2 September 2016, Friday
We had no rain overnight, but it did get pretty cold. O and I stayed warm under our quilt. We are surprised to find it is not raining when we wake. Today had been forecast to be the worst weather day of our trip. Although it is cloudy, some of the mountain tops are visible. As we pack for our hike it begins to sprinkle a bit so we don our rain gear before we leave. It is cool enough that the extra layer is welcome anyway.
We take the trail towards Marmot campground where we will find the Hargreaves Glacier-Mumm Basin trailhead. Rain showers come and go as do our views. Mt. Robson seems very moody today. There are loud crashes and rumbling echoing from across the lake. At times it is so loud it seems the entire glacier should come tumbling down into Berg Lake, but we see no avalanches.
We climb up glacial moraine and can see Hargreaves glacier and basin through the clouds. Two hundred years ago the glacier reached to where we are now standing. Behind us Berg Lake continually changes as low clouds drift by. As we work our way across the glacial scree we see more pikas. They are cute.
The trail crosses into subalpine woods. It is a very pretty walk! We stop to watch a distant tree full of what we think are jays. By the time I get my camera out they have all flown. I get a photo of the one remaining bird. It is backlit, but from the striped tail and speckled back we think the jays were harassing a raptor.
Our walk continues along a ridge above our campsite. Eventually we come to a four way junction: Mumm Basin straight ahead, Toboggan Falls downhill to our right, a cave to our left and back the way we came, Hargreaves Glacier. We proceed straight ahead and climb up on a flat-topped trailside boulder for lunch. As we eat, clouds roll in and we are again pelted with rain and sleet. We quickly finish lunch and proceed up the trail as the clouds thicken. It is not looking very promising for views of Mumm Basin.
As we begin an ascent up to more glacial talus we are drawn up the trail by a view of a large gray marmot. This must be what our book calls a hoary marmot. It seems twice as big as the “marmot” we saw at Waterton. The marmot is not very cooperative when it comes to photos. I take many pictures of its back. As I try to get a better view it turns and gives a piercing whistle. I finally get a photo of the marmot looking at the camera.
We continue up the slabs of orange and black glacial debris, picking our way from one cairn to the next. Now it is raining and snowing, and it is becoming more difficlt to find the trail. We make it almost to Mumm summit, our maximum elevation being 2050 meters. We have a great view…of gray mist. We both agree it is time to turn around and go down. The Mumm Basin circuit will have to wait for another year.
We carefully retrace our path from cairn to cairn and finally reach the 4-way junction again. We descend along the Toboggan Falls Trail. We soon understand the name. Water cascades over a steep, smooth rock slab. Unfortunately, the trail is equally steep and the smooth rock is slippery. O’s feet fly out from under, but luckily the brunt of the fall is taken by his backpack (and my camera). He will have a stiff, bruised right hand for awhile. My “x-ray” vision tells me his fifth metacarpal is most likely fractured. We will check on my camera when we get back to camp.
On our return we cook up some hot chocolate to sip while dinner rehydrates. Despite the intermittent showers and the 5 degree C temperature it is a pleasant evening. Tomorrow we must leave Berg Lake and move two km downhill to Marmot Campground.