As this is my eighth trip out with the Skyline Hikers of the Canadian Rockies I will not bore you with all of the pre camp meetings, etc. If you need to know about them please visit my other skyline pages which will provide you with plenty of information .

        After the two hour bus ride from Banff to our trailed located about 20 km north of the Saskatchewan Crossing on the Columbia Icefields highway and having made our final pit stop, I strap on my pack and as the end person or assistant hike leader for the 2nd group of 13 at 10:45AM we start the climb up the trail and soon pass a pleasant waterfall and continue to climb on a moderate well switch backed trail for an hour and a half - occasionally getting views of the Alexandria River valley far below.

We are also getting wildflowers views, the trail is moderating and after one and one half hours of hiking we have come to the Fire lookout turnoff - five ladies in the group decide to do this short but steep one kilometre side trip which Doug S our leader says is okay as we will wait for them at the Norman Creek crossing and our lunch break which is just ahead.

We have completed most of our climb for the day and are more than half way into camp and it is only a little after noon so there will be time to explore in the area - in particular Norman Lake and Twin Falls which are near by. We are on the edge of Sunset Pass which is a long narrow pass composed of several small ridges and dry meadows which will provide us with our hiking opportunities over the next few days.

We have clear views of Mt. Coleman - both saddles or ridges can be easily climbed - to our left . A view back across the valley to Mt. Saskatchewan and its glaciers.

After an hour the others join us and we head out in search of the turnoff for pint sized Norman Lake but we have missed it - it is back at our rest stop - We do however find Twin Falls and spend considerable time at this quaint little waterfall - where Doug and several others take many pictures - I have brought both my 35 mm camera and my video cam and it will be interesting to see how long my supply of batteries will last as there is no way of recharging them here in the wilderness. Because of high water brought on by the extremely dry, hot temperatures we are unable to cross Wilson Creek and head for camp a km or two away instead.

At 3:30 PM we are in camp. It's a beautiful setting - almost too difficult to describe in words so when I get my pictures uploaded you will be able to enjoy the views as well.

Sunset Pass is perhaps the most scenic of the Skyline camps that I have attended. The camp is also well laid out - with the eating tent separated from the rest of the camp by a small bridge over a somewhat high water Wilson Creek. The campsites are level and well grouped - even the black plastic biffies are well located and easy to find and the trough for the men provides a scenic overview of much of the camp.

I am in a tent called Prolific Meadows 1944 - location of the camp that year - on a level knoll overlooking much of the camp. I have two tent mates - Dave S from Coquitlam and Brian M for Richmond - his first camp. Dave and Brian are work mates.

The weather is hot but a breeze prevails most of the time and the mosquitoes aren't too bad.

The trip and day weren't without incident or embarrassment.

1. One beer and two pop burst on the way in.

2. A number of my beer, pop and juice escaped from the cooling spot in the creek - most were rescued or found downstream near the swimming hole but I had to fess up at the nightly donut session to get them back.

3. My camera wouldn't rewind so I had to removed it manually and lost all the pictures.

4. My video cam batteries don't seem to be working properly - did get them to work enough to provide me with about thirty minutes of video.

5. My flashlight has bit the dust - not working.

An informal happy hour forms - always tough to get going the first night what with people wanting to get set up in their tents - freshen up etc.

At 6:15PM supper is served - chicken done in a pineapple sauce - rice - corn - and a salad.

7:30 PM adjourn to the donut for the nightly trip planning meeting - may do Sunset Pass/ Pinto Lake lookout loop tomorrow.

There is a wide variety of day hikes available in the pass area - ranging from easy to difficult with most be moderate - this will allow most groups to return to camp around 4 PM.

It was a warm night in the tent - slept fairly good but it was warm.

After no -one showed a lot of interest in going the Sunset/Pinto Loop today I went with a second group doing the hike to Wilson Shoulder which is situated directly above the camp. It would turn out to be an excellent day - also found some batteries that are working properly and my 35 mm camera also seems to be fine.

