A very long day @15 hrs. just getting out at dusk. This was due to lack of clearance of deadfall by Parks Canada of the trail beyond Faye Hut Junction, a major slope subsistence about 1.5 km. north of Faye Hut Junction and much washout of the trail near the creek between kilometer 4 and kilometer 13(Faye Hut Junction). This does not include the washout of bridges on all three major streams and some lesser streams crossing the trail. All of these factors caused lengthening of trip time well beyond what was expected. 29 km. total distance and shades of an epic trip but our group proved tobe up to the challenge.

We were met at the trail head by two additional fellows hitching a ride to Larch Valley Junction to climb Mt. Temple @ 7:10am. Here we parted ways as another group of three climbers came up and they latched onto them.

Fay Glacier

Wenkchemna Pass

They said they had seen a bear up by Wenkchemna Pass a few days earlier and we were not disappointed as we identifed its location at Eiffel Lake


Grizzly

and watched from Wenkchemna Pass for a while(at each location).


Wenkchemna Pass/ John, Jon, Janice, Harold, Bob/

Wastach, Eiffel, Temple

Next was the drop down from Wenkchemna Pass to the Eagles Eyrie which had less snow than when we had done the Wenkchemna-Opabin circuits. This made the going a little more jarring on the legs but we all got down eventually. Here we stopped for our first lunch and took in the views.


Opabin Pass

Eagles Eyrie

After lunch it was off down through the alpine meadows and all too soon into the trees.


Prospectors Valley

Going was fine until we arrived at the forest fire burn. Here vegetation had grown such that the ground underneath was not easily seen - one had to be constantly watching what was underfoot. As we descended the valley further there were sections of windfall that had to be negotiated. After about 7 kilometers we arrived at the Kaufmann Lake trail, mainly recognized due to a bent over Parks Canada sign (deadfall had caused the bent sign)showing the trail rising up to the lake. We took another lunch break before commencing the rest of our trip. There had been talk of making a side trip to Kaufmann Lake but without a cleared trail and Ivan's past experience on this trail we abandoned any idea of pursuing this.

we thought that once we found the Kaufmann Lake trail the going would be easier, but this was only marginally so as there was lots of deadfall across the trail which need to be negotiated. The major item which consumed a lot of time on this section was finding our way around a major slope slippage that probably wiped out 25 meters of trail on steep terrain.On this section of trail there were major avalanche snow banks remaining and bridging the creek which remained unmelted and the creek had forced water tunnels through them.

Avalanche

We arrived at Faye Junction around 5:00pm. and stopped for a another longer break to relax, thinking to ourselves that the worst was over. This was not to be the case, as the next obstacle was getting across the Faye Hut valley creek which was in full flood.This was accomplished best by crossing near to the mouth of it after a short tour up the creek to investigate. Back on the trail again we were to encounter more deadfall and numerous washout points along Tokkumm Creek until the trail finally moved away from the creek. We happened to spot an owl in a tree as the trail moved more inland.


Owl

The last 3-4 km. before Marble Canyon proved to be the best part of the trail with less deadfall and we were all fairly tired by this point. We arrived at trailhead around 10:15pm. After the car shuttles and drive back we were in Calgary around 1:00am, a very long day indeed.

Thanks to all for major persistence and perseverance and I don't think any of us will be repeating this trip again. It is another tick on Ivan's "to do" list although I don't think this one will even go into his top fifty favourites.

Those with great endurance and a desire to get the trip completed included Ivan, John, Jon, Janice- our lone lady, and Harold. Thanks for joining Ivan and I on this one. Again thanks to Ivan for the photos.

Bob Coordinator and Scribe