I managed to procure back country permits in October for a big hike that I'd been wanting to do for the last year. Registration opened on October 1st and I got all of the spots that I'd been hoping for...though I'd never done it before and didn't know anybody who had and was totally just winging it. I hadn't made hardly any plans for the summer except for this trip, so I was pretty excited by the time it rolled around, though totally out of my comfort zone. Plus, I totally scored because there weren't any wildfires this year and normally it's really smokey.
My rental car was a Mazda CX-5 which had a few things that I really liked and a few things that I didn't like. For starters, it had the cruise control feature where it keeps a certain distance behind the car in front of you...a lifesaver on the Ice Fields Parkway. Traffic was ridiculous yet again, a million RV's. I used the hell out that feature and it saved me many road rage induced mental breakdowns along the way. However, the back seat didn't fold down flat and it was a tad on the short side, so sleeping for more than an hour at a time in the back was pretty much impossible. Once I picked up the rental, I hit up a grocery store for food on my trip and then a sporting goods store for a $45 can of bear spray and a brief orientation on how to use it. I drove up to Jasper and spent the night on the side of the road.
The next morning, I stopped for the worst breakfast I've ever had (you should be ashamed of yourselves, Smitty's. How do you manage to mess up BREAKFAST?) and then drove about an hour to the Mt Robson Ranger Station to sign in for my trek. It was 9 am and I felt like I was getting a late start because the Ranger Station opens at 8 am, but the time in BC is an hour before Alberta, so it worked out perfectly :) It was pouring rain and I was a little bit bummed...visibility wasn't great and setting up camp while everything is soaked is no fun. In the end though, I absolutely loved the vibe that the clouds and rain brought to the scenery, and I actually preferred that to the sun most of the time. By 9 am, I was packed up and heading into the back country.
The trail was super diverse, starting out in a lush forest with wildflowers as tall as me, huge ferns, and lots of moss. There wasn't anybody around it was so quiet with the exception of the rain, it was really peaceful and beautiful and kind of eerie and I was just waiting for a Grizzly to pop out of the mist and eat my face off. I followed the Robson River on a wide, relatively flat pathway for a couple of miles to the shore of Kinney Lake. The rain had flooded out much of the trail along the lake, so I was thankful to have my Chaco's on, but before long, I was starting to rub spots on the insides of my heels...lots of mud and pine needles and dirt and glacial sediment rubbing into my damp skin for miles and miles. I debated stopping to put on my socks, but with so many stream crossings and puddles, I didn't see much of a point.
I continued on, past the first campsite, over several bridges, and deep into the lush woods. This is where I crossed paths with pretty much the only other people I saw all day. They were taking their boots off before a large washed out area of the trail and asked where I was staying for the night. I told them and they snickered and said, "Oh boy, you've got a long, rough day ahead of you, sissy." Well, good...something to look forward to.
Before long, the trail started to climb...several very steep, muddy, slippery switchbacks over tree roots made me super grateful to have brought my trekking poles.
Eventually, I climbed back down to the river, which at this point, was spread out over a wide area in several braids along a gravelly, open area.
I hiked across to another slope that really started to get steep. Along the way, I felt a snapping crunch in the top of my left foot, and a horrible stabbing pain that almost felt like I'd broken something. My eyes watered and I found a spot to sit down, take off my pack and sandals, and see what the hell just happened. After resting for a couple of minutes, the pain seemed to kind of fade in and out and I didn't really have any option other than to just keep going. I could have turned back and called it a day, but I figured that I couldn't be that much farther from camp...there was only one more campground between Kinney Lake and where I was staying the night.
When I'd made the reservation, I had to choose which campgrounds I wanted to stay at on certain dates, so I just chose the half-way point of the entire trail for my first night. The following night was reserved only about 6 miles farther up the trail to allow plenty of time to explore and do some side hikes, and then the final night was on the way back at the second campground...and just a couple of hours from the trail head.