Leaving at 9:30AM with Harry and Carol M as our co-leaders we leave camp and climb for an hour to ridge of Mt. Wilson which overlooks the camp. There is a small wildflower display coming up the ridge. Once on the ridge we are in open country - you can see the entire area of Sunset Pass and we can observe the group climbing the Coleman Saddle across the Pass and some 1500' above us.

There are fossils in the rocks here and we have an hour to do as we please - the other group is spread out above and beyond us. They intend to head more into the cirque.

After our leisurely break we set out across the various knolls, stopping for frequent breaks and photo ops. We descend down to the infant Wilson Creek valley and follow it along until we reach the Goat Ridge trail which we followed back to camp. There is an alternate return from the Wilson Creek drainage through to the main Sunset Pass trail but with the creeks rising so much during the day it is very hard to cross in the late afternoon.

My only apparent sin today was leaving my lunch somewhere on the trail - probably when I got my camera out I forgot to put my lunch back in my pack - thanks to Pat and Len B who kindly gave me one of there's but with chocolates and candies to munch on I would probably be okay any way.

Supper is beef chunks, boiled potatoes, green beans/carrots.

There are 24 new first timers on this trip which is a high number for this camp has the largest number of returnees each year. There are 10 regulars missing for various reasons.

A couple more of my beers were recovered.

Tomorrow - scheduled to lead a loop trip to

Head out of camp and visit the falls on Wilson Creek that are located just outside the camp boundary. After the usual photo shoots we follow the creek a short distance until we come to a dry creek bed which we then follow to the open meadow land that is all part of the Sunset Pass area.
The terrain isn't flat - there are a series of little knolls - mossy, hummocky terrain containing a number of karsts or sink holes. After an easy hour we have reached an overlook for Pinto Lake - a very greenish lake some 1500 ft below - we can see the terrain that any hikers wanting to do the Goat Ridge-Pinto Lake circuit would be faced with - although it is possible to slog down from the Pass directly to the Lake .
After a long leisurely lunch we set off for the official Sunset Pass - a few more knolls away - Bill showed us the way - a hand over hand scramble for 50 ft up a rocky bluff - more difficult than dangerous -( we chose this route by consensus, you can just as easy drop back down from the lookout and climb at a less steep rate if you so wish)  after that a walk through light forest interspersed with dry meadows.
After a couple of more knolls were climbed we stop for another break - have another good view of Pinto Lake.
After our break we head down the meadow where we pick up the main sunset Pass trail, continue through some more meadows and follow the horse trail back to camp arriving about 2:30PM.
 
 

NOTE:

The terrain in the area is fairly opened -so you can over land or cross country wander if you wish be be forewarned that most of the meadows here are dry and have a large number of small trees and shrubs - so if you choose to ramble beware of the bramble - long pants perhaps!

As for myself I am feeling fatigued or tired - the hot weather has taken a toll on me - my two beer at happy hour just about put me to sleep.

As I am writing this report the weather is turning stormy and we will end up have a few short thundershowers, as it is needed and as everyone is in camp we just wait out the storms.

Dinner is pork loin, scalloped potatoes, veggies etc.

I barely survive the trails meetings and donut activities - we didn't get our nightly cocoa to ensure that we have enough water for coffee tomorrow - while we have a good reliable water source - it must be purified before it can be drank - and with the warm weather the creek is running high thereby causing problems with the purification process.

As for tomorrow I may stay in camp or if others want would lead an easy trip up Wilson Ridge - there's lots of open terrain to explore there. As I turn into bed it has stopped raining and is starting to clear off.
 

DAY FOUR THURSDAY AUGUST 6, 1999 DESTINATION: WILSON RIDGE/SHOULDER AND VALLEY WEATHER: SUNNY, VERY WINDY IN THE MORNING # IN GROUP - TEN DEPARTURE TIME: 10:00 AM

After a very good night sleep I awake chipper and perhaps feel the best I have been in camp. I am also cursing myself for volunteering to lead Wilson ridge today - it seems a large group - another 9 want to go so any thought of joining a group doing West Coleman with Judith is out.

