Sun, Oct 24 2021 - Lower Twin Lake and Gibbon Pass from Altrude Creek (View Original Event Details)
| Event Coordinator(s): |  |
Peter Minarik
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| Participants: | | Peter Minarik, Maryam F, Annie C, Lorna J, Siri M, Maureen M |
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Write Up:Five energetic ladies joined me on this late season excursion into the high country of Banff National Park. We reached our objective of Gibbon Pass and managed to return to the parking lot still in daylight by alternating fast-paced hiking with a more relaxed walking good for conversation and picture-taking. The long first section led through relaxing mossy forest, its silence only interrupted by the boisterous Altrude Creek cascading over large boulders at the bridge crossing. Then came the unpleasant section, a 2-km section over boggy meadows full of mud, puddles, slippery rocks, with trail often disappearing into ground-hugging bushes. We had a short break at the Lower Twin Lake under the sheer cliffs of Storm Mountain. Finally, we walked up on a good but increasingly snowy trail to Gibbon Pass. We had sunny weather at the start but by the end of the hike clouds rolled in and the drive home looked somewhat magical with the tops of the mountains shrouded in mist and the darkness of the night setting in. We saw two guys at the lake and met a lady trail runner near Gibbon Pass, otherwise we had the mountains to ourselves. Trip statistics: 22.4 km, net elevation gain 850 m, cumulative eleveation gain on Lorna's GPS 1,176 m,as there were some ups and downs. Peter Minarik
