1 September 2016, Thursday
We had lightning, thunder and rain on and off through the night. This morning there are patches of blue in the mostly cloudy sky. Mt. Robson’s peak is obscured. We cook our veggie-sausage frittata and enjoy our breakfast. It’s a long walk to the wash station to do our dishes and brush teeth. We are ready to tackle the Snowbird Trail by 10:20. There are breaks in the clouds and the day is looking promising.
We begin by hiking around the marshy area at the top of Berg Lake. Soon we are walking along a rushing glacial stream. The trail remains fairly level as we round the eastern flank of Mt. Robson. We pass a small sign indicating where the toe of the glacier was in the early 1900’s. It has receded at least 1 km since then. We can see the toe of the Robson Glacier in the distance. Several other glaciers are also in view. What an amazing sight!
Soon the trail begins climbing along glacial talus and scree and then up along the clifflike valley wall. I guess our Goat Lake hike was training for this one. I feel a bit more confident near the steep drop-offs, but I still walk slowly and carefully. At one point the trail is so near the edge that there is steel chain along the cliff to grab onto. It helps a bit.
After about 7.5 km of hiking, the trail ascends along a pretty cascade to an alpine meadow. We have read that there are hoary marmots here, but we do not see any. By now it is mid-afternoon and we are met by some of the early hikers returning from Snowbird Pass. They report having run into some hail up on the pass. O and I decide to have a late lunch in the sunny meadow.
As we are eating, a cold wind begins to blow and the sky clouds over rapidly. We are pelted by small hail. Lunch is quickly packed up and we begin our trip down. We soon have rain gear and warm gloves on. At one point we briefly lose the trail at a switchback, but we are soon on track again. As we are descending the steepest section with the steel chain, I keep my focus on the rock pile below. I suddenly notice there are little critters scurrying about the rocks…my first glimpse of pikas. By now the hail and rain have stopped, but there are threatening clouds both ahead and behind. We hear distant rumbles, but we have discovered it is sometimes difficult to tell the difference between the cracking and falling of ice, and thunder.
We contemplate cooking our dinner in the enclosed shelter this evening, but it is dark and steamy and crowded in there, so we return to our own campsite and prepare dinner beneath our tarp. I go down to the lake to refill our water bucket. As I approach the shore a little gray bird flies by and lands on a rock out in the water, very near to where I am standing. As I watch it begins dancing, bending its knees and bobbing up and down. A dipper! The evening is quite cool, but the rain holds off. In fact, we can see occasional patches of blue. We are both glad to get the dishes cleaned up and packed away so we can tumble into bed.