Jasper Banff advise

[bkmiller]

Hey there group, been to Glacier 4 times for 20+ days at a time, love the back country and Northern trail west to east.

I am wanting to mix it up and hike Jasper south thru Banff and then down thru Waterton, and into Glacier. Just got a map of the area but having trouble finding a great topo map. The one I have shows little back country, the road seem to intersect often. Again I have a bad map, anyone have experience hiking there? I would like to do 18 to 21 days.

Thanks for any info

[Selkie]

That seems like a long journey over many permanently glaciated areas, or walkarounds.
Some resources:
Don't Waste Your Time in the Canadian Rockies, by Kathy and Craig Copeland
Canadian Rockies Trail Guide, by Brian Patton and Bart Robinson

That said, I'm far from an expert, having only been hiking in that region once. It's probably doable in some fashion, though maybe over a longer period. (Is this a semi-continuous hike you have in mind?)
In Banff, many trails require a minimum of 4 hikers, with bear spray.
Parks Canada website has a ton of info.

[trevbo]

I’ve not heard of too many people doing a through-hike from Jasper to Banff, except for a few continental divide hikers. If you’re interested in such an adventure there’s a book by Dustin Lynx called ‘Hiking Canada’s great divide trail’. The sections that goes through Banff would probably take 10 -20 days or so alone (Assiniboine to Field)… It would be quite interesting and leave you with options for re-supply etc. I don’t know about how it would be to hike the rest of the way to Jasper, but anything is possible! Hiking the other direction south from Kananaskis-country to the border is not as interesting, cuz you would have to go through a number of non-park areas that are not protected and have forestry and mining activity.

I've got both books that Selkie has suggested and the Copeland guide is your best bet, despite the pretentiousness of the title! When you say "Banff and Jasper" you should keep in mind the other bordering mountain parks (Assiniboine, Yoho, Kootenay, Kananaskis/Peter Lougheed, Robson etc.) These are covered in both guidebooks.

Because these parks are so big your map is probably some ridiculous scale. I have a number of gov't topo's at 1:50,000 that I bought at the local scout shop but each one individually only covers a small area, you'd probably need to buy a couple dozen to cover Banff and Jasper... Cuz the maps are so expensive I'd just get them for the specific areas you are hiking. You can get gov't topos from Gem trek maps or Go trekker maps, maybe also from www.mec.ca

I've backpacked a bit in the Skoki region of Banff as well as Kootenay park (the Rockwall) both are awesome areas. Assiniboine Park is really cool too. Can’t go wrong but you will have to reserve your back country campsites asap.

[Selkie]

When I return for a deeper experience, I plan to base myself in the Field (B.C.) area, which has good access to a ton of excellent dayhiking + some backpacking + Lake O'Hara. And a small fenced lake at the Field info center one can swim in. (The fence is to keep out wildlife.)
I found the hostels much harder to get into than the campgrounds. Went by a couple of backcountry CGs with nobody in them.
Lake Louise - hostels full, lines to get into parking lot.
There are some Forestry Service/Alpine Club (not sure which) backcountry shelters/cabins that look wonderful! Trevbo, have you any experience with them?

[trevbo]

Hi Selkie, There are pros and cons to staying at huts (most are run by the Alpine club but there are a few run by others). The Naiset cabins in Assiniboine and the Elizabeth parker hut in Yoho are well suited for base camps for hikes/scrambles deep into the back country... They are prett economic, there is fuel for cooking and you sleep a bit more securely knowing you're in bear country and you're in a real building rather than a tent. The ACC huts on the icefields are ideally placed  for mountaineering/glacier traverses, moreso than general backpacking.

The huts are much different than a typical back country camping experience, you really can't avoid the people you are sharing the place with... I enjoy the social aspect of meeting other folks in the kitchen areas... That said, I am not a great sleeper and would do better in a tent than the bunk areas. The bunks are not for the claustrophobic or nit picky, you may have to squish right against some smelly snoring stranger... Sometimes you don't really have your own sleeping space as such, there's just a big bunk area on top and a big bunk on the bottom. I've carried in wine/liquor to try zonking myself out, as well as herbal sleeping remedies... but I usually have at least one completely sleepless night.

I've stayed at the Naiset huts in Assiniboine, we had our own group of something like 6 or 8 in a small cabin to ourselves... They have a fantastic shared kitchen... I've been up to the Wapta icefields a couple of times and stayed at some of those Alpine club huts (peyto, bow hut, balfour, Scott Duncan)... Bring earplugs! Some of the huts are quite large, such as the Bow hut and have large kitchen areas and a wood stove. Most just have bunks and a kitchen area with propane. 

There are also a few wilderness hostels run by HI in Banff that are interesting. The hostel at Mosquito creek in banff has no running water and gas lighting, similar to the alpine huts and is in a good spot for ski touring, but for some reason some of the HI hostels that are designated as wilderness hostels have all the normal amenities and are not really in a wild setting.

[Selkie]

Thanks, Trevbo! I think the Elizabeth Parker hut was the one I looked at a bit. 5-mile hike from anywhere, through grizz country, on my own - well, maybe not. (Or not this time!)
The shelters in the White Mountains of NH are pretty much lean-tos, some with a sleeping platform, some just a single floor, period. I have some experience with taking one's chances... There are some very funny stories of hikers in these 3-sided affairs deciding to sleep on their packs, heads facing toward the opening, and the black bears coming along and pulling the packs right out from under their heads to see what's making that yummy smell.
The Whiskey Jack Hostel in Yoho I found impossible, even with earplugs. Too bad; it's perfectly situated. Some of the front-country CGs are closed semipermanently, which made finding a spot difficult.

For bkmiller: My first trip was a tasting menu. I saw Jasper for an overnight, did some hiking on trails off the Icefields Parkway driving up to Jasper, went to Banff, went to Lake Louise (that was fast), went to Lake O'Hara, hiked enough around Field (the Burgess Shale hike was a highlight) to know where I want to go back for more.

Previously I put up a link to someone's 7-day backpack. Will try to refind and link here.
Marjorie

[Selkie]

https://plus.google.com/photos/10875758 ... 6087755185
This seems weird. Picasa transferred to Google?
The first hundred photos, roughly, are of day hikes from a fixed day camp, plus an overnight to Jasper. The 7-day backpack begins at Redearth and perhaps the route is traceable through the captions.

*Edit: Not my photos! I was in the group with Michelle doing the first week of day hikes. No pics of me. This is the only extended, illustrated backpack I know of online, although I am sure there are others. SummitPost?

[johnnmurray]

Sorry, double post.

[johnnmurray]

Great photo's Selkie.... Looks like a good time!

[Selkie]

Great photo's Selkie.... Looks like a good time!

Michelle's photos.
Not mine. It's an extraordinary place. They did have a good time.