Day 4/8 - Poboktan Campground to a Wild camp 7km after Pass One
19.2km 703 elevation
Pass 1 - 238m
Hiked - 4th to 6th Aug 2020
We ventured off from Poboktan and started heading North towards Avalanche campground. For an unmaintained campground, it is really beautiful and is full of wildflowers as hardly anyone ever stays there. The facilities look like they are all still in place so I would highly recommend booking it especially if you don’t want neighbours. There were lots of bridged river crossings so we didn’t have to get our feet wet unlike on the Brazeau trail.
After the river crossings end it starts climbing gradually up until you reach the junction for the 6 passes route and the Maligne pass route. We reached the alpine lake that is at the junction and there were two GDT hikers packing up just as we got there. They headed off to the Maligne Pass route.
We had lunch at the alpine lake (great place for a dip) and I looked up to what I thought was pass 1 and honestly, it looked terrifying. I kept on looking at my map to make sure that yes we had to go up that massive pass. I felt very daunted looking up at the pass but I just tried to hold it together to not freak out Michele.
After a decently long lunch, we packed up our stuff and started making our way up to the bottom of the pass. This was when our off-trail / cross country adventure started, I had my GPS out a lot of the time making sure we were on the right path and weren't getting too lost. It was a gradual climb for the first bit and we found the odd boot mark in the rocks (which was comforting).
As we started to climb more alpine lakes started to appear, the views were amazing. It was tough though, the scree was loose, there were vague switchbacks in the scree but it was hot and really tough. My calves were on fire and we had to have breaks on the scree, to rest our legs and to take in the views. Our bags were still so heavy with food, it was really tough going.
Finally getting to the pass was an incredible feeling but we were exhausted already. From reading the GDT guidebook I was confused by what we were seeing and where we would be headed the next few days. Off-trail hiking is way more mentally and physically draining then on trail hiking and I was yet to fully realise this.
The valley in front of us was huge, and we could see another pass in the distance but I was almost in disbelief that we had to walk all that way to get to the second pass. This is not what either of us expected to find. We descended and hit the meadow below, the summer moguls appeared and slowly ruined our ankles. These small little grassy mounds made walking on the ‘flat’ ground so difficult and gruelling. We hiked for 7km over the 'summer moguls' while looking for a good spot to camp.
This would be both of our first experience truly wild camping e.g no bear hang, no outhouse etc.. We were trying desperately to find a suitable campground with trees large enough to hold our bear hang up high (that doesn't exist in these alpine meadows), near a water source (nup) and on flat ground (nup). What we found was a small cluster of medium-sized trees on the bumpy ground with no water nearby. ‘The perfect campground (jks)’
After setting up camp and making dinner we tried to put up the bear hang. Anyone who knows me well knows I am a chilled, calm person but oh man trying to make a bear hang after a very long made me lose my shit with frustration. It was difficult and we ended up making the worst bear hang I've ever seen. We hadn't seen any evidence of bears but I still thought that there was a good chance that our food wouldn't survive the night. I do have a photo of the bear hang but it is not for the eyes of the public because I am so embarrassed by it (But if you send me a pick of your terrible bear hang, I’ll send you ours ;-).
Once in the tent the ground was so lumpy we both slept like a pretzel but we were so tired it didn’t matter. It might have been the most beautiful campground that we have ever stayed in and the alpine glow was amazing but we were so exhausted we could barely enjoy it. We also had to ration water throughout the night because we weren't near to a water source. Camping is fun right? hahah
For any reservations in Jasper National Park head to the reservations system to check availability.