The 5 of us left the Fish Creek parking lot in smoky but sunny conditions and soon reached Temple Lodge where the first flower displays promised more to come.
Fireweed as we crossed the downhill ski area
We left the Skoki trail and headed up to Purple Bowl (some call it Wolverine Bowl) along a clear but not too worn trail. We left the trees and emerged onto the meadows to find lush conditions and lovely displays framing the creek.
Lush flowers greeted us as we left the forest and entered the meadows
The lush alpine meadows went on and on
Alpine fireweed lining the stream in Purple Bowl
As we were climbing up leaving the valley Dean took a final look at the stream that enters Purple Bowl
As we left the lower meadows, we entered much drier open areas where we found an area, much to Rosanne's delight, a number of blue alpine Gentians. We reached Wolverine Ridge about noon and had part of our lunch. Then it was up the long slog, (about half being messy scree), to the top of Purple Peak.
Rosanne, Philip, Dean and Doug at the top of Purple Peak. Photo by Toshiko
The green monolith at the top of Purple Peak with Richardson and Redoubt in the background.
Then it was across the wide open ridge with varying colours of scree and some struggling flowers.
Across the wide ridge leading from Purple Peak to Lipalian
We had the rest of our lunch at the top of Lipalian. Normally, there are spectacular views up and down the Bow Valley, but today with the smoke we barely could see Temple. The route down was the OT5 section. Doug knew of one scree run and Philip remembered another way that he and Doug had first done together a few years back. Both routes involved some clambering over rocks in addition to the scree. We took Doug's route, but Philip's would likely have been better. The trip was 16 km with about 1120 m elevation and took about 8 hours with lots of time for flower photos. Thanks to all the participants for making this such an enjoyable trip.