I continued up the hill, and back along the Robson River into another area spread out by the river in the Valley of a Thousand Waterfalls. This is where the second campground was located. I considered stopping for a snack under a shelter in the campground, but didn't want to lose momentum.
The next phase of the trail was the worst...it was sooo steep and wet and exposed and followed a series of massive waterfalls up a narrow gorge. There was a sign at the bottom with a warning that this was the most strenuous part of the trail and to make sure to take enough water because there wasn't any access for a few more miles. There weren't even steps carved into the stone...it was just stepping on tip toes up a few miles with burning calves and raw shoulders. Plus, there was so much deep mud that it kept sucking up my shoes and I'd slip and fall every so often. I'd really regretted packing the big book for the night and the 3-lb flashlight that Brian had insisted upon.
I was really starting to drag and couldn't wait for it to be over...I'd considered quitting about 35 times along this stretch but knew that my campground couldn't be much farther and it made more sense to just keep going for a bit than to go ALL the way back.
I finally stumbled into camp and immediately unloaded my pack from my sore shoulders. Most of the campsites were on the ground in little squared off plots, but there was one site, right on the raging Robson river, that had a nice little wooden platform, so I took that one. Remarkably, pretty much everything was dry and in tact, and setting up my little campsite only took about 5 minutes. I crawled inside, organized, started dinner, and settled in for the evening with my book with nothing but the sound of the river outside. I wasn't sure if that was a blessing or a curse...like there could be a bear sniffing around outside my tent and I wouldn't have heard it, but then I wasn't paranoid by every single little sound in the woods around me. While I was there, a man in Banff was attacked by a wolf in his tent and dragged around for a bit, so there's now that to be worried about. I actually slept really well.
The next morning, I rose with the sun...at about 4 am, and unzipped my tent to see Mt Robson looming over me just on the other side of the river.
The clouds were beginning to burn off and it was beautiful and sunny and gorgeous. I made myself some oatmeal and decided to venture further down the trail. Not that it mattered because nobody was around, but the check-out time for the campsite was 11 am, so I decided to just lock up my pack in the food lockers and leave my tent out so I didn't have to carry everything with me. My feet were killing me, but without the extra weight, it was bearable. There was a big green goose-egg on the top of my left foot where I'd felt the crunching the day before, so I just left my sandals loose and put socks on to help out with the raw spots on the insides of my heels. Everything past my campsite was relatively flat and easy going, so I managed to hike up the entire length of Berg Lake to Robson Glacier.
Along the way, I passed the other camps with a few backpackers snoozing inside and just enjoyed the sunshine and peace and quiet. I even had the pleasure of seeing and hearing the Mist Glacier calving...it was pretty magical.
My body was so sore and my feet were in such rough shape that I opted to just head down that day...I'd completed the entire trek already, so why drag it out and worry about my body getting worse. I was worried that the longer I waited, the harder it would be to get out of there, so I got back to camp, packed up and started the grueling hike out.
That was definitely the way to to go because the following day, I couldn't even walk. My foot was so messed up and still super swollen, and I was actually a little bit worried about it. It ended up being ok after about 4 days...I think maybe just all of the extra weight with my pack and my sandals being too tight messed something up in there, but I'm glad it's all better now. I ended up with some gnarly blisters in totally new places that I still can't quite figure out and lots of raw spots. It's scary to have problems with your feet that prevent you from walking when you're as active as I am. Luckily, I was in the land of mineral hot springs, so I spent the following day in some hot springs just outside of Jasper and then I also hit up the Banff hot springs. People watching is always pretty great at places like that.
I'm pretty proud of myself...it was a really hard hike it pretty bad conditions and I surpassed my goal alone. I almost feel like it was more of a mental struggle than physical because I knew that I could just quit whenever I wanted, and it wasn't like I had the encouragement of anybody to keep on going. I'm glad that I didn't though, because it was beautiful and satisfying and an experience that I'll never forget. Now if you'll excuse me while I book an appointment with my local massage therapist and chiropractor :)