I’ll admit to being a little concerned about hiking this trail solo. It seemed like a low-use trail, and in fact, on this day there were only two of us, me and a trail maintainer.
It was a day to use my bear-alert voice. Many hikers say, “hey bear.” Another friend yells “whoop, whoop, whoop.” I’ve found A-O to be my preferred shout. I didn’t want any encounters of the grizzly kind.
A couple of days earlier I enjoyed seeing this black bear sow and cub in the Banff area.
Thankfully the trail opened up and it didn’t feel so intimidating.
The Mountain Avens continue to delight me and have become a predominant early June bloom.
White Globeflower (Trollius laxus ssp. albiflorus)
White Pasqueflower (Pulsatilla occidentalis)
They are super tall. Bino Bob is 1.25″ tall.
A juvenile.
Sitka Valerian (Valeriana sitchensis)
Silky Phacelia (Phacelia sericea)
This waterfall dropped into a seriously blue pool.
Views appeared as I began to gain treeline.
Look at those new needles on the larch trees.
Baby cones and some a bit more mature on the larch trees.
Buller Pass was finally visible.
Looking back to a lovely turnaround spot for those hikers not wanting to tackle the rock and screen ascent to the pass.
There were a few snowfields to cross and some nearby snowmelt creeks. Buller Pass is on the right side.
Buller Pass is in the distance.
This section was tedious with some sections eroded and of varying tread. Not my favorite but not horrible either. There were marmots and pika in these rock fields.
Juvenile marmot.
There’s my trail maintainer friend on the final ascent.
Woohoo, there’s the top, such a relief after first reaching a false summit.
Looking back at what I’d climbed.
That’s Mount Assiniboine in the distance. It’s the seventh tallest mountain in the Canadian Rockies.
Views over the other side of the pass include Lillian or Galatea Lakes. A trail drops down to these lakes and on down to Ribbon Creek Falls which I hiked to from the other side a few days later.
There’s a lot of rambling to be done on this pass.
This side might not be so much fun.
These high altitude flowers piqued my curiosity.
Using iNaturalist I learned these are Purple Saxifrage (Saxifraga oppositifolia).
American Smelowskia (Smelowskia americana)
Western Roseroot (Rhodiola integrifolia)
This was a 10-mile, 2,300′ elevation gain/loss roundtrip hike.
Jan's Jaunts and Jabberings 