We reach the ridge in about an hour and after a brief photo session to admire the panoramic views in front of us we head for the high point on the saddle - a today a blustery bluff below the snow fields of Mt. Wilson.

        This is where we eat lunch and Adam spent a lot of time describing to the interested hikers the geology of the area.

        Gail then leads us down off the bluff to the valley floor and we work our way back by following infant Wilson creek  to the connecting Goat Ridge trail and then back into camp.

        One thing the cooler weather has done is drop the level of the creek.

        With plenty of time to spare before happy officially begins at 4:00PM - I take a number of interested Skyliners over the the falls and then join the group for a couple of cold ones,

        My health has improved - I seem to be feeling fine.

        Dinner - macaroni, cabbage, ham, carrots.

        Tomorrow: I will be leading a lazy walk/ramble to Norman Lake and Twin Falls leaving at 10:00 AM
 
 

DAY FIVE: FRIDAY AUGUST 7, 1998 DESTINATION: TWIN FALLS/ NORMAN LAKE RAMBLE DEPARTURE TIME: 10:00 AM # IN GROUP - FIVE - 4 FEMALES + MYSELF AND WE ARE ALL FROM B.C. WEATHER: SUNNY AND PLEASANT

        My final fill day in camp starts with me feeling tired once again - I was up three times overnight.

        I started up the fire this morning as it is the coolest one yet on this trip. There is actually some frost outside which creates a mist over the camp - yes it actually feels like an August morning in the Rockies.

        The day went uneventful as we left camp and headed down the main park trail to Twin Falls - which I was happy to revisit as my 35 MM camera is now working so I could re-shoot the pictures that I lost on the way in - the other noticeable thing today was how much the Norman Creek has dropped - you can now easily cross over the top of the falls to the other side.

        From the falls we travelled overland and cross country trying not to get into any boggy areas and hopefully coming out at Norman Lake - as with all good plans when you are using sight of land and no map we did have to retrace our steps a few times before reaching Norman  Lake which isn't any get body of water. There are a few wild flowers displays in the area around the lake but nothing like i have witnessed on previous Skyliners trips.

        We had lunch on the shores of the lake, then explored Norman Creek around the wilderness campsite before taking the main trail back to our camp in plenty of time to rehearse our skits or enjoy our beers, etc.

        One thing that often happens on the last day in camp is that most people would rather pack up the empties so happy hours is usually livelier than usual.

        Dinner is our traditional roast beef, yorkshire pudding, baked potatoes  etc.

        Skit nights produced the usual laughs. Here is a resume of a few of the skits performed:

         1. Songs
         2. Hypothermia lecture
         3. Siskel/Ebert review performed by Cowan/Silver
         4. A half Monty - perhaps the funniest of the evening's skits
         5. Limericks by Bruce and Solveig
         6. Wilderness awareness skit by Bruce M and Doc.
 
 

DAY SIX: SATURDAY AUGUST 8, 1998 PACKING UP AND THE TRIP OUT WEATHER: SUNNY

        As usual on the last day of camp we are required to be up early so that we can pack up our duffel - this allows the wranglers to get the horses packed up and out to trailed so that we can claim our duffel at the bus.

        As today's trip out will be short and not to time consuming a number of side trips are being done - up Wilson Ridge - Norman Lake/Twin Falls and the old fire lookout -

        I am in the middle group going out under the direction of Morgan - we lunch at the wilderness campsite and then leisurely work out way down the switch backs to trailed and the wait for the bus to take us back to camp.

        This is the first camp that I have taken a video camera into - that in itself was a learning experience - trying to ensure enough battery power to last the entire camp.

        After arriving in Banff, I claiming my car from the impound lot I head down the Trans- Canada highway for home - overnighting at Yard Creek campsite near Sicamous and worried about the forest fires which are threatening some of the towns along the way - may it through Salmon Arm a couple of hours before the highway was forced to close again because of a wind shift.

        Next year site - either Owl Lakes or a new site in the Kananasksis

        ED Note: It's Head Creek in the Southern part of Kananasksis Country.