Four days + four passes + great scenery + fine weather + excellent company = a fantastic weekend.
By the time we met at 8, loaded cars, stopped at Laggan's (where we saw and chatted with Kim and Bob) got to the trail head and readied packs, we were not on the trail until 20 or 30 minutes after noon. The trail up to Nigel Pass was uneventful, other than that we ran into many day hikers and backpackers.


At Nigel Pass

Brazeau River crossing/Nigel P./.

The only larger wildlife that we saw on the whole trip were mule deer in the upper reaches of the Brazeau river.


Mule deer and fawn

In spite of our late start, we arrived at the Four Point campground pretty much at 5 pm, as seems to be the case for most of Ivan's backpacking trip days. All the campgrounds had nice picnic tables and fire pits, this was the only one at which there were other people.


Campfire chat at Four Point campground

Evening over the Brazeau River at Four Point campground

On day two we set out a 9 am to first work our way up to Jonas Pass. The first hour or so is in forest but after that the trees disappear and the vistas open up.


Approach to Jonas Pass

We arrived at Jonas Pass a little before noon and took a long break, enjoying the fabulous scenery of this alpine heaven.


At Jonas Pass

No caribou at Jonas Pass, but hello Carlibou!

Brazeau Loop

Brazeau Loop

Climbing from Jonas Creek to Jonas Shoulder

The climb from Jonas Creek up to Jonas Shoulder was long and tedious with multiple false summits, but we did all finally make it. Unfortunately we experienced our worst weather of the weekend here and so were not inclined to dally. Most of us donned rain wear only to have to remove it soon after.


At Jonas Shoulder

This trip is normally done as a five day trip. One day in top Four Point, one day for each side of the triangle (Jonas Pass, Poboktan Pass, Brazeau River) and one day out. Because he had only four days available, Ivan booked us to go from Four Point over Jonas Pass, Jonas Shoulder and Poboktan Pass on day two. The ranger that we saw on the first evening advised us that we could take a short cut directly from Jonas Shoulder to Poboktan Pass (avoiding the Jonas Cutoff campground). This worked out great, saving us at least 4 km, 150 m of climb, and an hour or more. The short cut involves crossing some alpine meadow and some easy, fine scree (OT3 or 4)


Between Jonas Shoulder and Poboktan P.

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At John John campground

On day three we set out once again around 9 am and headed down John John creek. The bridge over the creek had been washed out, but miraculously washed up about a 100 m downstream perfectly supported to make for an easy crossing. We took a small side trip to the Brazeau Lake campground and spent about an hour and a quarter, soaking up the sun and cooling our feet at this lovely spot.


Brazeau L.

Brazeau R.Bridge

We camped the third night at the Wolverine South campground along the Brazeau River. It was our coldest night and morning with lots of frost.


Brazeau loop

Four Point Warden Cabin

Between Wolverine and Nigel pass

Completing their fourth backpack together in five weekends were Alicja, Karen, Susan, Bill, John and coordinator Ivan. Their "guests" this weekend were Marietta and Carl (scribe).
Approximate distance/gain: Day 1 - 14 km/400 m, Day 2 - 22 km/600 m, Day 3 - 19 km/300 m, Day 4 - 19 km/400 m.