My friend Michele and I completed the Skyline Trail as part of an 8 day hike from Nigel Creek to the Signal trailhead (Jasper). This is a section of the Great Divide Trail that covers three networks of backcountry trails; Brazeau Loop, 6 Passes and Skyline.
I would recommend doing each section separately you can enjoy each bit for their own unique qualities and then you won’t be so exhausted. We had a great time but I have named this hike the ‘worst but best hike ever’ so that will probably tell you what we were going through.
Day 7/8 - Evelyn Creek to Curator
15.4km 1072 elev
Mich had actually rolled up her sleeping mat and bag whilst I was sleeping and I had slept through the entire thing. No idea how, but I was obviously so shattered! I think I finally rolled out of bed at 10:30 or was it 11:30, idk it was super late. Poor Hailey we were both not in very talkative moods and the soles of my feet were really sore today. I kept on stretching them out because they felt like I had tight muscles of tendons on the soles of my feet. I bandaged them up to see if that would help but it didn't really. I have done the first half of skyline before and honestly compared to what we had just seen in the 6 passes Skyline looked crap in comparison (clearly a scenery snob these days). We meet a group of 3 hikers who would become our friends, Amy, Mark and Fraser.
Also, Amy took a pic of the three of us on the outhouse which is obvs our new fav photo of the three of us and we had been wanting to get this photo taken for years now. Amy is a nurse and looked at my feet and diagnosed me with bedsores aka pressure sores on the bottom of my feet. She gave me some pressure sore dressings to where the next day (god bless her) but they didn't help so I just had to power through the next day and get home.
Day 8/8 - Curator to Skyline
25km 837 elev
It was freezing cold that night and thankfully I had asked Hailey to bring me some leggings to sleep in as I didn't pack any for the trip (stupid me) We wore all of our layers for the start of the hike. We all had a lazy morning and by accident, we all decided to hike out together. Thank god for that because Mich and I needed an energy boost and having the extra ppl there really lifted our spirits.
The weather looked patchy and heading up The Notch it started snowing a bit and the winds were blowing like crazy. Heading up The Notch is the steepest part of the day after this it is either ridge walking or downhill. We had no views from The Notch but you weirdly. get a little bit of phone signal up here.
The weather was like this for the rest of the hike out, blue sky, cloud, snow, sun. We didn’t get many views but when the clouds cleared the views were amazing. The second part of Skyline really is the highlight.
It was so windy as well and everyone was dropping and putting on layers like crazy. It became a joke that every 7 mins someone would need to drop or put on a layer. Once we hit signal fire road we all got some cell signal and I had a private message from Clara Hughes who was asking to sleep on my couch. What a funny story that I had accidentally ignored a Canadian olympian and legend. Sorry Clara!
The fire road down to the trailhead was smooth sailing and we were being picked up my Hailey’s mum who greeted us with a big hug! All of us including our new friends came to Mich’s house after the hike to eat pizza and continue to hang out. Hiking friends are the best kinda friends.
For any reservations in Jasper National Park head to the reservations system to check availability.