Mt. Robson at 12,972 feet is the highest peak in the Canadian Rockies (though not in all of Canada). Gorgeous Berg Lake lies at the base of the N face of Mt. Robson at the end of a 21 km trail which passes through the Valley of a Thousand Falls. Although there is a campground at Berg Lake, dogs are not allowed to stay overnight. So Lupe made the entire 42 km round trip as a long day hike. Many other trails are located in the Berg Lake area which would be fun to explore. At 53.11 °N, Berg Lake is as far N as Lupe has ever been.
The Berg Lake trailhead is located on the Robson River at the end of a 3 km gravel road N of the Mt. Robson Provincial Park Visitor Center in British Columbia, Canada. The visitor center is about 55 miles W of the town of Jasper, Alberta along the Yellowhead Highway No. 16.
This was a patchy cloudy and foggy morning in Jasper. SPHP checked the weather forecast at the visitor center shortly after it opened, and was pleasantly surprised to learn the forecast was for sunny skies and 22 °C (72 °F). With this encouragement, Lupe and SPHP headed W on the Yellowhead Highway to Mt. Robson Provincial Park. Sure enough, shortly after leaving Jasper the skies cleared and the fog was left behind. It was a perfect day – cool, comfortable and clear.
SPHP stopped in at the Mount Robson Provincial Park visitor center to register and get a free map of the Berg Lake trail. From there it was a short drive to the Berg Lake trailhead. There were lots of people and vehicles around, but SPHP found a place to park the G6. Sometime between 10:30 and 11:00 AM, Lupe crossed the bridge over the beautiful rushing Robson River and set off along the Berg Lake trail through a shady cedar forest.
It was an easy stroll following the river, since the elevation gain was gradual. Before too long Lupe and SPHP fell in with another hiker, a young man from Calgary named Jason. Jason had saved up money and then gone on a 5 month trip by himself to South America from the prior December to May. He had visited Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, and the Amazon rain forest (although not Brazil). Sometime during this trip he had taken time to fly to Fiji to see his parents, who were also traveling.
Jason intended to hike just the first 5 or 6 km of the Berg Lake trail as far as Kinney Lake (the first major trail objective), since he was actually on his way to Vancouver. SPHP found Jason’s tales about his travels very interesting. Lupe trotted along keeping a sharp watch for squirrels while Jason and SPHP chatted. It seemed like Kinney Lake was reached in no time at all. Jason turned back and Lupe and SPHP continued on following the trail, which now went up and down in the forest above the E shore of Kinney Lake.
Past Kinney Lake the trail continued into the Valley of A Thousand Falls. It was all very beautiful. SPHP enjoyed seeing Lupe crossing a fun swinging bridge over the Robson River. The trail started rising steeply once Lupe got to the area of the three main waterfalls a few km above Kinney Lake. Lupe came first to White Falls, then Falls of the Pool, and finally Emperor Falls.
The falls were all spectacular and powerful, but the hike up started seeming long and hard. The trail was steep, it was rather warm out, and swarms of biting flies descended upon Lupe and SPHP at every stop for a breather. SPHP swatted hundreds of flies dead, but it was no use – their numbers were endless. The only real defense was to press steadily along.
The trail continued to climb after Lupe passed Emperor Falls, but not quite as steeply. Eventually it leveled out a great deal, and the climb was much more gradual making the trek far more enjoyable again. Lupe came to a wide valley with various streams of the braided Robson River meandering through it sparkling in the sun. A bit farther along, Lupe came to a barren rocky landscape which was mostly dry. By then there was a good view of Mt. Robson. The Berg and Mist glaciers could be seen coming down the mountain.
Just past the dry rocky area Lupe crested a small ridge and finally saw Berg Lake ahead. The trail went into a stunted forest and continued N above the W shore of the lake. At the far N end of Berg Lake, Lupe and SPHP reached the campground 21 km from the trailhead where Lupe had started. Lupe and SPHP left the trail and went down to join others on the rocky N beach of Berg Lake.
The view of Mt. Robson (12,972 ft.) towering over Berg Lake was stupendous. Lupe and SPHP had a clear view of the Berg and Mist glaciers. Little icebergs that had calved off into Berg Lake from the Berg Glacier were floating in a line heading NW across the lake towards Lupe, driven by a breeze coming from the mountain. Lupe posed for some photos with Berg Lake, the glaciers and Mt. Robson in the background. She was hungry too, and eagerly devoured the Taste of the Wild SPHP had brought along for her.
SPHP would have liked to have gone on further. A few more kilometers would have brought Lupe to the third and most impressive glacier on Mt. Robson – the Robson glacier, which fills a valley and looks like the typical image of a long flowing river of ice the word glacier conjures up. What really would have been great was to spend the evening admiring Mt. Robson, camp out at the campground overnight, and spend the next day exploring the area. The map showed lots of interesting trails around.
However, the reality was that dogs aren’t allowed to camp there overnight. Pre-registration is required even for the humans. Lupe and SPHP could not stay. It was already late afternoon and another 21 km trek had to be made back out to the G6 to end the day. Lupe and SPHP lingered on the N beach of Berg Lake admiring Mt. Robson for quite a while. This was the farthest N (53.11°) Lupe had ever been and it was gorgeous! Inevitably though, the time came to leave.
Reluctantly, Lupe and SPHP set off on the 21 km journey back to the G6. The return hike was long, but very enjoyable. Since it was getting late in the day, there were fewer and fewer people on the trails. The scenery was even more beautiful in the evening light as the shadows of the mountains grew. It certainly didn’t hurt that the way back was downhill either, for SPHP was feeling the effects of the long day.
It was 11:18 PM and 59 °F when Lupe finally got back to the G6. Even at that late hour, that far N there was still a faint twilight in the sky, but it had been pretty dark out in the cedar forest. Lupe and SPHP had hardly eaten anything all day, so SPHP fixed up Lupe’s bed in the G6, let her leap in for a well deserved rest and gave her some Alpo. She was pretty famished and devoured 3/4 of a can before she was full and ready to snooze. SPHP had a Zone bar to get the blood sugar up. Then Lupe and SPHP went to sleep right there in the G6 at the Mt. Robson trailhead.
The glorious 42 km round trip trek to see Berg Lake and Mt. Robson was the final really long day hike of Lupe’s 2013 Dingo Vacation to the Beartooths and the Canadian Rockies. At daybreak the next morning, SPHP started the G6 up and began the long drive S back home to the States. It’s always a bit sad when it’s time to turn around, although there were still a few other stops and shorter hikes to come before Lupe left Canada.
Perhaps Lupe and SPHP will return some day and get an early enough start to not only reach Berg Lake again, but press on to the Robson Glacier! Driving S, SPHP thought about that, and about the even bigger dream of going on even further to see Alaska and the Yukon. Lupe just sat up on her perch enjoying the ride, sniffing the air through the partially open window, and watching for the next adventure – which as far as she knew might be right around the next bend.
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