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.
on my way towards Grand Cache, and a rain shower keeps the dust down
nothing on the road but me
the Smokey River and messages on the island
the snow picked out the folded nature of these sedimentary rocks
Sulphur Gate - the hard band of Conglomerate where the two rivers meet
zoomed in to the skyline
the antlers point the way to Eaton Falls
the sides of the valley were steep but still wooded
the Eaton Falls tumbling down the narrow valley
must be spectacular when wet
my bear scaring kit
the steady path back to the start at Hells Gate
beautiful woods and thankfully no bears that I could see
Sulphur Gates appears again
almost back at the start
just in case I'd forgotten