Date: June 28, 29, 30, 2019
Length: 11.9 km, 13.7 km, 15.2 km - 40.8 km total
Time: 6 hours, 9 hours, 7 hours
Elevation: 758m, 620 m, 438m
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| River near Paint Pots Trailhead |
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| Map of the Route, at the junction we went counter clockwise around the loop |
Starting out at the Paint Pots Trailhead, we started hiking up the main valley. The Paint Pots is an area full of different clays used for pottery, and the bright colors shown in many of the soils was pretty interesting to see. The trail between the parking lot and the Paint Pots was pretty busy with people out for the day, but as we moved into the forest past the Paint Pots other people disappeared until we reached camp for the night.
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| One of the ponds at the Paint Pots |
After getting into the forest past the Paint Pots, we had a wonderful morning climbing the mountain. A few mountain side glades opened up for us to get a great view through the trees, and there were a lot of different flowers to looks at in them as well.
Further up the mountain side, the trail started following a river. At times we were right beside it and then we would climb a couple hundred feet above it before it rose up to meet us again. The further up the mountain we ascended, the more waterfalls we could see as well. Most of them were only a couple feet across, with their streams flowing down into the larger river, but a few of the waterfalls were part of the river itself and were quite large and powerful.
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| One of the more powerful waterfalls we saw on the hike |
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| Looking down on another waterfall from a bridge over it |
About halfway through the first day it began to hail on us while we tried to eat lunch, and then hailed on and off for the rest of the day. During our second attempt at lunch, we also realized that we had forgotten our camp fuel... So cold food for three days for us!
We arrived at the campsite a bit before 5 pm and setup our sent and set about making supper. The camping pads along the trail are very well maintained, and the bear boxes, cooking area, and outhouses are well laid out. After supper we talked to a couple of other people around camp, and pretty much everyone was headed in the same direction as us; over Helmet Pass.
Day 2 we were up early to give ourselves as much time as possible to get through the snow we were expecting. We started up the mountain side early, starting to hit snow about halfway up. Once we arrived at the top, we stopped for a look out over the valley we had slept in and it was an amazing view. By the time we finished ascending near the approach to Wolverine Pass (which we didn't go through) we had been above the tree line on and off for a half hour and it was a crazy feeling to be up there.
Our favorite picture from the trip is the one just above. We stopped near the top of Helmet Pass to look back over what we had traversed through out the day. Our day started a few hundred meters below where the snow makes a white 'V' far off in the distance. We then walked through all the snow in the middle of the picture before entering the trees on the left and making our way down to a lake that is obscured by the trees in the center.
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| View from halfway up the mountain side |
Near the base of Wolverine Pass, we had our only moment of uncertainty. The trail went across a sheer snow slope with a fifty or so foot drop to a creek. We had seen another group forge the trail ahead of us, but it was still a bit nerve-wracking crossing the section. Making it across felt like a pretty big accomplishment though and the experience was pretty awesome.
The rest of Day 2 was basically spent grinding through a snowfield. For about half the day it snowed or hailed on and off while we walked. Fortunately a couple groups had gone before us, so the trail was easy to follow and we didn't post-hole too much.
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| Roslyn looking out at the Rockwall |
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| Crossing one of the nicer bridges |
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| Looking back on our travels of the day |
Our favorite picture from the trip is the one just above. We stopped near the top of Helmet Pass to look back over what we had traversed through out the day. Our day started a few hundred meters below where the snow makes a white 'V' far off in the distance. We then walked through all the snow in the middle of the picture before entering the trees on the left and making our way down to a lake that is obscured by the trees in the center.
After taking the picture above, we finished out ascent of Helmet Pass and then began climbing down the mountain to the campground. The top of the pass was full of snow, but it was a great feeling to keep looking ahead as seeing less snow, then some clear patches of trail, and then all of a sudden there was no snow left at all and it was easy going from then on.
We arrived at camp at a decent time again, setup our tent, then walked over closer to the base of Helmet Falls. Watching the water fall 1000 ft to the base of the rock wall and just relaxing to the sound of it was one of the best moments of the trip.
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| Most of the way down Helmet Pass we could see Helmet Falls and took a picture |
Day 3 we woke up bright and early to try and get to the car as soon as possible so we could spend some time in Banff before driving to our AirBnB in Calgary. Unfortunately, bright and early in the mountains means cold. It likely dropped to at least -3C overnight and when we woke up our tent poles were frozen together. Roslyn gathered our food and put most of our stuff away while I did my best to thaw everything out so we could actually take the tent down.
Once we were all packed up the day went pretty quickly from there. Descending was definitely faster than the climb up, and just as enjoyable. A couple hours into the day we started looking back more and more as the trees started obscuring our view of the snow capped peaks behind us. Around lunch we got our last glimpse of the glorious snow covered mountains before the trees cut our view off for good.
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| One of the many beautiful streams we came across |
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| Roslyn looking out at whats ahead of us |
The weather was great all day, no snow or rain, and it became steadily warmer as we approached the parking lot. The trip down along Ochre River was very nice and we met quite a few people going in and out around the Ochre Junction campsite.
Once we arrived back at the parking lot, we quickly put our gear away and headed into Banff. Once we arrived we got to experience walking through a packed townsite with tourists everywhere while carried out bear spray and ice axes. We received a lot of weird looks. After dropping the rentals off we went to the hot springs, spent some time walking around, and ate supper before starting the trip home.
If you want to see more of this trip, check out our videos about it on YouTube: Banff and Kootenay Hike - July Long 2019, Part 1
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