Canada 2010 - Hells Gate at Grande Cache

Day : 16th Sept

Weather: Warm with a little sunshine

Route: An out and in from Hells Gate to Eaton Falls

 

I drove away from the rigsite and took it easy down the dirt roads, eventually reaching the tarmac at Kelly Lake and Beaver Lodge. Then it was a relaxing drive down to Grand Cache, find a place to stay and enjoy a long sleep. I stopped off here to visit the Sulphur Gates or 'Hells Gate'. The town itself is small and mainly survives from the mining industry of high grade metallurgical coal - that's how the present town grew up. It originated as a 'cache' to store furs and other goods that the fur traders collected from the natives of BC before transporting them to major trading centres - hence the name of Grand Cache. The area around here is a mountain wilderness, and it has lots of trails within the park boundaries. A lot of these are rarely travelled, and hence facilities are scarce - a true wilderness. The local pamphlet I was reading as I had my meal told me that this is bear country, and you should be bear aware - i.e make a noise and avoid smelly foods. Grand Cache was a convenient point for me to stop on my way over to the main attraction of Jasper and the Icefields Parkway, so I thought a little warm up stroll would be a good thing as I hadn't stretched my legs for a while. I went to a local store in the morning to enquire about pepper spray - I got conflicting advice from many locals, but the majority said just to make a noise as you walk along.

A short drive out of town led me to the trail head, where there were a bunch of horses tied up ready for some customers - I didn't see anyone walking though.  It’s a confluence of two rivers – The Smoky and Sulphur Rivers. The gates are a vertically bedded band of hard conglomerate that has been breached by the smokey river, leaving high rocky escarpments on either side. It’s a lovely view looking up and down river, with big snowy mountains as a back drop. Down on the mud flats in the river a few people had made out a message in stones – impressive, except for the one that said ‘beware bears aaagghhh’. But it’s not much of a walk so I strode out along a trail to go and see the Eaton Falls. Many of the trails around here go deep into the wilderness area, and I passed by a few people out hunting – rifle in hand, and a guy on horseback going up to his mountain lodge – just like something from the movies. The trail is originally an old fire access road, so it's not too bad a surface to walk on. There were a few ups and downs at the start of the trail but generally it was an easy stroll of about 4 miles. The branch off the trail to take me up to the falls is marked by a moose antler tied to a wooden post, followed by a narrow track through the trees which bought me along to the falls. I tarried here a while, enjoying the peace. The falls themselves are ok, with several big drops, although the amount of water was not great due to the dry summer they have had. Then I simply retraced my steps, banging away with my bear scaring kit - a stone and an empty coke tin. It worked because I didn't see any. Back at the car I was looking forward to the drive over to Jasper and some spectacular scenery. A grand start to the day.

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on my way towards Grand Cache, and a rain shower keeps the dust down

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nothing on the road but me

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 the Smokey River and messages on the island

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the snow picked out the folded nature of these sedimentary rocks

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Sulphur Gate - the hard band of Conglomerate where the two rivers meet

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zoomed in to the skyline

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the antlers point the way to Eaton Falls

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the sides of the valley were steep but still wooded

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the Eaton Falls tumbling down the narrow valley

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must be spectacular when wet

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my bear scaring kit

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the steady path back to the start at Hells Gate

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beautiful woods and thankfully no bears that I could see

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Sulphur Gates appears again

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almost back at the start

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just in case I'd forgotten

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