According to the "Canadian Rockies Trail Guide", the Sawback
trail is an
exceptional wilderness trip of some four or five days duration.
It runs
from Banff to Lake Louis through the jagged limestone peaks of the
Sawback range and over three 2,300 meter passes. Having
considered
Parks policies regarding back country camping permits, it seemed
reasonable to make this into a one day event.
Saturday, Sept. 12th at 5:30am saw Kim Megaffin and Istvan Hernadi
decked out in their running gear, sporting head lamps and carrying
torso
packs ready to begin their next adventure. In order to train
for this
event they were both involved in completing the four peaks (Sulphur,
Rundle, Cascade and Bourgeau) in twenty-four hours on Aug. 2nd (see
the
4 peaks run), as well as the Northover
Ridge traverse in nine hours on Aug. 17th. Kim also threw in
a bike
ride from Jasper to Banff on Sept. 6th.
Waving good-bye to Nancy (their support team), they headed down the
Mystic Pass trail, illuminated only by their head-lamps. Dodging
the
horse droppings and rocks they managed to reach the first camp ground
where they finally had enough light to remove their lamps. Arriving
at
the warden's cabin by 8 a.m. they stopped to admire the early morning
light on Mt. Louis and Mt. Edith. After a few pictures and a
quick
snack they crossed Forty Mile Creek and continued toward Mystic Lake.
At 9:20 they arrived at the pass and enjoyed the views of alpine meadows
and golden larches in the light of the rising sun.
Feeling relaxed and gratified with their progress and the splendid
scenery they continued along the crest. Istvan was surprised
to see Kim
stop suddenly, waving his hands and gesturing to the right. On
the
shady hillside was a large motionless grizzly inspecting their
progress. As Istvan grappled with his bag to find his bear banger,
Kim
readied the camera. After some discussion it was decided that
they
should shoot a bear banger to see if the bear would leave the trail
allowing them to proceed. The bear banger, shot from about 100
m.
distance managed to have the bear only run five steps from his initial
position, stop and look back upon the runners with some disdain. At
this
time the runners decided that the bear was not really interested in
a
meal of 2 skinny ultra runners, so they continued by making a large
detour rejoining the trail some distance down the pass. They
were quite
anxious to remove themselves from the area before the bear headed
further along the trail.
The resulting adrenaline rush carried the runners down the steep trail
through rock slides, avalanche paths and near small water falls to
meet
the Johnston Creek junction at 10:20 a.m. Meanwhile Nancy and
friend
Rosanne had carried in food, drink and clothes to this point to provide
much needed support for the continuance of their run. Rosanne
could
have done without the story of the grizzly encounter but encouraged
the
runners to keep up their run. The runners had a short 20 minute break
here, drinking cans of Boost and Mango Spritzers, eating pretzels,
eggs,
Snickers bars and bananas, and loading their torsopacks with another
kilogram of dried foods, potatoes, power gel and drink crystals to
last
until the end of the day.
The remaining 44 km of the trip would have to be completed unsupported
relying on the streams to provide sufficient water and enough bear
bangers in the packs to ward off further grizzly encounters. The halfway
point of the route is Luellen lake, it was reached shortly after
noon.
The second half of the trip promised to be tougher with 2 more high
passes to cross, steeper trails and the heat of the midday sun to
contribute to the fatigue already felt by the two.
The Pulsatilla pass trail follows a long valley with open meadows,
willows and a few shallow creek fords. Many streambeds were dried up
and
the trail was generally dusty and dry. The rocky ridges were snowless
with colorful larches covering their slopes. By 2 p.m. the runners
were
just below Pulsatilla Pass, enjoying the meadows but leery of
encountering another bear. Reaching the top of the pass they
were
greeted by views of the sparkling waters of Pulsatilla Lake framed
by
rocky mountain ridges continuing to the north. Continuing along
the
narrow, steep-sloped trail they reached the steep valley trail leading
to Baker Creek. This section is the most exciting part of the
run with
a drop of more than fifteen hundred feet along a narrow soft trail,
covered in rocks with trees strategically placed to assist you in
slowing your speed.
Near the bottom of the valley the trail tends to disappear in
the
willows and the creek needs to be negotiated. The runners were
glad to
reach the creek where they refilled their water bottles, cooled off
and
took time to consume some calories (a melted, gooey Snickers bar is
still appreciated in these circumstances).
The trail follows Baker Creek, including two steep sections up
towards
Baker Lake. Here the valley opens to views of alpine meadows,
spruce
and larch forests and rugged ridges with small pocket glaciers in the
distance. The skies were still blue to the south but the northern
skies
held more threatening dark clouds. As they reached Baker Lake
near 5
p.m. there was an increase in the wind with a resulting drop in the
temperature. Filling their water bottles again, they sighted
two men
fishing in the Lake but as they seemed to be unsuccessful in their
endeavors the runners continued on their way leaving their dinner plans
for a later time.
Maintaining a reasonable running pace in order to keep up body
heat they
continued by Ptarmigan Lake to the highest pass of the trip (Boulder
Pass at 2345 m.). Looking down the pass they could
see the end of the
trail just beyond the ski area. Only 8km. to go!
At this point, Kim pushed ahead and managed to come out at the Fish
Creek parking lot at 7 p.m. Istvan followed at a more leisurely
pace
arriving at 7:15 p.m. Nancy was very pleased to welcome their
arrival
as she was just preparing to leave the parking lot on her own to take
in
head lamps, food and other supplies. The runners had made tremendous
time thanks to excellent weather, perfect dry conditions and the lack
of
brain cells it takes to want to undertake such an adventure in the
first place.
This is a challenging route through a remote wilderness area of the Park and is highly recommended as an adventure hike / run / backpack.