All of the photo credits are for Yasmin Schepens unless mentioned otherwise.
All the photos can be enlarged by clicking on them, except the ones that are already big.
I hope you enjoy our adventurous story.
Day 1 (September2)
The Mount Shark or Bryant Creek trailhead is located about an hour drive from Canmore.
We started our hike from here to the Marvel Lake campsite (BR13), located 13 km from the trailhead, around 1pm. Reservations need to be made for these campgrounds as well.
The hike in was lovely. There is barely any elevation, it’s a broad path (in winter it’s used for cross country skiing) and you can enjoy some mountain peaks around you as well as some creeks and lots of trees. I have read on different blogs that most people didn’t like this part of the trail, but I loved it. It just only gets more beautiful when you get closer to Mount Assiniboine. I think it’s a bit of a different experience if you take this route when hiking out after your trip.
The trail slowly becomes smaller and you hike most of the time in the forest from that point. It is grizzly bear habitat, so we made a lot of noise, especially because you can’t see much in the forest.
After some hours of hiking and taking photos, we arrived at the crossing to Bryant Creek shelter.
The whole time, I thought we booked campsite BR 14, but I quickly checked our reservation and found out it was BR 13. From then on, we followed the other signs. There weren’t too many signs for Marvel Lake campground, so it was a bit difficult to know where we were going.
We passed the Bryant Creek shelter, which was closed and from there it was hard to figure out if there was a trail still. There were two small trails, one to the right and one straight passed the shelter. We tried going straight to see if that would lead us to the campground.
The trail quickly became harder to follow, because the bushes were all overgrown. I had a feeling we were going the wrong way. Berm wanted to continue a little further. Eventually the trail opened up to a meadow with beautiful views of mountains around us. On our left-hand side there was Bryant creek. We took some photos and enjoyed the view before turning around, since there was no sign of a campground.
Berm noticed two grizzly bear cubs playing in the creek. We had passed them while going through the high bushes and didn’t see or hear them. I took some quick photos of them, before making noise again. They soon ran out of the water into the other direction.
It was getting slowly dark and we still didn’t find the campground. We decided to just follow the signs to BR 14 (Mc Bride) instead, because there seemed to be more signs for that campground.
Mc Bride campground is located next to the open meadow where there is a cabin that park officers use to stay at. We asked them if we could stay at this campground instead, which we could. The officers also notified us about the two grizzly bear cubs who are wandering around the campground. They were about 2 years old and had already been kicked out by mama grizzly.
Day 2 (September 3)
The next morning, we continued our hike.
! Note, that the first part of the hike goes through Banff National Park and you need to have a pass for that. The second part of the hike you arrive into Mount Assiniboine Provincial park.
We opted to go via Wonder pass, since this is the most scenic hike in, but it’s a bit longer and steeper. Since we would be getting helicoptered out, we wanted to take the scenic route.
It truly was an amazing hike. We had views of Marvel lake on our left while we climbed higher on the mountain side. There was not too much elevation yet, until you see the sign for Wonder pass. Then the trail starts to climb steeper up the mountain. I was prepared for the worst, but it was actually not that bad. Once we did most of the elevation, we had amazing views of mountains, glaciers and the lake. Now, we hiked through meadows full of colour. My legs and feet were getting tired and I hoped we would get there soon.
Now, we saw a sign for Lake Magog Campground, the lodge and Naiset huts. The campground was another 4.5km. Those kilometers had never felt so long. The hike was longer than I expected (around 18km total from Mc Bride Campground to Lake Magog campground).
Finally, we arrived at the campground. It is a large widespread campground and we had to hike another kilometer to get to our campsite. We had reserved our campsite, but there was a sign saying you could choose any site available. Our reserved campsite was already taken, hence we had to look for another open site. Luckily, Berm found one nearby which was actually better than the campsite we previously booked.
We didn’t do much other than having dinner and going to bed.
Day 3 (September 4)
The next day, it was sunny and most of the clouds had disappeared. We could now see Mount Assiniboine. We decided to take it easy and just do some small hikes around the campground. We hiked to Sunburst lake and Elizabeth lake. We dipped our feet into the cold water while feeding horse flies to the fish :).
Day 4 (September 5)
We woke up at 4:30 am the next morning , to start our sunrise hike up to Nub Peak.
Since, we had explored the area and the trail towards it the day before, we felt comfortable enough to do it in the dark with some moonlight. We arrived at Elizabeth lake and looked at the signage. It doesn’t mention Nub Peak anymore, but some people told us we had to go passed the lake a little bit for about 20 meters and then up the mountain on your left.
Photo credit: Berm McCandless
This trail is not marked either, but we could find it in the dark with our headlamps. The climb was very steep, and we gained a lot of elevation in a short amount of time.
We reached the top just before the sun rose over the mountain peaks. It was incredible! We were also the only ones there, which made it more magical. The views were so breathtaking, that I couldn’t stop taking photos.
The wind soon picked up more speed and we decided to head back down the other way, so we made a loop.
Covered by some boulders and rocks, I decided to put on my dress for a photoshoot. The sun was warm and without the wind it was the perfect spot. Berm took some great shots of me in this beautiful landscape. The first hikers started to arrive as well, so we continued our way back down.
We took it easy for the remainder of the day. We went for a dip in Lake Magog (Glacier fed lake)! It was so cold, but so refreshing to have a bit of a wash up.
That same night, we went on a night photography excursion with Rachel Jones Ross and Spencer, who we met the day before. Rachel is a professional photographer and she had found the perfect spot for night photography, so we joined her. The clouds in the sky were astonishing during sunset.
Mount Assiniboine had a perfect reflection in a little pond in front of us. After the sun had set, more stars came out and the Milky Way started to appear above Mount Assiniboine peak. This was my first time trying to capture the stars with my new camera. It was truly magical.
Tired, but full of great experiences, we went to bed and we had a great sleep.
Day 5 (September 6)
For our last day at Mount Assiniboine , we hiked to the waterfall we saw when we hiked in via Wonder pass. We got to the waterfall and had some lunch. We had to scramble over some slippery rocks, which made it difficult to get there. Nevertheless, it was worth the scramble, we had the waterfall to ourselves.
Later, some clouds started to roll in and we decided to head back to the campground. That evening it started to rain. During dinner, the cooking shelter was now filled with people. We met new people and had long talks. The rain brought us all together!
Since it was also our last night here, we said goodbyes to the people we had met and went to bed.
During the night, the rain turned into snow. Berm had to take down the tarp, because the snow would be too heavy for the tarp to hold.
Day 6 (September 7)
The next morning, we woke up in a winter wonder land . It was still snowing, and everything was covered in a white blanket of snow. We packed up our tent, had breakfast and hiked to the helipad.
You can book flights through Mount Assiniboine lodge.
It was still snowing quite a bit and there were a lot of clouds. I started to wonder if they would cancel our flight because of poor visibility.
When we arrived there, the staff assured us the helicopters would still fly out and that they were starting to get the first helicopter in.
We were on flight number 4. By the time we had to go to the helicopter, the clouds disappeared, and the sun came out! It was truly spectacular.
I had never flown in a helicopter before and I was quite excited. Since, I was the smallest person, I got to sit upfront! It was an amazing experience.
We landed safely at the Mount Shark Helipad Parking lot in 8 minutes after leaving Mount Assiniboine. It was a short hike from there to the other parking lot where our truck was parked.
It truly was an amazing adventure in Mount Assiniboine Provincial park and I would definitely go again!
Click here to read about our entire trip to the Rocky Mountains 2020!
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