One weekend during the summer we took two days off and left the house early Thursday morning bound for Glacier National Park.  It is in central British Columbia, a 6 hour drive from where we live, not to be confused with Glacier Park in Montana.  With our family was Trudy, a friend from Ontario, who was visiting for a couple of weeks.

The area where we camped is in Rogers Pass on the Trans Canada Highway, right in the middle of Glacier National Park.  Our campsite was set in a beautiful forest of fir and pine in a high valley surrounded by towering mountains.  We were only a couple of kilometres from the summit of Rogers Pass.  On the flanks of the mountains a thousand metres above us were several glaciers.  The predominant sound was the roar of rushing water in the stream which flowed past the campsite - water which flowed from the glaciers high above us.

Thursday was beautiful and sunny, perfect for our drive to the park.  Arriving in mid-afternoon we made our camp, visited the park visitor centre and enjoyed the late afternoon at our campsite.  Friday morning dawned bright and sunny.  We were all set for another great day.  After breakfast we left our camp and began a long, strenuous hike to the  Illecillewaet Glacier.

We walked from our campsite about half a kilometre to the trail head.  From there it was 4.8 kilometres to the end of the trail.  The first couple of kilometres the trail was gentle, but after that it got steeper and steeper, until the last kilometre which consisted of very steep switchbacks up the mountain side.  We made good time and were at the end of the trail before noon.

The trail ended at a small creek and a sign which read “End of Trail.”  From here it was another couple of kilometres up the steep rock face left over by the receding  Illecillewaet Glacier.  You have to make your own way over the bare rock which is almost devoid of vegetation.  We walked for a another twenty five minutes and then stopped for lunch, sitting on the bleak, hard rocky slope which had been wiped clean by the Illecillewaet Glacier.  Below us was forested valley, above us snow and ice covered mountains.  I was glad for the break and a chance to take off my heavy pack.  In the mountains I always carry a pack with a first aid kit, emergency gear, extra cloths and lots of drinking water - in this case 6 litres.

Our lunch site gave us a beautiful view of the valley below us and the mountain peaks and glaciers, still towering far above us.  We took 45 minutes to eat and then set off once again. To help Trudy, David took her packsack.  Walking, clambering and climbing the often steep rock was exhausting.  Several times we had to jump from rock to rock to cross small, fast flowing streams.  Trudy was having a very tough time of it and she and Sandra lagged behind Christy, David and I.  Soon they were out of site in the maze of rocky mountainside.  It was not easy going.  I was surprised and then impressed by Christy and David.  They were handling the rock like experts.  No, there wasn’t any real mountain climbing, but it was steep and challenging for someone who had never before been on rock.  And the higher we went the tougher it got.  After an eternity of clambering ever upward we came to one especially steep knoll.  A very cold wind was blowing down toward us and I knew the glacier was near.  We finally crested a difficult piece of rock and there was the toe of the glacier, right ahead of us.  We had made it.

David and I took off our packs and left them beside a rock cairn on top of the little knoll on which we were standing.  Then the three of us set off to cross the last couple hundred metres to the glacier.  We went down to a small creek, crossed it, and then climbed up to the glacier.  What a thrill

to look at the blue ice and the streams of water flowing out from under it.  Far, far below was the valley bottom and above us the towering peaks of the park and even more glaciers.  All was set in a clear blue cloudless sky.  What a wonderful day.

We took lots of pictures and after too brief a time began our descent.  There was still no sign of Sandra and Trudy.  Going down was often more difficult than climbing up, especially in the steep areas.  About twenty minutes after leaving the glacier we sighted Sandra and Trudy, heading down.  They had gotten to the beginning of one of the steeper, more difficult areas and Trudy had decided she couldn’t make it.  It takes a lot of courage to admit that something is too difficult for you.  A lot of people go on anyway and end up getting hurt.

Joining up with Sandra and Trudy we continued down the steep, bare rock, finally arriving at the small creek and the beginning of the trail.  We were really tired.  David had twisted his knee on the way down and was in a lot of pain, but there wasn’t much that we could do for him besides give him sympathy and some Tylenol.

The steep, rocky top part of the trail was especially difficult to descend.  The trail descended the old lateral moraine of the glacier and the gravel trail was steep.  We wound down the switchbacks, very careful as we walked.  Sandra, David and Christy were in front, Trudy and I behind.  As I carefully walked down the trail I suddenly had a small rock slide out from under my foot.  Losing my footing I catapulted into the air, somersaulting backwards as I shot out over the steep rocky bank.  As I began to fall downwards I reached out to one of the small trees and somehow wrapped a hand around it.  I was upside-down but as I came to a stop managed to twist and land with my feet down and my head up.  My only injury was a small cut on my left wrist.  Looking down the steep bank below me I was extremely grateful that I had managed to cling on to the small tree.  I probably wouldn’t have survived the plunge if I had missed the tree.

Thankful to be alive I crawled back up on to the trail and dusted myself off.  Trudy, walking right behind me, had seen everything and knew I was lucky to be alive.  Sandra had only seen me climbing back on to the trail and said to me, “Stop fooling around.”  I didn’t realize she had not seen me fall.  Only the next day did she find out that I had fallen off the trail and almost been seriously injured or killed.

We made the rest of the descent without incident, stopping to take a few more pictures.  We arrived back at the campsite about 5:00 pm, a very tired group of hikers.  The round trip from the campsite to the trails end was a little over 10 kilometres.  The hike up and down the rock to the glacier was at least another 4 kilometres.  Considering the elevation we gained, we had done well.  I spent a lot of time telling David and Christy how incredibly well they had done.

The next day no one wanted to go hiking so we drove all day, visiting Radium Hot Springs in Kootenay National Park, Lake Louise in Banff National Park, passing through Yoho National Park arriving back at our campsite in Glacier National Park near 9:00 pm.  Again it was a beautiful, sunny day.  We saw two groups of mountain sheep, mothers with young and some rams, the first ones in Kootenay National Park and the second in Yoho.  They were nice enough to pose for pictures for us.

We broke camp and left for home late on Sunday morning.  It began clouding over about 9:00 am but didn’t rain all the time we were taking down tents and packing up.  Just as we were leaving the rain began, great big drops splatting on the windshield of the van.  But we were in it and dry, heading home.

We had a tremendous weekend camping and hiking and enjoying the mountains.

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