Length: 21.8km, car shuttle needed
Time: Two days (on snowshoes)
Details: David Thompson Highway - A hiking guide book
Date Done: April 7th-8th 2007
Effort: High (snowshoes)
Elevation: 1400-1900m
Rating: 7/10
Map: 83 C-1 Whiterabbit Creek, 83 C-2 Cline River.
Easter long-weekend is traditionally becoming the first backpacking trip of the year for me. Well, I have been both Easters I’ve been in Canada….I’m not sure you can call it a tradition QUITE yet. Last year took me on Jasper’s Big Bend or Fortress Lake trail. This year, the destination was picked to be Nordegg..specifically the Mount Stelfox Loop trail or some of the Littlehorn Meadows trail, depending on snow levels.
Both the Stelfox trail and the Littlehorn Meadows trail starts from the waste disposal site, 42km West of Nordegg. The Stelfox loop finishes at Coral Creek, 47km West of Nordegg. You can hike back on a trail to make it a full loop if y ou wish (27km in total). Once in the car park we had a group discussion on whether to take snowshoes or not. I helpful hiker just returning from Vision Quest said we would probably not have any snow on the trail. I thought we would encounter some on the passes for sure,
and so we decided on bringing 3 pairs of snowshoes between 7 people. Enough to break trail, but few enough to keep the weight down for people. We decided against Littlehorn Meadows, because I was sure it would be impassable with deep snow and avalanche risk.
Well, 1km down the trial we hit fairly deep snow. And it just got deeper. We would have had to turn round pretty quickly if it wasn’t for a packed trail by a snowmobile. Off trail, snow was around 1.5m deep. For future winter hikers, this trail should always be snowmobile packed because it lies on a trapline. Going was hard through the snow, and we made slow progress on a 
relatively boring trail that sticks mostly in the trail, with a few creek crossings providing a welcome change of scenery. We missed the notoriously hard to find turn off for the Stelfox Loop trail (the tell-tale 2m long log probably well buried in snow!) and ended up camping where the creek from Stelfox Pass joins Whitegoat Creek. In winter this option works very well, as the creek provides nice, easy access up to Stelfox Pass. It is around 6km from the trail head.
In the morning, we made the effort to start really early to escape the warm weather that was forecast to minimize avalanche risk and make maximum use of the early morning snow crust. Four people opted to return to the car the way we came, leaving three people and three pairs of snowshoes to go over Stelfox Pass. The trail up to the pass, and indeed the pass itself, are both quite unremarkable. 
There are some OK views, but nothing that spectacular. You never really get out in the open, it’s a very low pass. To spice things up we decided to scramble up the ridge on the south side of the pass, the ridge that leads up to Mount Stelfox. It was steep on loose rock and talus, but it was well worth a 1hour side trip for some excellent views.
Continuing on the hike, we struggled with sinking in the snow with our overnight packs, and also battled with the ever changing crust on the snow. Picking our way down from the pass we followed the creek bed (being unable to locate the trail proper). This quickly developed into a technical snowshoeing exercise avoiding ice, rocks, the stream and many logs and bushes. Urgh. Eventually we got out of the steepening stream bed, and followed along the edge of the deepening gorge bushwacking through fairly open forest.
Once we reached Coral Creek, the going never really got easier. More rough terrain, many stream crossings, snowshoes on and off every 10mins, lots of rocks underfoot, some bushwacking all made for a tough hike with big packs on. We never really located the ‘trail’ which is not that consistent or easy-going either. Eventually we gave up rock-hopping across the semi-frozen creek, and opted for the wet feet approach. A wise decision considering the 20 or so crossings we undertook in total!
Nearing the car we picked up the trail, and the going got easier as we battled mud back to the car we left at Coral Creek access area (we did a car shuttle at the start).
Overall it was a fun hike, a hard hike in winter with the multitude of tough terrain, but easily do-able in one short 6km day, and a longer 15km day. The scenery is pretty nice, and you get a good wilderness feeling. I would definitely do this again in winter, probably on skis in one long day.
I was in Jasper this March with some friends of my from England. We did a little tour of the Rockies, doing some snowshoeing, downhill skiing, and I wanted to introduce them to cross-country skiing too. But despite fresh snow in Marmot (again), Jasper townsite was decidedly bare of snow. After enquiring at the Parks Office, I figured the Beaver Lake/Summit Lake trail would be our best bet to get some snow, seeing as it is halfway along the Maligne Lake road right at the end of Medicine Lake, and so is considerably higher than town.
I was fairing just as badly. I was just beginning to regret it, and was going to turn back, when we came out to Beaver Lake. Hah, we could ski over an inch of fresh snow on the gloriously flat lake. Finally they realised skiing can be fun! I would recommend skiing along the lake even if trail conditions are good, its nice to be surronded by the mountains for a stretch. At the end of the lake we rejoined the trail, and conditions got better as less hikers had made it this far and the trail flattened out. We sped along to Summit Lake at the end of the trail, 5km from the car park.
Coming back down was nice, you can double pole most of the way, and it makes for a nice quick return. We were lucky enough to get a sudden snow-storm that blew in to coat the nasty icy sections with 2 inches of fresh snow ready for the return trip. It softened the falls for my English friends on some of the faster downhill sections! 
This one is a bit different from my normal kinda hike. A fun, rock-hop up a stream bed with some interesting terrain/features. Turn round when you get bored/have to go home.
because there is little water, and it was mostly frozen so you could hike/slip up the ice, or rock hop. Whatever takes your fancy. Or you can walk along side out of harms way for a lot of it too. In times of highwater..there will probably be some wet-feet spots. But I think it would be good fun to try and get up there still!
Our hike was made more interesting when we rounded a corner to find a huge wall of snow blocking the valley in an otherwise snow-less area. Avalanche! This was pretty recent too looking at it…no more than a week. We took full advantage and had a mini snow battle, before pressing on to explore the cave at 3km-ish from the start. Keep an eye out for it, it’s located at the top of a scree/talus slope on the righthand side. A faint path can be found up to it. If you brought your torch and you like climbing, you can probably have a bit of fun getting up to the back of the cave. I didn’t, so I’m not sure how far it goes. Look out for the mounds of bat poo.
What a cool name for a hike, Vision Quest. I was hooked before I even read the trail description. It is named as the area was used as an native 
The trail starts 42km West of Nordegg at a waste disposal site that is sign posted from the David Thompson highway. If you pass the David Thompson resort or the Cline River you have gone too far.
lovely open views all the way to the top. It’s pretty rough going and pretty steep too. There are 3 obvious bumps on the ridge, I’m not sure whether the second or third is supposed to be the end of the hike. I think it is probably the second bump. To get to the third involves a slightly exposed scramble (see background of the pic with the girls). 
We by-passed this given the snowy and icy conditions i.e. turned back. If you’re comfortable with heights, and in summer, this probably wouldn’t be too bad at all and it would be awesome to get right to the top. There are nice views of the Saskatchewan River Valley and Lake Abraham.