We had the extreme good fortune of being able to visit Campbell Icefield Lodge with our
friends Jim and Jen and bring the boys on their first helicopter tour up to a glaciated alpine area.
First, hanging out in Golden. While the hotel cost was 'loser expensive', the boys
did wind up getting some hotel pool time and exploring the town a bit. So that's something.
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Henry checking out the jump park in Golden. He thinks it's cool as he got to see a dude
hucking a backflip.
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Hanging out on the lip before the wood chip pile.
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The sign that told us that the boys couldn't go to the Mad Trapper's Pub.
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Walter took this photo of the water feature near the pedestrian bridge in Golden. He actually took
about 20 photos and a few videos, so he'll be learning editing/pruning pretty quickly.
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The boys playing some kind of backpack game in the pool in Golden.
Riding the waterslide
Slomo of Henry on the slide
Slomo of Walter on the slide
Staging and heading up in choppers
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The staging area for the helicopter was effectively just in someone's field, which was pretty full of
mosquitoes on this morning. The boys are checking out the landing pad and searching for the helicopter
in the sky.
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Some of the ski lines from the lodge in the winter.
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A better look at the ski lines in the area. This is the only area I've seen that actively
'closes' some of their terrain, likely for regular avalanche issues.
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Summer hiking map of Campbell Icefield Chalet.
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Here are the boys in front of their taxi service for the trip.
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And a bit closer to the bird. They turned it off for the safety briefing which the boys appreciated.
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We staged for Campbell from the defunct town of Donald, on the way to Rogers Pass. As we figured out
the order for helicopters, I put a bid in for Henry to ride in the shotgun seat of the chopper,
which he was pretty excited about.
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We got very close to a rock wall as we popped through a gap to get into the Bluewater valley. This
was likely the most exciting helicopter flying I've been on as the distance to either side of the rock wall
was measured in metres. This is our cook Kevin in the helicopter.
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Our route into Campbell Icefield Chalet, and shown in Garmin Connect HERE .
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A nice look at some of the terrain flying into the lodge.
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The boys with the helicopter after landing at Campbell Icefield Chalet.
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Once we got into the lodge and got all three helicopter loads in, we moved our bags into rooms, and then
went out for a hike up to the lake above the lodge. Here's the whole team out for a hike.
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A nice look at the broad plateau just to the south of the lodge. That's the Bluewater Glacier and
Thunder Mountain on the right side, and looking up to the low col over to the Campbell icefield on the
left side.
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Some of the pretty wildflowers in the valley.
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Natalia liked this creek along the valley and asked for a photo of it.
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Walter, being less than enthusiastic above the lodge. While he actually enjoyed a lot of this trip, if
you ever ask him 'do you want to go for a hike?', you can guess what the answer is.
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Cool lake spot below the 'high col' in this valley.
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Nice shot of Walter with the lodge behind him. This is on the way up to the lake above the lodge.
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Henry and Sam were at the front of our hiking group most of the time, and they hung out a bit here
at the lake throwing rocks and trying to skip.
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Walter hiking back down from the lake along the textured limestone.
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A look at our route on the first day of hiking along with our route on Garmin Connect HERE .
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Our lodge from the outhouses. Pretty decent place to spend the week!
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Since we had a pretty bright weather window, we decided to hike up to the low col and make our
way over to the Campbell Glacier. Here is the group getting started from the lodge. One of the
unique features of this lodge is that they put in a small container in a bridge near the lodge
over a creek that is the 'bridge fridge' for ensuring you have ice cold beer at the end of the day.
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Beth's Logan, who joined us from Fernie.
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Jen and Natalia coming up behind Logan. One of the tricks we use to keep Walter hiking is to ask him
questions about whatever video game he's playing. He's VERY detailed in his understanding and knowledge
of the game, so that keeps his brain occupied which then lets his feet keep motoring. Today's topic
was Super Smash Bros Adventure Mode, which he happily chatted about with both me and with Beth too.
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Jim, Lisa, Greg, and Logan climbing up to the low col.
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Thanks to Beth for listening to Walter and asking more questions about Super Smash Bros,
he had no problem making his way to the low col.
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Up at the top of the Low Col, or at the 'Checkerboard' as the folks call it, due to the
cracked out rock at the top of it.
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A cool shot of Natalia and Jen at the low col having a chat.
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Ross, enjoying some time in a cool spot.
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Sam discovered 'trundling', involving throwing rocks down and watching them tumble down.
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After popping over the pass, we continued to the north, along the valley wall to try to make it
to the Campbell Glacier. It's not quite visible up above the cliff wall ahead of us.
Sam trundling rocks
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The boys enjoyed the rock hopping and checking out cool rocks in this valley.
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Along with tossing rocks into lakes, which boys can do forever.
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This was the last bit of the climb, which we thought would bring us to the glacier. While we found
snow, the glacier was just over one more ridge, which was just beyond our team's energy for the day.
They did find some snow to play on though.
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Sam and Henry liked this basin and played in it a bit.
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I did a quick recon look and ran up along the ridge. This was the glacier and icefield that the
boys couldn't see. However, with the up and down and return time being over an hour and us being
a little ways from the lodge, we decided to turn tail here.
