Day 6
The morning of the 6th day was by far the coldest of the trip. The rain stopped before we went to sleep the previous night and the sky cleared letting all the semi-warm air escape. I'm not sure if it was dew or the leftovers from the previous nights rain, but raindrop sized balls of ice were stuck all over the tents.
The cold morning slowed our departure a bit, but we left shortly before 9am for the 4kms to Berg Lake. Once at Berg Lake we stole the last 2 campsites (out of 5) at the Rearguard campground, 1km north of Berg Lake (we weren't sure of the day we would arrive so we had no reservations). I left a note for the ranger/camper who would stumble upon our tents and we left for a day hike up to Snowbird Pass.
The hike up to Snowbird Pass was amazing. The trail heads S/SE along the <a href="/outdoors/2006/08_moose/6/IMG_5039.jpg.html">Robson Glacier</a> ~5km before heading E/NE ~5km up to the Snowbird Pass between Titkana Peak and Chushina Ridge/Lynx Mountain. Once at the ridge you can see almost all of the Reef Icefield, Reef Glaciers, Steppe Glacier (which drains into the creek we crossed to the East on day 4) and the Coleman Glacier to the East.
After a lunch on the pass I wasn't quite satisfied as Chushina Ridge was too tempting. I left the other 3 at the ridge and ran up another 250m to 2720m where going any further would require some slow scrambling.
Once we returned to camp we found a note from the ranger alongside mine saying the 2 sites were reserved and we had to move to the "unreservable" sites at Berg Lake, 1km away. As we repacked the tents we were chatting with an interesting & friendly French guy whose campsite we stole, I wish I could hang around the Rockies for 60 days...
The cold morning slowed our departure a bit, but we left shortly before 9am for the 4kms to Berg Lake. Once at Berg Lake we stole the last 2 campsites (out of 5) at the Rearguard campground, 1km north of Berg Lake (we weren't sure of the day we would arrive so we had no reservations). I left a note for the ranger/camper who would stumble upon our tents and we left for a day hike up to Snowbird Pass.
The hike up to Snowbird Pass was amazing. The trail heads S/SE along the <a href="/outdoors/2006/08_moose/6/IMG_5039.jpg.html">Robson Glacier</a> ~5km before heading E/NE ~5km up to the Snowbird Pass between Titkana Peak and Chushina Ridge/Lynx Mountain. Once at the ridge you can see almost all of the Reef Icefield, Reef Glaciers, Steppe Glacier (which drains into the creek we crossed to the East on day 4) and the Coleman Glacier to the East.
After a lunch on the pass I wasn't quite satisfied as Chushina Ridge was too tempting. I left the other 3 at the ridge and ran up another 250m to 2720m where going any further would require some slow scrambling.
Once we returned to camp we found a note from the ranger alongside mine saying the 2 sites were reserved and we had to move to the "unreservable" sites at Berg Lake, 1km away. As we repacked the tents we were chatting with an interesting & friendly French guy whose campsite we stole, I wish I could hang around the Rockies for 60 days...
