Jasper notes

Trail Notes on the North Boundary Trail (A loop from Berg Lake, via Hoodoo Wall Pass) or How To Get Lost in the Woods

General Comments: The NBT is a low-level hike and the “best bits” are off trail, so give your self extra time and do some exploring. The Grid References (GR) refer to standard topographic maps and are approximate (back in those days, we didn't carry a GPS).

On your way in or out, don’t miss the hike up to Snowbird Pass (accessed from the north end of Berg Lake). It is one of the Canadian Rockies best “day hikes”. Later in the season, Adolpus Lake is “warm” enough for a refreshing dip.

Adolphus Camp is OK as a base camp as it is generally quiet compared to busy Berg Lake. If the Adolphus hiker’s camp is “busy”, you could always check out the horse camp that is about a kilometer or so downstream, on the other side of the creek. In any case, drop by the Adolphus warden cabin and sign the guestbook.

Calumet campsite is very basic with a nice setting and it offers a great base camp location, to explore the Moose Pass environs. Worthwhile day hikes from the Calumet camp would include up to Moose Pass and then wander north of the Pass, or to follow Calumet Creek. We encountered caribou and grizzlies in the area.

 Part-way down Moose Pass, a couple of hours on the east side, you’ll find another interesting campsite at Slide Lake (GR 678973). It is in the heart of grizzly country so stay alert! If we were to do the same hike again, we would have left the Moose River trail at this point and climbed up through steep meadows (due East from Slide Lake) to get up onto the wide open country between the Upper Moose and West Campion Creek. There are nice views and perspectives available on the eastern side of the ridge (steep drop off). You can follow the ridge down and hook up with Campion Creek and then head upstream.

We followed the Moose River trail down to Stepppe Creek crossing, where there is an excellent camp with open views and even a table. From Steppe Creek, we bushwhacked a short distance to Campion Creek (GR 699937) and picked up a “trail” a fair ways east (100 metres or more from the creek). We followed the “trail” as it climbed over a gorge and then it descended back down to the creek, so we crossed (west) and continued to follow the “trail”. However, the trail began to climb away (NW) from the creek and went up the ridge (referred to in the previous paragraph) overlooking Campion Creek. Somewhere we missed a split in the tail, or perhaps we should never have made the westward crossing of Campion creek. So we dropped down a very steep slope to Campion Creek and found a “trail” again on the east side. The “trail” was vague at times and often littered with deadfall. When it crossed over (west) Campion Creek, we decided to bushwhack along the east side of the East Fork of Campion Creek at GR 704975. It was steep but not all that bad. Once we reached the top of the cascade, we re-joined a “trail” coming in from the west side and made our way across some scree slopes then hooked right up to the Hoodoo Wall pass area. There were fresh grizzly diggings around so we decided to continue past the tarn (GR 714986), but we would have camped at the tarn if we had somewhere to hang our food. From the tarn, an easy romp north onto higher ground would have offered some fine views, but it was after 7:00 p.m. so we pressed on. The north (Jasper N.P.) side of Hoodoo Wall Pass itself is through steep moraine and the track is marked by cairns. After a long day, we camped at the base of the moraine, just at tree line.

The descent from the Hoodoo Wall Pass area was made on a fairly good track on the east side of the un-named creek. We picked up a trail at GR 727989 and followed it for several kilometers on the east side on the creek. We crossed over the creek and reached a wide gravel flat (approx GR 734005) and it was there that we lost the trail. We suspect the track was north of the gravel flats and it would have been well worth the effort to find it, to avoid a subsequent slow, tedious bushwhack, particularly in the lower “tree graveyard” section.

Crossing Snake Indian River at mid-day early August was not much more than thigh deep, less than a kilometer downstream from Hoodoo Warden Cabin. The Oatmeal camp was pleasant (open). Snake Indian Pass itself was pleasant but not spectacular. There are however spectacular looking day hikes that you could do from the pass. There is a peak North West of Monte Cristo Mountain at GR 700123 that looks like a reasonably easy scramble. The ridges on the west side of Snake Indian Pass also look very interesting and accessible. Thus Byng Camp (about an hour off the Pass) would be a great base camp. In our case, we were rained out, so perhaps next time!

There are all kinds of cross country options onto the Caribou Lakes (Blue Creek). You can get up onto the high country above Caribou Lakes from Snake Indian Pass. “Caribou Notch” gets good reviews in the Adolphus Warden Cabin guestbook. 

Twintree Lake camp is very pleasantly situated at the outlet. Fishing for Rainbow (mostly small ones) was slow. There are few pools in the creek and it was difficult to access the deeper lake water due to the shallows.

Donaldson Camp looked uninspiring.

Chown Creek was a nice open campsite with good fishing nearby at the lake and opportunities to visit Bess Pass and Bess Shoulder. We were slightly disappointed by the Bess Shoulder hike but swimming and fishing in the lake towards the warden cabin was the highlight of our hike.

Wolverine Camp has been moved off the Smoky River due to almost daily flooding. The new location is slightly more than a kilometer closer to the Robson boundary. We are not sure why the camp is located so far away from the river, but you can walk over to the river bank for nice views. It was an easy hike from Wolverine back to Adolphus and Berg Lake.