C-Level Cirque Trail

Another rainy, foggy day, but that didn't keep us from hitting the C-Level Cirque Trail that climbs along the eastern slope of Cascade Mountain. It was not a long hike but the trail is moderately steep. Along the way we passed artifacts from the park's coal mining past and "C-Level" is a reference to the elevation level of the old coal mine that used to operate here. We also had two interesting parking lot encounters.

Here are pictures from the hike.

The trailhead is located at the western edge of a picnic area.

It was rainy most of the way up and back and the tree roots on the trail were slippery.

Towards the top, just before reaching the cirque, views opened down the Bow Valley - what you could see of it in the clouds.

The glacier that produced C-Lever Cirque has long since disappeared, but some snow still lingers. Behind the clouds is a massive wall of rock. "Cirque" is a French word for a bowl-shaped valley eroded by glacial action. 

After reaching the cirque, we continued for another 1500 feet, up, to an elevated viewpoint on the right side of the cirque. Here we enjoyed a protein bar and observed a hoary marmot on the rocks below.

Here's another "great", cloudy view of the Bow Valley. One of these days the sun will shine through!

Along the trail we passed a few of these mineshaft ventilation holes that are fenced off and sign-posted for danger.

At least some of the wildflowers enjoyed the rain.

Now for the parking lot stories.

When we arrived at the parking lot we observed this horse trailer pulled by a Parks Canada truck. When we returned after the hike we were eating our lunch and observed horses and riders returning to the truck.

I went over to talk with the two women who were just returning from picking up monitoring equipment. They are monitoring birds in the park and also information that will aid in the introduction of bison into the park in a few years. Beautiful horses.

Meet Dawes and Mary Kay Eddy - from Spokane, Washington. They attended Lewis & Clark High School in Spokane at the same time Frederick was attending Mead High School in suburban Spokane. When we arrived they were just getting ready to take the C-Level Trail and when we returned we compared notes on our experiences. During this conversation the Spokane connection was revealed. Like a Rhode Island experience, this was a Spokane experience.

Once again, because of the rain, we did not take the new camera on the hike and today's pictures were taken with the iPhone. However, when we were leaving the parking lot, and the sun was beginning to come out, we drove about one mile to Lake Minnewanka and took a picture with the wide-angle lens.

Lake Minnewanka is the largest body of water in the national park and barely a few degrees above freezing. The lake has been dammed three times and the water level raised almost 100 feet submerging a summer settlement of Minnewanka Landing. The town had seven streets lined with hotels, shops and saloon bars. Scuba divers are allowed to visit the town.

On the road back from the Lake we took this picture of Cascade Mountain and what we think is the cirque that you can almost see through the clouds.