Sat, May 4 2013 - White Creek Explorer Hike & Livingstone Falls (View Original Event Details)
|  |
It seems that there aren't very many hikes to the Livingstone area, and yet the area offers so much or shoulder seasons. The gates along the Forestry Trunk Road opened four days ago, so that was enough reason to head down there to explore and search for a snow-free hike.
We left Calgary under beautiful sunny skies, and driving through small towns immediately slowed the pace. The road up to the Hump (i.e., Hwy 532) slowed us even further. The area around Hailstone Butte, Windy peak Hills, and Plateau Mountain is still in full-on winter. The road was cleared, but mud around the summit was, well, very muddy. As in keep-going-fast-or-you-may-get-stuck muddy.
We parked in the large meadow at km 46 and the first big excitement was the crossing of the Livingstone River. It's a very obvious spot, can't be missed, but it is wide and it was cold for those without neoprene socks. Beautiful area, and rather than hauling our wet water crossing shoes and towels, most of us opted to tie our shoes up in a bag by the Livingstone River.
There were a few odd snow patches at the beginning of the hike and near the deastination of the beacver pond, but with current temperatures this is bound to melt in the next week or so. Meltwater creates fascinating condisions, as we learned around the 2.8km mark: another water crossing, and the 'creek' was more like a little river. With our water crossing shoes left behind, we scoped up the shore, but without much luck, so decided to cross barefoot. It was fine, at least we were across. But guess what would happen 500m later? And then again? And again and again and again? By about crossing 5 or 6 we were just walking straight through in our hiking boots. If we can give one piece of advice to whoever may do this hike in the future, it would be to scrap hiking boots altogether and do this hike in hiking sandals and neoprene socks. There's nothing technical about this hike, you won't really need ankle support, and you're walking on soft grass or soil most of the time. It's a nice place to wander. There's meadows galore for anyone wishing to random camp, and obviously no shortage of water.
Just before the beaver pond we encountered a campfire; it was the three quadders who had passed us earlier. They got turned back by the final snow to the pond, while we continued on, following very fresh bear tracks. We didn't linger, and had a late lunch back down by White Creek. Our return was very quick as we weren't spending time on taking shoes on and off.
While we covered good distance, this isn't one of those make-you-really-tired type of hikes. It feels more like you're wandering, and to top that off, we had a potluck picnic in the meadow back by the car, ate some more, and had the wind dry out our stuff a little. We stopped at Livingstone Falls very briefly thereafter as that recreation was still covered in snow. And the falls are dry, so there's really nothing to see yet.
Not wanting to chance getting stuck in the mud back towards the Hump, we took the Forestry Trunk Road back via Highwood Junction. That stretch is in much, much better shape, though it adds on about 20km. We fell like we've seen it all - from Black Diamond, to Longview, the Hump area, the Livingstone area, up the Cataract Creek area, and back. Thank you all for agreat explorer day out.