[1] Fresh faced Loves ready to get on the trail. [2] First things first, let's just ford this big ol' river! But seriously, only a 100 metres or so down the trail, you have to ford the Maligne River. [3] The autumn colours are starting to show themselves in the plants on the trail. Many are still bright green, but just as many are lined with orange and red. [4] The first of many (many many many) mushroom photos I snapped on the hike. [5] Despite the slow and steady elevation gain, I was breathing heavy during this leg. [6] One of the main reasons I wanted to do this hike was to see the forest so soon after such a devastating fire. It has only been a couple of years since the forest fire up here, so the only vegetation are grasses, low shrubs, and wildflowers. [7] This Fireweed is beautifully hot pink in bloom, but somehow the autumn colours make it just as breathtaking.
[8] The first section of the trail is through some of the burned area. It is still recent enough that all of the trees still show signs of the fire. [9] Some more than others. But people have been through to clear the trail and ensure it's safe to travel through. It's eerie, but also beautiful. [10] And then all of a sudden, as if a line was drawn, the forest is back to full force, lush and green. [11] There are lots of little creeks and streams to cross. Many have culverts built into the trail, but there are still a few that you have to cross like this. I mean, it's an official log, but it's still just a log! [12] I had read a lot about how wet and muddy this trail is, no matter what time of year you go, but we weren't fully prepared for just how wet! Dan had to change into his rain pants because he was soaked through!
[13] A pretty creek. Yep, we had to cross it! [14] Cool mushrooms! [15] Self-dubbed "Rancor Pit Mushroom" We saw a few of these guys on the trail. They like to grow together and create a SUPER MUSHROOM! [16] This mushroom was streaked with pink. (Did I mention I took a lot of photos of mushrooms?) [17] While Dan was changing his pants, I was poking through some old scat. Now aren't you jealous you didn't come along? I found three of these hard pieces (horns perhaps) and some other small bones. [18] I also took a lot of photos of moss and lichen! There are so many amazing small worlds just off the path if you slow down enough to see them.
[19] After the forest, we entered Watchtower Basin. The trees opened up, and we found ourselves in this marshy, open space on the side of a river. [20] And then the sun came out, and all of the vegetation started to shimmer in the golden light. [21] Stopped for lunch on a rock wash. This one was pretty substantial - took up a large space, and many of the rocks were big! [22] They were all covered in various coloured lichen, so we knew it had been there awhile. [23] Speaking of lichen (or is this moss?) this variety was super sweet. It looked like dozens of miniature trumpets pointing to the sky. I always say hello to the fairies when I pass magical spots like this.
[24] The trail is definitely NOT obvious in many spots throughout the basin. Thankfully, someone had gone through and marked the trail with flags. They were super faded, so it wasn't a recent trek, but it was still helpful to keep us on track. [25] Combine that with the fact that at many points the "trail" was so wet, or covered in rocks, we had to take a lot of detours. It was both physically and mentally exhausting to pick our way through the basin. [26] But the views were so spectacular, it was worth the headache. What a treat to be able to see this backcountry view. [27] Rocks and mud, thick vegetation, standing water...we had to contend with all of this, which made pathfinding more difficult. [28] There is a backcountry campground out here, which is "marked" by these two yellow diamonds and a hand-made CAMP sign. What it fails to mention is that the camp is actually on the other side of a river from this sign! We spent twenty minutes wandering around this area looking for it before I pulled up some tips I found online earlier and screenshot so we could look them up on the trail. "You must ford the river to reach camp...." so we did!
[29] This view of the basin is looking back the way we came. [30] This grass is a beautiful golden colour. We wouldn't have seen it if we didn't get lost looking for the campsite! [31] This is the river we had to cross to get to the campsite. As you can see, there is no right way to cross, no clear path. You sort of just pick your way through. Dan's legs are way longer than mine, so he had a much easier time hopping from rock to rock. [32] This moss was bright red! And it's hard to tell in the photo, but the leaves are in the shape of a perfect little star. [33] Selfie at what I'm going to call our "halfway point". We stopped at the campsite to have a rest and a snack. It started raining again as soon as we got our packs off, so we found a couple of stumps to sit on under some trees. There were four tent pads in really great shape, a couple of picnic tables, and a bear pole. Oh, and a Grand Throne with a View (aka the most fancy backcountry toilet I've ever seen!). Dan took a photo of that...I'll have to see if I can get a copy!
CAN YOU SEE THE PRIDE IN MY EYES! I had just hiked about 9.5 km, and I am only halfway, and I am feeling so good about myself and my strength for having come so far.
[34] On our way back, this is a photo of us leaving the Basin. It was so much work picking our way back on the non-trail, at one point we kind of gave up trying to avoid the water and mud. I mean, I was already soaked anyway, having taken a few missteps in the various creeks we kept finding! [35] And now we enter the forest again. My knees are only just starting to cause me some trouble at this point. They got a lot of pep talks on the way down. [36] The blue sky stuck around for some of the afternoon, and added a welcome brightness. [37] I didn't take as many photos of the interesting things on the side of the trail as we were heading down. I was just too tired and wanted to get home. (aka back to the hotel and into some dry clothes). But I did have to stop a few times and catch my breath as the sun cleared the clouds and made the grass in a clearing glow, or when a particular mushroom caught my eye.
And then we crossed the river again, and then we crested a hill, and then we were walking through the parking lot. Tired, wet, absolutely thrilled.
WATCHTOWER NOTES
The trailhead is located in Jasper National Park. Access it via Maligne Road, just before you reach Medicine Lake. There is a small parking lot and a big sign. The trail is 13km one way. That is, 13km all the way to the top, and then another 13km all the way back to the parking lot. And a big part of that is up the side of a dang mountain, doing switchbacks on what I assume is a lot of elevation gain in a short distance. We (obviously) didn't complete the trail, which heads up those mountains at the side of the basin, and would have added another many hours to our day! I definitely want to go back and camp now that I know I can make it there, and then spend the next day climbing. This trail connects up with the super popular Skyline Trail. It is about 9km to the campsite.
The trail is not clearly marked in a lot of sections, so if you aren't super confident in your abilities to either find a trail or make your own, maybe skip it. Although I will say that if you are a bit adventurous and willing to try, if you follow the river you'll do just fine! Even if you just do the first two sections, and take a peek at the basin before heading back (about 6km in), it was a lovely hike. The fact that the trail isn't well marked should tell you that this is a quiet trail, so if you want to get away from the more touristy parts of the Park, I highly recommend it.
MY NOTES
I can do hard things. I can hike and climb, and ford rivers. I am so strong. This is what "almost 38" looks like.
xo
Watchtower Trail Video Highlights (September 2018) from Lisa Kercher on Vimeo.
This is the best thing on the internet right now! Your photos are stunning and so is your smile. This looks like a tough but requesting hike; that’s a long time to be on the trail. Proud of your for accomplishing it and I would love see it one day.
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