Mount Robson June 27 - 30, 2015 - Part 2
Day 3 begins and we are both starting out in good spirits! It rained a lot overnight, however my tent stood up pretty good. Not much got wet. It had stopped by the time we crawled out of bed. We started off with coffee and then made peach custard crepes, which turned out surprisingly well.
Split the morning chores, I filtered water and ryan did the the dishes.
Since we weren't in a hurry to get anywhere, we took our time. Hit the trail about 11:30. it is overcast and the peak of Mt. Robson is in the clouds. We head up the trail to Snowbird pass. It is closed for Caribou Calving, but we are able to go to Robson Glacier. The trail has minimal elevation gain, however some of the trail is loose gravel and cobble stones.
At this sign, you cut across the field of boulders straight for the glacier. It is further away than it looks, and every time you think you are as close as you can get to it, you aren't! You can walk right up and touch it! Try and follow the cairns, the lead you mostly straight. There appear to be multiple trails that people have followed - and not all the cairns lead the same way.
As you can see you can walk on the glacier or even enter the cave bit... HIGHLY NOT RECOMMENDED. Unless you have all the proper training and know what you are doing - don't do it! You could hear it caving in and see pieces breaking off. Arrival 1:30.
We climbed up the gravel hills around the glacier and got shots at a bunch of angles. You can see color differences, how far back the glacier goes and how dirty it is!
After a bunch of goofing off, hill climbing, and running around - we headed back to camp for lunch at 2:00! On the way back we noticed that we were short of breath in the valley. There is limited airflow and the air is stagnant. We recalled someone else mentioning it, but we didn't notice it on the way in. Once we were back in the open area with wind, we could breath a lot better. It was a really weird feeling. Arrived at camp at 3:00, had a cold lunch and decided to try for the cave.
The cave is up the Toboggan Falls trail, which, coincidently follow the falls! This is a trail I would not want to hike in the rain. You are hiking up slate-like rock with very little by way of grip at a very very steep angle. The falls are amazing. Lots of pools carved out by the water, running at a crazy speed. Turning around the views of the valley are spectacular!
Needless to say the climb was brutal. It took forever to get up there, the trail just goes up, and up, and up. Talk about a calf workout! Our main concern at this point is that we left so late that we may end up having to come down in the dark - and that is dangerous footing with deadly consequences. We gave ourselves a time that if we hadn't reached the cave we would turn around and head back.
We stopped to enjoy the view from this vantage point. I was looking around and from here I thought I could see the cave - but I wasn't sure. We decided to climb up and find out.
It was the cave! Marked by a Cairn and a sign! The entrance is only 2ft at the shortest and 3 feet at the tallest, and about 12 feet wide You slide in and it is down hill. You can stand inside. The floor is sloped and slick with water, no grips, and riddled with rock debris. There are water droplets on the ceiling, and it is cool. You can go a little ways in and at one point is is probably 8ft tall. At the very back of the cave it has caved in - you can see another cavern beyond, and some people had mentioned that you can squeeze through and check it out. We opted not to.
After our short exploration, I make a few notes in the journal. At 5:50 and we rush off to beat the sunset. We make it back to camp at 6:55pm, and we rushed. The valley is in shade, but not yet dark. We probably had another half an hour before we would have been in trouble, but I am glad just the same that we are back in camp before. We quickly have a wash in the lake (sponge bath - we really really stink after sweating all day!). And then it is dinner time.
I made pizza! I was really proud of it. The process was longer than anticipated, but it turned out awesome. I also brought too much, so we shared (no complaints!) Enjoyed another evening out on the bench. Headed for bed about 10:45.
Day 4 dawns, it is wet and miserable. Packed up a wet tent and gear. Have a quick breakfast and off we go at 7:45. It is really grey and not a lot of scenery this time around. When we get to Mars field you can still feel the heat coming off the rocks from the day before! We march along! The goal is to try and make it out to the car as no one wants to set up a wet tent when you are that close to the end! (Original plan was to stay at the first campground again).
We booked it out of there fast! Made amazing time down the mountain. 9:15 we were at Emperor Campground, 11:00 we made it to Whitehorse, still in high spirits! We tackle the sketchy suspension bridge - it swings, bounces and leans heavily to one side - thank god you can't fall off!
We have done the hardest bit, but are getting tired. The way down seems steeper than it seemed on the way up. We arrive at Kinney, have a short break, dunk our hair in the water as it is warm again, and head out.
As we continue on, there are more ups and downs, and we are making really good time. By the time we hit the 5 km marker (they didn't have the trail marked much past the 8km mark) we were starting to flag. Luckily the trail had leveled off a lot. We excitedly counted down the trail markers. By the time we made made the 2km marker we are feeling like we are about done, our feet are sore!. Miraculously we cover the last 2km in 24 minutes! We hit the ned of the trail at 2:24! We were so excited to get to the car, we forgot to take an end of trial picture! Oh no!
We are soaked with sweat and stink. I was so excited to take my shoes off and clean up with wet naps and change. I felt almost humanish after that. We hit up the giftship for some blissfully cold sodas that tasted a little bit like heaven.
And so ends the tail of Ryan and Dara on Mount Robson. Hope you enjoyed!