Outdoor Video Magazine

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.