Lupe’s 17th day of her 2013 Dingo Vacation started with a short drive up to Bow Pass (6,785 ft.) on the Icefields Parkway Hwy 93. South of the pass water drains into the Bow River system. North of Bow Pass it drains into the Mistaya River and then into the Saskatchewan. At Bow Pass there is a turn off the Icefields Parkway to the Peyto Lake overlook. The short access road is paved and so are the parking lots. Even the short trail up to the observation deck is paved.
Peyto Lake lies just W of Bow Pass, but is within the area that drains N down into the Mistaya River. Peyto Lake was named after “Wild Bill” Peyto, an early guide, outfitter, trapper and ultimately a game warden, who was usually based out of Banff. Lupe and SPHP took the paved trail to the observation deck for a look at Peyto Lake.
SPHP had more in mind for Lupe than just a look at the lake from the observation deck, though. An unpaved trail left the area just above the observation deck and headed SW into the forest. Lupe was going to follow it down into the valley S of Peyto Lake. Then SPHP hoped that Lupe could continue on up Peyto Creek to find and reach the Peyto Glacier.
The trail descended the forested side of the valley quite steeply. There were switchbacks in some places. It was a long way down to the floor of the valley.
At the bottom of the valley, the going was trickier than SPHP expected. The trail completely disappeared. There was quite a bit of mucky, marshy ground full of tall slender willow-like bushes. Just beyond them the open and gently sloping valley floor was covered with rocks and gravel deposited by Peyto Creek, which was a braided stream with many branches in this area.
SPHP couldn’t find an easy way through, but after some wandering around heading generally downstream among the willows eventually found a way to reach the more solid ground without getting non-waterproof boots and feet totally soaked. Dingoes don’t suffer these travails. Lupe had no problem getting across to the gravel and wondered what the holdup was.
Once on the gravel, the footing was good. Lupe and SPHP headed upstream toward the right side of a low forested ridge ahead. Peyto Creek was coming down around through a big flat gap to the right of the ridge.
Along the way to the low ridge, Peyto Creek was a braided stream with a lot of little branches. A few were too big to step or easily jump across. SPHP eventually gave up and just walked right through even the largest ones. SPHP’s boots and feet got soaked, of course, but the cold water felt good. Lupe thought this area was cool, too. It was only a few feet between cold drinks and refreshed paws.
Exactly as SPHP feared, upon nearing the right side of the low ridge, Peyto Creek was not a braided stream any more. All of the water channeled into one swiftly flowing stream. It wasn’t big enough to be dangerous, but it was still more than SPHP wanted to take on. Especially since it could be seen that just a little farther upstream, the full force of Peyto Creek swept up against the steep opposite side of the valley, blocking the way forward again. There was no point in fording the stream. It would just have to be forded again a short distance upstream.
Some of Peyto Creek was branching off to block access even to the low forested ridge. Fortunately, there wasn’t so much water that Lupe and SPHP couldn’t get across to reach the ridge easily enough. SPHP hoped to be able to stay just a little above creek level working upstream along the base of the ridge long enough to get past the creek. Then Lupe and SPHP could drop down to the valley floor again. Soon it became evident that wasn’t going to work. The edge of the ridge became too steep.
Lupe and SPHP had to start climbing. The ridge was steep enough so that SPHP had to grab onto trees to make progress up the slope. It was steep, but not treacherously steep. Lupe again had to wait and wonder why the delay? One thing about low forested ridges among towering mountains – they may be forested alright, but they aren’t as low as they look. It was probably 200 or 300 feet elevation gain up to the top. Before even reaching the top, when the ground started leveling out, SPHP had the unexpected pleasure of coming upon the trail again.
The trail crossed the rest of the ridge and brought Lupe and SPHP to another rocky open area beyond. The ground to the left was higher than the ground to the right where Peyto Creek now stayed for a while instead of meandering around. Lupe and SPHP crossed the open ground, which was considerably rougher with larger rocks than before crossing the ridge. The trail was fainter in this area, but continued on.
The trail eventually headed back towards Peyto Creek, which was also curving back towards the trail. The terrain was forcing a convergence once again. Nearing the creek, there was a view of waterfalls plunging down from very high up on the opposite side of the valley. A tributary of Peyto Creek came down from the opposite side of the creek cutting a narrow little canyon just for itself through solid rock.
The terrain now forced Lupe and SPHP into an increasingly narrow “V-shaped” valley with Peyto Creek rushing though the bottom. Away from the creek, at the entrance to this valley, was a huge sloping slab of rock that was swept clear of debris. The slab of rock jutted up toward the sky at a 45° angle.
Lupe and SPHP continued on past the big sloping slab, but SPHP could see that the way forward was getting increasingly challenging. Ahead, Peyto Creek was churning violently as it came down around a narrow curve on the valley floor. If there was a way through this narrow spot, Lupe might be able to go much further. However, the terrain ahead couldn’t be seen, because it was around a corner to the right.
As Lupe and SPHP got closer, the way ahead on Lupe’s side of the creek looked daunting. There was a steep wall of rock that didn’t look safe to climb, yet it probably had to be climbed in order to follow the creek any farther upstream. Higher up were more towering rock walls. It wasn’t clear how far up Lupe might have to climb. The opposite bank of Peyto Creek looked more promising, but there wasn’t a way across.
Lupe and SPHP advanced as far as was easily possible. Then SPHP paused to consider the situation. Lupe had gotten far enough to see a little way around the bend, but not very far. What could be seen wasn’t all that encouraging, although SPHP suspected better terrain was not much farther ahead. It was now clear that getting to the opposite bank of Peyto Creek wouldn’t help a bit. The terrain rapidly became even worse over there.
In the end, it just didn’t seem safe. It was time to turn around. Even just a badly sprained ankle, never mind a fall, would ruin what had so far been a wonderful day. Lupe and SPHP took a break and spent a little time enjoying Lupe’s farthest point of advance towards the Peyto Glacier. How many people or dingoes ever even get this far, to this amazing spot? – not very many. On the way back, Lupe hid her disappointment at not reaching the Peyto Glacier well by showing interest in everything around her. She was still having a great time!
On the way back, in the middle of the rough open ground before getting back to the low forested ridge, Lupe met the only two people she saw during the entire jaunt from the Peyto Lake observation deck up to her farthest point of advance along Peyto Creek and back. SPHP stopped and chatted with them for a few minutes. They had skis and planned to ski on the glacier and snowfields, which sounded like fabulous fun. They had also brought ropes and climbing gear specifically for working their way past the narrow gorge where Lupe and SPHP had turned around.
Oh, and one other thing! Lupe and SPHP, of course, followed the trail back over the “low” forested ridge. On the downstream side of the ridge, the trail did go down to the gravel at the bottom of the valley, but farther away from where Peyto Creek goes around the ridge. SPHP still had to get wet boots and feet again.
However, it was possible to get back to the stretch of trail coming down the side of the valley from the Peyto Lake observation deck by passing through a smaller section of willows with less annoyance than where SPHP had wandered through them farther downstream earlier in the day. There was no obvious trail on the gravel of the floor of the valley anywhere. Head upstream, though, not downstream to get through the willows as quickly and easily as possible.
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