Holy smokes … I’m pretty sure that was the hardest and scariest day of hiking I have done. 12km from Scarpe Pass to Grizzly Lake, taking the Barnaby alternate after La Coulotte Peak. It’s recommended in good weather for the views … in thick smoke? Hmmm …
It’s difficult to explain but the combination of extremely steep uphills, super steep descents and a lot of scree with no traction in either direction, plus smoke that really affected the breathing, made this a very hard day (plus we got to 2400m at the peak).
Left at 7:50am … 2km out of camp to the ridge crest was okay but steep. Then we had 2.7km to La Coulotte Peak … I don’t think I’ve ever covered this distance slower. It took us 3 hours for the 4.7km.
The trail is almost all scree or big boulders and drops and scrambling … impossible to do with a dog on a leash so I let her go where there weren’t any steep drop offs … often we were on precipices though, adding the energy drain to hold onto the dog to the day’s exhaustion.
The peak had great smoky views… sadly not far to see today.
The descent from the peak onto the Barnaby ridge is what many talk about in comments and online.
It requires scrambling and getting down big boulder drops. Two chains have been installed to make it easier but we also had to maneuver the dogs down by grabbing them as the drops were too big.
If you thought that was the end, nope not at all. Super steep uphills, scree downhills, climbing up exposed mountain tops just to descend steeply again. Good thing that we had good weather (besides the smoke) … little wind. It was all very slow going and I did not feel strong at all in the afternoon. There is also no water the whole day so we carried extra weight but still ran out of water 2km from the turn to Grizzly Lake.
And if you think 2km is the home run … yeah not on the GDT here 😁 I think it took almost another 2 hours to get to the lake turnoff … then a 100m vertical descent in 400m down to the lake from the ridge.
It was just a flow of scree with no traction coming down to the lake. Overall it took us 9 hours to cover 12km.
I’m so very grateful to have had the girls’ company today … I wasn’t moving very fast anymore on the last few steep climbs, I think electrolytes were missing.
And the drops and chains would have been impossible without them. They are incredibly strong hikers!
It’s probably hard to see in the pictures how steep the terrain is, with the rock faces on one side usually, or a scree traverse across an open peak. I appreciate a soft forest trail so much now 🙂
As soon as we got to the lake (1950m elevation) we all jumped in!! My watch said my body is at 5% …
I’m definitely not going up to the ridge tomorrow to do more of this and instead will take a trail from here downhill.
There’s a road at the bottom that eventually goes to the same exit road. It’s not really enjoyable when it’s that hard and sketchy. Ksanka is out and snoring, she expended a lot of energy today as well.
We all replenished with water at the lake after a long day of rationing it. Lots of sweating happening!
The campsite is gorgeous though. You cannot find a nicer setting. Obviously it’s used by horses and had some cooking items and other debris left. But it also has a Green Throne! 👍🏻 It’s kind of a dead end unless you’re climbing to the ridge which horses wouldn’t be able to do.
To bed early, peace and quiet and a tired body 😁
Happy trails!
Holy cow. I hope somewhere in there is a bit of enjoyment! Actually, I’m pretty sure you’re loving the adventure. Cool that you could travel with others and that they had a dog. Helps to be in it together, aye?
For sure! It’s definitely an adventure … and I’ve met great people. I just have to decide where it becomes too costly in terms of health, mostly from the smoke.
Oh Biggi! That looked like a tough day! So fortunate you ran into those woman to help with the dog! Holy smokes! (Literally!) (It looks smoky!).
So very lucky to meet them! The trail provides!