We headed off to the Ribbon Creek parking lot at a relaxed eight o’clock, spotted a car at the Galatea Creek finishing point, then started to hike on up to Ribbon Falls at around 9:30. The weather was partially overcast and a pleasant temperature for wandering along the creek.

It took a couple of hours to reach the falls where we took a short break.

We then proceeded on up to Ribbon Lake via the chains. Given dry conditions this was a straight forward climb which brought us up into what seemed another world. I watched a siskin having a bath along the shores and a dipper foraging and swimming before joining the others for lunch at the campsite.

There we chatted with a couple of fly fisherman who had camped the previous night having hiked in over Buller Pass. Apparently it was close to freezing but the trip was worthwhile in terms of the fishing.

We encountered some trail runners who passed us just before entering a meadow near the ranger cabin. Much to our surprise, they startled a young moose which took off into the woods. On reaching the middle of the meadow, I heard a grunt and looked back to see mom peaking at us through the trees. I forgot to ask her how she managed the chains up! I guess like many backpackers she took an alternate route.

We continued on up toward Guinn and Buller Passes. At the trail junction one of our enthusiastic hikers headed for the latter (intending to return via Rummel Lake?). The error was rectified with a mad dash and a few whistles and shouts. Part way up, four rams were browsing in a meadow fuelling up for the fights to come. They looked to be a friendly bunch.It was overcast and fairly windy at the pass, so we elected to move lower before taking a rest. The south facing slopes were very colourful with fireweed still in bloom, but with leaves turning dark red, anemones with silky seed heads and huge cow parsnip leaves turning a pale yellow.

After a short stop to empty scree from boots, we forged on to the car without delay arriving just after four pm. There was a surprising number of hikers going up towards Lillian Lake, given the relatively late hour. We all piled into one car, like college kids in a phone booth, and headed back to the second vehicle for the return to Calgary. Participants were Marietta, Rita, Rosanne, Yolande, John and Philip (c/s)Coordinator’s note: I’m a bit uncertain as to distance as one of the K-country trailside maps indicated 19.5 km as did a quick tracing of the route on topo maps. Gillean Daffern’s Trail Guide gives 13 km to Ribbon Lake and 9 km up to Guinn’s pass along Galatea Creek and I can assure you that it is more than minus 2.5 km between the pass and the lake! I guess it depends on how far one wants to go! The vertical is about 825 meters.