Conrad Kain hut, Bugaboo Provincial Park
Trailhead: Bugaboo spires trailhead, at the end of the road in Bugaboo
Provincial Park. Although this is by far the most popular spot in the Purcells,
it's still pretty remote - you'll need to violate the spirit as well as the
letter of a rental car contract to negotiate the 30 miles of dirt roads between
Brisco (18 miles north of Radium Hot Springs on Highway 95) and the trailhead.
You'll need detailed directions from a guidebook, or from maps available locally,
but it's not too tricky to find.
In summer 2006 the road was pretty rough, with plenty of potholes, but numerous
low clearance 2WD cars and vans had successfully made it to the Park. Chicken
wire, posts and stones are provided at the parking lot to fortify your vehicle
against critters that might take a liking to critical bits of rubber - we doubted
whether such measures were necessary for a day hike but with the thought of a
towing bill from hell at the back of our minds we dutifully barricaded our car anyway.
The hike to the Conrad Kain hut is very short - just a 6 mile round trip - but
brutally steep. There's 2200 feet of elevation gain to the hut, all of it
attained in the last two miles. In places the route is protected by cables
bolted into the rock, and in one spot you climb a steep section with the
aid of a metal ladder, but the trail is in excellent shape and at least in
dry weather these aids are more for reassurance than for necessity. The views
of the Hound's Tooth, with the Bugaboo glacier flowing past the spire and
down the valley, are continual and astounding throughout the hike. When we
did this in mid-August, there were nice patches of wildflowers in several
small meadows along the trail.
The hut is perched on a rocky shelf with a panoramic view of both the spires
and the valley along which the trail ascends. It's a great spot for lunch.
You can also scramble off-trail without much difficulty to attain a small
ridge that allows a closer vantage of the glaciers. This feels about
as wild a spot as can be reached by mere hikers. I highly recommend this
hike - it's one of the best short day hikes I've done.
In the same general area (the trailhead is about a mile back along the access
road, at the point where the photo above looking along the road was taken) is
the hike to Cobalt Lake. This is another short (5 miles one way) but steep day hike
to great views of the Bugaboo spires. On the park map it appears as if it's
possible to hike further to reach views of one of the Park's other large
glaciers - there was no mention of that in our guidebook but it might
be worth checking out.
Lake of the Hanging Glacier, Purcell mountains
Trailhead: The trail to the Lake of the Hanging Glacier begins at
the end of a dead-end road about 30 miles west of Radium Hot Spings.
From Radium, you follow Forsters Landing Road and then Horsethief
Creek FS road almost all the way, until you reach a signed spur
for the Lake of the Hanging Glacier. In summer 2006, this road was
in better shape than the road to the Bugaboos.
The trail to the Lake of the Hanging Glacier is another good day hike - from the
trailhead it's a 10 mile round trip (with 2300 feet of climbing) to reach the
outlet of the lake. For most of the
distance the trail passes through dense forest (rather reminiscent of Olympic
National Park) though with some nice views of the cascading outlet stream
from the lake. But although the trail itself is nothing special the destination - which
remains well-hidden until you're virtually at the shoreline - is memorable.
Lake of the Hanging Glacier is a large (more than a mile long) turquoise lake set
in a spectacular cirque. The ice reaches right to the lakeshore, while above
Jumbo and Commander glaciers decend steeply from the mountains. From where the
trail reaches the lake - at the easily crossed outlet - it's possible to scramble
higher to reach grassy benches that offer a clearer view of the glaciers at the
lake's far end (though care is needed when descending as the slopes are
alternately overgrown and cliffy). On the day we visited haze obscured the
view, but on a clear day it would be worth climbing maybe a thousand feet
above the lake for a truly stunning vantage.
Practicalities
When my brother and I visited the Purcells in summer 2006, we combined it with a
trip to the Canadian Rockies and stayed for just a couple of days in Radium Hot
Springs, at the west entrance to Kootenay National Park. It's about a half-day's
drive from Calgary. Radium Hot Springs has a beautiful location overlooking the
Columbia valley, but apart from the namesake Springs there's not much there
apart from numerous motels, one decent coffee shop, and a sprawling timber mill.
Although it's very conveniently situated for these hikes, you might consider
instead staying in Invermere a few miles further south, which on a brief foray
looked like it had a good deal more going on. You could easily fill a week
by combining additional hikes in the Purcells - the guidebook describes several other
interesting sounding trips besides the ones we did - with hikes in the
Kootenays.
References
Bugaboo Provincial Park -
the official website maintained by British Columbia Parks
Gotta Hike BC -
guidebook which includes detailed driving directions and trail descriptions for these hikes and others
in the Purcells
