2007 - Maligne Pass, Brandywine and Eaton Peak

My Flickr site for more pictures - 

Maligne Pass - 
Poboktan Creek to Maligne Lake via Maligne Pass - "The Skyline Will Have to Wait."
apr. Location of Maligne Pass

-  slide show of our trip

Fresh snow!

Chuck McCafferty, Ken Willlis, Dale Macquarrie, and I drove to Jasper to start our trek through Maligne Pass and on to the Skyline trail. Ken had made all the reservations. It was early August. It snowed in the mountains when we woke up in Jasper to start our hike.

Heavy packs again!

The day we left, the weather looked quite promising. The picture above was taken at the junction where you can go north to Avalanche camp or south towards the Jonas Shoulder loop.

We finally got to Avalanche camp. The weather stopped looking promising. It started to look worrisome. The video was taken with my little Olympus still camera. I have made it as small as possible to download quicker.
During the first night it rained ....and rained. In the morning Ken stuck his head outside the tent and announced that the snow line was about 500 feet above us. We were headed to Maligne Pass which was at least that much above us. If we were going to do this hike, we were going to get wet and cold.

Approaching Maligne Pass

It proved to be true. Going over the pass was an exercise in perseverence. The wind blew wet snow onto us where it stuck and formed a layer only to show how poorly our older goretext coats worked.

Just down from the pass at Mary Vaux Campsite, we tried to eat to get warm again. It partly succeeded, so once we ate a bunch, off we went headed for the Mary Schaffer campsite many kilometers ahead.

At the Mary Schaffer campsite. (Ken's photo)

The wilderness

The trail seemed to go on and on. Finally we rounded a bend and found oursleves at the campsite. It had a nice view to the north where our goal lay.

I have never seen so many tracks and scat on a trail (Ken's photo)

One of the many meadows on the trail (Ken's photo).

Trapper Creek campsite was our last camp. It was to be our last camp with the mosquitos and smoke. Dale dealt with his sock "thing", Chuck dealt with the mosquitos the best he could, and Ken was still bubbling with energy.
The next day dawned grey and threatening to rain. We did the last five kilometers to Maligne Lake and took off our packs. Ken hitch hiked to get his car, and our hike was over. The Skyline trail was going to have to wait.

A dandy tent. :-)

Brandywine Mountain
Location of Brandywine Mountain

Dollie and Ann are on a knoll of the South-East ridge
during a brief moment when the peak was in full view.

Alan Lizee is an active member of the Maple Ridge Outdoor Club as well as a member of long standing of the Red Lobster Outdoor Club. He led a trip with two members of the Maple Ridge Outdoor Club up Brandywine Mountain 

"On Aug 10th Dollie, Ann and myself hiked Brandywine Mt as a Ridge Meadows Outdoor Club outing. The entire day the clouds threatened to sock-in the peak, but they lifted often enough to give visual bearings without resorting to map and compass. It took 1 1/2 hrs to reach Brandywine meadows from the end of the Brandywine/Callaghan West Forest Service Road (2w drivable), then another 2 1/2 hrs to the summit of Brandywine. We only had fleeting views along the way of Mt Garibaldi, Castle Towers, Black Tusk, Mt Fee, and Pyroclastic Pk. While on the summit it was totally socked-in and finger-numbing cold. Yet in spite of poor visibility, a great time was had by all.

" - Alan Lizee

"This self-timer shot is all I have. It was socked-in so there was no view from the top"....Al

Eaton Peak

Location of Eaton Peak

Alan Lizee

"I went hiking today with unlimited bear deterrents, which turned out to be a total flop. But guess where the bear was? It was in our yard. Barb, banged on the garage door twice to scare it away. It was not interested in our garbage on the street for pickup at 11:00. I think it just thought our yard would be a cool place to hang-out!

I just had to try this trip out to see if it would be feasible. I would do it again, but you do need the "Boost". Keith, I owe you a bear spray. The bush-whacking up the bluffs first pulled the pin on the personal alarm and by the time I could stop it the batteries and my ears were toast. A little later the bear spray must have been torn from the pack and I could not find it on the way down. Anyway, I made excellent time to the top, and my route finding was bang-on. There are several tent possibilities at the lake for single-occupant tents, so camping is not out of the picture." - Alan Lizee