

Arr. Falls:           9.21 am

Dep. Falls:          9.39 am

Ret. to car:        11.11 am

Temp:               +10 to +14 deg.C

Weather:           Cloud, sun, cool breeze off glacier

On the Icefields Parkway

Bow Glacier Falls

Close-up!

Top of the Falls,below the Bow Glacier

The Bow River

The Falls, and Portal Peak (9,153 ft.)

The Bow River enters a narrow gorge

River approaching Bow Lake

Num-Ti-Jah Lodge across Bow Lake

Bow Lake, looking south

Looking back to the Bow Glacier and Falls

Great Divide and Wapta Icefield

Num-Ti-Jah on a warm summer's day