C-Level Cirque II

We had every intention of taking the hike along Lake Minnewanka, but it is Buffalo and Grouse berry time in the Rockies and the grizzly bears have 1st dibs and so there are restrictions on hiking in the berry area which just happens to be along Lake Minnewanka. We have bear spray, but Parks Canada regulations require group access which means that you have to hike with a group of 4 or more. We waited at the trailhead for a little while but everyone who came along was going only as far as Steward Canyon, just at the start of the hike, so we decided to drive down the road a few miles to the C-Level Cirque trail.

We first hiked C-Level Cirque back on June 18, during our first, rainy week in Banff. Today was clear and mostly sunny and, as they say, what a difference a day makes. The hike is short, adding in the mile we hiked at Lake Minnewanka, the total trail distance was 7 miles, but the trail is nearly vertical! We had an elevation gain of 1,500 ft., or 176 floors.

The trailhead is in a stand of trembling aspen, the most common and widely distributed tree species in North America, and a member of the willow family.  The whitish-green trunks of mature aspens are often scarred to several yards in height, as these are, where elk or deer have stripped the protective outer bark to gain access to the sugary cambium layer beneath. The tree bark is coated in a silvery dust that helps block UV radiation. First Peoples reportedly used the dust as a sunscreen and as a cure for headaches - ASA, the medicinal compound in Aspirin, comes from the willow family. 

Today was our lucky day, we saw several tiny pika (PIE-kah) that are often heard but seldom seen. A member of the rabbit family, they have a minuscule tail, big round ears, and a brownish-gray coat - they look something like a tennis ball with ears. A Ranger told us that they are "farmers", during the daytime they scurry about, gathering grasses, leaves, lichens and wildflowers, drying them on boulders, then stashing the hay within a boulder field. The pika does not hibernate. During the winter it uses rocky corridors under the snow to reach its food caches. They are so cute!

C-Level Cirque

Close-up of the tiny forest of trees that are in the upper right corner of the picture above.

After reaching the cirque, we took a path that heads up along the right side of the cirque to an elevated viewpoint on a knoll.

The limestone boulders on the knoll exhibit rillenkarren - furrows eroded over centuries by naturally acidic rainwater and by snowmelt.

A young couple were enjoying the views on the knoll. At least when they weren't checking their cell phones. I wonder what kind of coverage they had?

Bow Valley from the knoll

More Bow Valley

Surrounding peaks

View up the cirque from the base

Picture from June 18, Frederick viewing the cirque from the knoll.

View Mount Inglismaldie across the valley on the way down the trail.

On the way down we stopped at an overlook adjacent to a mine building at the "C-Level" mine where coal was mined in the early 1900s. View of Mount Inglismaldie and the Fairholme Range which rise above Lake Minnewanka.

Lake Minnewanka

Frederick standing on a ridge of coal tailings, about 40 feet high, that provided an excellent view out to Lake Minnewanka.