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Neat shot of Jim, Jen, Beth, Logan, and Greg at the far end of the icefield. The back wall of rock
behind them is the Continental Divide and splits AB from BC.
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While we took the higher trail back and scared me watching Walter too close to the edge, it did
get us back faster to the 'chessboard' as seen here.
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Henry and Sam after getting back to the bridge fridge and dipping their feet in the creek.
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Anna and her parents chilling by the bridge fridge.
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Walter after making his way down from the low col.
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Our tour for day 2 along with Garmin Connect data HERE .
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Since the weather window looked pretty small with major thunderstorms coming later in the afternoon,
we decided to go up to Saturday Trees and have a look from there. Here is the crew making their way up.
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Ross, Lisa, and Sam looking back at the lodge from up on the ridge.
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Henry and Walter with a view of Mt Alan Campbell behind them.
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Jim sitting up on Saturday Ridge watching the weather system make its way towards us.
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We popped down to have a look at a small cave, and here are Henry and Sam being silly with the entire
drainage coming off Mt Alan Campbell. Apparently, Bernie, the original builder of the lodge, had
considered the development of a via ferrata into this valley.
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We decided to add a small loop down along the Flower Power circuit just as the rains started. We
were able to get a neat look at the Bluewater Glacier from here along with lots and lots of
paintbrushes too.
Trundling a log
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The boys in front of a small tarn, below the lodge on a trail called 'Flower Power'.
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Ross, the boys, and I, hiking along Flower Power.
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Our last day of hiking, we decided to try to get the boys to an actual glacier to play on.
While the weather looked a bit 'variable', we went for it anyway. Here's Henry having a look
at the fog covering where we're trying to go.
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Walter is pointing out the pollen pods he learned about from Sam that he can pull from the
paintbrushes and give himself a little sweet snack.
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The hiking group taking stock of the amount of rain coming down.
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I think these are red cap mushrooms which Walter wanted a photo of. This is NOT fly agaric just to be clear.
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As we dropped out of the valley, we got to the bottom of the glacier runoff and started climbing.
Lots of debris here and a good spot to start gaining elevation.
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Walter and Natalia with the Bluewater Glacier visible behind them.
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Walter and I hiking in the heather leaving the Bluewater Glacier.
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Walter drinking glacier water with Jen standing on top of him. I didn't get a photo of it
but Walter peed on the glacier to help it melt faster. I don't think he quite gets global warming yet
but he thought it was hilarious.
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Walter wanted to taste the water that was melting from the glacier.
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Henry enjoyed throwing rocks at the edge of the ice and cracking ice off.
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After the sky opened up, we decided to start our tour home. Rather than back-tracking though, we decided
to find a route overland to get back to the lodge.
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Henry and I hiking down through the heather.
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We went up and over the lateral moraine and held elevation to make our way back over to the lodge.
Walter enjoyed random walking here with no trail anywhere. He also really liked the flowers here.
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Walter quite liked the sweetness of the paintbrushes and while it helped with motivation to hike
it definitely had a negative effect on speed or progress.
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As I was waiting for Walter, I spotted these quills moving. As I got closer, it was
pretty obvious we had found a porcupine.
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And a close-up of this cute little guy's face.
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The sky opened for us and gave us a gift of warm sunlight to dry us out a bit at our snack break.
I think this is a cool shot of Walter in the Bluewater drainage.
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Everyone having a snack break and enjoying some much-needed sun. We maybe overstayed our welcome though
as the sky opened up on us as we got close to the lodge.
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Henry and Sam making their way home to the lodge for the day.
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Natalia hiking down after dealing with kid backcountry poop emergency - classic Mom!
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Walter, Natalia, and I as we make our way back to the lodge in the rain.
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After dumping a bit of rain, and having some warm soup in the lodge, we decided to pop back out for
an adult hike and explore. Here are Jim, Ross, and Lisa climbing back up towards the lake from day 1.
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Ross and Lisa crossing a bit of snow as we get over to the Lightbulb.
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Nice shot of Lisa as the sky opens briefly.
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While we didn't really find a trail of any sort, we made a decent job of circumnavigating the Lightbulb
and found a cool route back down to the lodge, avoiding the need to loop back to the lake.
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Jim, dancing his way down through the heather and rock.
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Ross and Lisa enjoying a moment in the sun with no kids.
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A shot of the exit from the Lightbulb route.
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The last day in a hut is always a hurry up and wait game with lots of chores to do to get ready to
leave. Here Henry is using a stick he found to beat and clean carpets.
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Our family and the Campbell Icefield Chalet.
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We made it out on the first helicopter and Walter got to sit in the front seat. Thanks to Jen for
organizing the trip, along with Ross, Lisa, Ana, and Sam for sharing their family time, to Jim, Beth, and Logan
and to Greg and Helen for the company. Custodians Steve and Jo Riggs and cook Kevin completed the trip.
Video of the helicopter landing at staging
Older photos from camping from Natalia's phone
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The boys having snacks under our shelter tent in Jasper. This was a snack square that one of
Natalia's parents from school made.
