Day 1 - 21km / 807m elev gain
Day 2 - 15.10km / 225m elev gain
My friend Katie and I decided to take our two dogs into Wild Goat Wilderness Area to backcountry camp for one night. The area is called Cataract Pass as it is the pass that separates Wild Goat Wilderness with Banff National Park. The trail started for us at Nigel Creek Trailhead which is where the Brazeau and South Boundary trail starts on Highway 93 (The Icefields Parkway).
I had already hiked into Nigel Pass on my 8 days trip from Nigel Creek to Jasper. So I knew what to expect up until the turn off for Cataract Pass. The first 2 km is along an old road that leads to a warden cabin called Camp Parker. There is a layby that is on the left (if you are travelling south) that is about 1 minute before the Nigel Creek trailhead. You can park here and then hike down the join the old road at the junction for the warden cabin. I have never taken this option but I know other people who have. It would cut off about 1.5km ish.
After Camp Parker cross the river and then steadily climb up through the trees. There are a few nice views on the way and a few little crossings. Everytime we were able to keep our feet dry. Continue climbing and the views great better especially looking back towards the Icefields Parkway. There was some horse poo on the trail and the dog were loving trying to sneak little snacks of the poop.
We had lunch at Nigel Pass looking at the view towards the Icefields Parkway. According to my strava this was the halfway point of our hike. The trail continues and very shortly you will come across Cataract Creek. It's a beautiful creek crossing as it’s in a wide canyon. On the other side of the creek the trail hits a T junction. Turning left will have you continuing into the Brazeau or South Boundary trail. Turning right leads outside of the National Park into Cataract Pass. I have heard that there have been issues with the new sign that is installed because some people think that after the sign is White Goat Wilderness area which allows wild camping wherever you want. However you are in Banff National Park until you hit Cataract Pass and there is a sign at the pass and a trail register. So please do not wild camp until you are outside of the National Park.
The trail then gets very beautiful and different from the junction at the creek. Climbing through huge boulder fields, following a beautiful gatorade blue creek and walking towards a large glacier. It’s a varying trail that keeps you interested. We had about 300m’s to get up to Cataract Pass and the trail feel virtually flat until you reach the bottom of the pass. Going up the pass it a lot more manageable than it looks from a few hundred metres away. Once you start heading up glacier lakes appear so it really is worth the climb!
Once on the pass I checked out the register and saw a few friends of mine. My friends dog Crx was featured in the book already so one the way out I added in that he had returned one year later. Heading down the pass we lost the trail and should have stayed to the left of a ridge that appears. When we hiked up the pass the next morning we followed a defined trail for most of the way. However without the trail going down was fine and we could see a cluster of trees next to the creek. I was using the GDT section D map and the Cataract Creek campground on the app was a few kms away but we wanted to camp as close to the pass as possible. Once getting down to the creek the trail appeared and we found a flat piece of ground next to some trees and the creek. Even though there are no official campgrounds it is obvious that people camp in similar locations.
After setting up the tent and sorting out our gear we hiked off to the Cline pass area. Katies sister had been there in 2019 and gone up to Cline pass and Katie had said that the photos were really beautiful. We weren’t sure if we would have time to do it as sunset is about 7:30 pm currently. Once we got over to the lake at the bottom of the pass it was 6:30 pm which would have meant we would have been scrambling down in the dark. Which we decided wasn’t worth it, especially because we had the two dogs with us and we hadn't had dinner yet.
We had dinner, did our chores, made a dodgy bear hang because all the trees are TINY and then got into our sleeping bags expecting a very cold night. However it was surprisingly warm and I had to take off layers during the night. We watched The Blind Side on my phone. One of my fav things is watching Netflix in my tent in the backcountry. I know it’s not very ‘wildernessy’ of me but there’s just something fun about doing it in a tent. And I’ve had some of the funniest times watching netflix deep in the backcountry and laughing for so long because we are deliriously tired.
The next the weather was pretty bad in the morning and we hiked up to the pass with our pack covers and rain jackets on. On the way out we ran into the Girls Breaking Trails running group from Jasper. I am friends with a few of the members so we all chatted for a little bit and they caught up to us on the way because those ladies (and one guy) are incredible runners. The way out was kinda uneventful because the weather wasn’t that great, but it was still a great day out in the mountains!
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