A couple of weekends ago Tom, Breanna, and I hiked the James Walker Creek. This trail (green on the topo map) is just a canyon south of the Headwall Lake/Fortress/Chester Lake hike (blue) I posted back on July 4. It was 18.1 km round trip with 664 m elevation gain.
It was a bit hazy out for most of the day so some of the mountain shots aren't that spectacular. Here's looking back on the overgrown trail at Breanna as she fiddles with her camera (she only brought one this time). In retrospect the haze was probably from the fires around Kelowna.
It was hazy enough that there was a nice halo around the sun.
The first tarn in the James Walker Creek valley:
We came across a number of cascades along the hike - most of mine didn't turn out very well, but here's a shot of Breanna making some attempts. Hopefully her's came out better!
One of the few waterfall shots that worked... had to do a bit of a panorama stitch to get it though!
We stopped in a clearing at this waterfall for a group photo. Like the straw cowboy hat? I picked it up after stampede for $10 and figured I might as well wear it since it's a lot cooler than my oilskin hat... and it's hilarious!
After the brief photo op continued the trek up the debris slope...
View up the left fork of the canyon towards Mt. James Walker:
Tom checking out the bedding dips:
View of a fold from an upper tarn. The moss was an amazing green here!
The creek feeding this tarn was still edged in ice and Tom couldn't resist taking a few shots of it... kind of reminded us of summer in the arctic!
Tom & Breanna's victory pose:
The creek feeding this tarn was still edged in ice and Tom couldn't resist taking a few shots of it... kind of reminded us of summer in the arctic!
Tom & Breanna's victory pose:
To go further up the valley we had to skirt the edge of the tarn by crossing some snow - fortunately it held up and nobody got wet... although Breanna thought it was a perfect time to toss snowballs.
A bit further up the valley we realized we had gone a fair bit further than the trail indicated, and since the "path" we were on was getting impassable due to sketchy snow across the creek, so we headed back down to check out the other canyon fork... Tom again leading the way on his make-shift toboggan...
Back down at the upper tarn... haze finally starting to lift to show some lovely blue sky.
Crossing James Walker Creek:
The view from the forks down the valley:
Tom couldn't resist having a brief nap in the moss... I was jealous.
I took a panorama in the right fork valley, which lead towards Mt. Inflexible (right edge of pan). We didn't go too far into this one because we were short on time and we could already see the end of the canyon from this point. If you look closely you can see Tom & Breanna.
Back at the lower tarn - the lake was beautifully still with a vivid blue sky so I couldn't resist snapping a few (okay, Breanna also demanded that I do this since she was using black & white film at this point).
... okay, on the botany lesson. On the Mt. Allan hike I was inspired by the beauty of the wildflowers so I picked up a wildflower book and decided to take the time to photograph some of the flowers we saw:
Okay... so this one isn't in my book, but it looks like it's part of the Aster family.
I think this one is Roseroot, a succulent that is supposed to have edible roots and leaves (although I think I need to get better with my I.D. before I eat it).
This is a Prairie Crocus - they tend to be quite common on the hikes we've done, sometimes with a pretty purple hue.
These cute little flowers are Mountain Forget-Me-Nots.
This hike was the first time I noticed these pretty Alpine Lanterns.
Streamband Groundsel, part of the Aster family:
Scarlet Paintbrush, a relatively common flower on our hikes:
This was the first time we saw it in vibrant pink and purples though:
Okay... I don't know what this one is either - it doesn't look like any of the ones in my book. If somebody can identify it please let me know.
This one is Blue Clematis, aka Blue Virgin's Bower.
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