I have finished up the 1st of 4 reports which I will be issuing from our recent trip to Hyder, Alaska and the Canadian Rockies.  This report is the first ever to be released on the Titan Trail and covers both the trail and town of Hyder along with the surrounding area.  I think many of you will enjoy checking out the wildlife and glacier photos that I am including in this report.  More to come.  Click here to read the report.

While Flemming was enjoying his time in Jasper town, our overnight backpacking trip was just completed in Mount Robson.  We took the Berg Lake Trail 10 miles one-way to the Emperor Falls campground where we set up camp for the night.  Along the way, we passed some spectacular sights– Kinney Lake, the Valley of a Thousand Falls, White Falls, Falls of the Pool, and Emperor Falls.  Our campground was perfectly situated just a few feet away from the raging Robson River.  The next day, I woke up early and used the morning to hike up to Berg Lake.  I had outstanding views of Berg Lake, Berg Glacier, Rearguard Mountain, and (most of) Mount Robson.  Mount Robson is the tallest peak in the Canadian Rockies.  I had two perfect views of it– once about a week ago from the Visitor Center and again on my backpacking trip from near Kinney Lake.  When I was at Berg Lake, the summit of Mount Robson was shrouded in clouds.  This is one outstanding place that I am grateful to have visited.  It would probably be ranked as my lifetime favorite backpacking trip.  Here are a couple of teaser pictures from the upcoming trip report.

A full view of Mount Robson from near Kinney Lake

A picture of Gary taken at Kinney Lake

At the beginning of the Valley of a Thousand Falls

Steve at Berg Lake with Berg Glacier in the background

Day 4 of my hiking reports actually represents three days.  We spent over three days in Hyder, Alaska, which happens to be my favorite town in Alaska.  I will explain more about Hyder and tell you why it is my favorite in my upcoming exclusive trip report on the Titan Trail.  I had been wanting to hike the Titan Trail for the past eight years, so it was awesome to finally be able to do so.  We completed 3/4 of the trail, which was an excellent accomplishment based on the available information.  My trip report will be the first ever to be written about this trail.  But it will also showcase the best of Hyder.  Our final tally in Hyder was– 5 grizzly bears, 7 black bears, 2 wolves, and 2 bald eagles.  Here are a few teaser images.

My 6th trip to Alaska and Stefan’s 1st

Watching a 3 year old grizzly play in Fish Creek

A black bear watching us through the rain

A wolf feasting on a salmon from Fish Creek

A picture of Daria at Salmon Glacier

For our third day of hiking, we decided to hit the best slot canyon in Jasper National Park.  Maligne Canyon abruptly slots up into some very tight narrows from the top and then continues downstream that way for a couple of miles.  The narrows have to be viewed from above since the canyon is filled with rushing water and waterfalls.  It is a very pretty hike but crowded with tourists.  Here are a few of my pictures from our hike, which we did from the upper parking lot down to the 6th bridge.  I am not sure if I am going to do a trip report on this area yet or not.  But it is well worth visiting.

Maligne Canyon begins to take shape in dramatic fashion

Polished walls in the narrows of Maligne Canyon

One of several dramatic waterfalls in the narrows

A spectacular slot for several miles downstream

The second hiking day of our trip was out to Bow Glacier Falls.  On the drive to the hike, we saw two black bears by the side of the road.  This hike started at Bow Lake, which amazed all of us with its beautiful color.  We took Stefan on this 6 mile hike.  He did really well and was talking the whole time.  He was especially fascinated by the fast-moving river and trees.  A couple of neat things along the way were passing by a spectacular slot canyon, catching sight of a marmot, and eventually ending up at the base of the waterfall, which is fed by a glacier above.

Gary “The Cat” standing in front of Bow Lake (true color of lake)

Mouth of the slot canyon we passed by

Daria and Renee at the top of the canyon with a view of Bow Glacier Falls

Steve and Stefan at the base of Bow Glacier Falls

Gary “The Cat”, Flemming, Renee, Daria, Stefan, and myself are currently on our Canadian Rockies and Hyder, Alaska 2013 trip.  On select days, I will be sharing with you some of the photographs and brief information about our hikes.  However, this trip is not hiking based, so there will be maybe 5-6 updates total, even though our trip is much longer.  Most of these hikes will be developed into Trip Reports and posted here on the site upon my return home.  But these blog updates will give you a brief overview.

Day 1– Plain of Six Glaciers (Lake Louise)

For our first hike of the trip, we did the Plain of Six Glaciers hike which starts at beautiful Lake Louise.  The standard hike goes to the Plain of Six Glaciers Teahouse, with a spur trail continuing on to a view of the Death Trap at the Abbot Pass viewpoint.  Along the way, there are excellent views down into the crevasses of the Lower Victoria Glacier.  Thanks to a friend, I got some information about another secret spur trail that goes up to the foot of Upper Victoria Glacier.  While we literally saw hundreds of people on the standard trail, we spent about 3 hours in total on the unofficial trail to Upper Victoria Glacier and only saw 2 other people the whole time.  It was fantastic.  The pictures below are taken from the secret trail.

View of the Death Trap from the unofficial Upper Victoria Glacier trail

View of Lake Louise from the edge of Upper Victoria Glacier

This is the view of Upper Victoria Glacier which was right in front of us

The edge of the snowfield leading onto Upper Victoria Glacier

Just a quick note checking in with everyone.  I hope you all are having a nice summer.  My summer plans including going to Lake Louise, Jasper, and Mount Robson (in Canada) and Hyder, Alaska.  Also, later this month I will return to Redwood National Park to wrap up my quest to find the Top 10 Tallest Trees in the world by getting a picture next to #5 Nugget.  And, yes, I already found #10 Minaret during a trip to Humboldt Redwoods State Park last month.  I will also be searching for the legendary tree named Maya (or Maia).  I should have at least a couple of hiking trip reports come out of our Canada and Alaska trip, so stay tuned.  Here are my hiking plans for Canada and Alaska.

• Plain of Six Glaciers (Lake Louise)
• Bow Glacier Falls
• Mount Edith Cavell (Path of the Glacier & Cavell Meadows)
• Maligne Canyon
• Mount Robson- Berg Lake Trail & Snowbird Pass (backpacking overnight)
• Titan Trail (Hyder, Alaska- grizzly bear safety permitting)