We’ve heard about Burstall Pass for many years (our climbing friend, Hugh had first tried to take us there but a winter storm turned us back…) We started out on a gloomy kind of morning that was chilly and threatening rain. We’d heard about people missing the turn and heading up to French Glacier instead an of course we also missed the turn and had to backtrack about 1km to find the right trail.
Rain was threatening for most of the day but it only gave us some sprinkles here and there but made for great photos.
For the first couple kilometers, the trail was flat. We checked out 2 of the 3 Burstall Lakes (not sure how we couldn’t find the 3rd one). Once entering the forest, we soon found our crossing of Burstall Creek. After donning our watershoes/sandals/flip-flops we began the crossing of the braided streams following the signs to help us get to the other side. The water was “f***ing cold” (Right, Mary?) It was a nice experience and Hogan enjoyed it the most.
After making across the 1km delta of the creek, we had a rest, switched back to hiking boots. We met another group who’d taken a little longer way around to avoid the water altogether and found they were a wedding party where the happy couple was planning to elope! Such a great place for a wedding ceremony! The bride had her dress in her bag and they were heading up to find a good spot. We hoped to get to see them during the ceremony but they were pretty fast, we were old and there was a f***ing hill we were starting!
We headed up our first bit of elevation for the meadows. Deep in the trees, we enjoyed following the creek & periodic waterfalls. Once we made it up to the meadows, we had some lunch and bundled up against the chill of the rain and wind.
Tons of f***ing flowers here! Hogan got to enjoying himself in the meadows. We headed up our last ascent up the headwall to amazing views and nicer weather. We encountered our first trail sign in the middle of nowhere along the already obvious trail! (Would’ve been nice to have this at the start of the trail instead of 90% of the way along!)
Only a couple of swears later, we made the top, found the Banff Park sign and (finally) some direction/distance signs. We setup on the ridge to enjoy the view and have some snacks. And then the wind picked up! This shortened our pause and we began our descent to even more impressive views ahead because of the moody/angry clouds ahead of us.
On our way back down from the meadows to the creek, the wedding crew caught up to us again so we made a “hiking pole receiving line” where we made an arch for the happy couple to walk through. (Of course we didn’t get any pictures…)
Somehow, we avoided any more rain and enjoyed our recrossing of Burstall Creek in the sunshine and steadily warming weather. With the clearing clouds, we were able to see the glacier and Mount Robertson up Burstall Creek.
Great day! We’ll do it again some day
Swears: 3
- 2 for the hills
- 1 for the cold water crossing the creek
Mary Swears By It 