Trekking in the Dogtooth Range
by Bibiana Cujec
ACC Dogtooth Traverse
July 21-30, 2023
Guides: Nathalie Drotar, ACMG Hiking Guide and Via Ferrata Guide and Lenora (Lenny) Carbonetto, ACMG Hiking Guide
Participants: Dean Albrecht, Diane Albrecht, Fabienne Cahour, Bibiana Cujec, David Hanna, Margaret Ford, Brian Rand, Louise Rand, Alex Romanek and Jamie Scoular
Hiking in the alpine, Dogtooth Range. Photo Jamie Scoular
I lie awake, watching the stars framed by the tall spruce and pine trees at the Quartz Lake campsite. Now all that remains of our ten-day Dogtooth Range traverse is a trail that descends to the logging road where our cars have been left, wrapped in chicken wire to fend off local wildlife. Despite a leaky Therm-a-Rest, I lie comfortably atop the moss heather on the forest floor reflecting on a wonderful trip to a seldom-visited area of the Purcell Mountains of eastern British Columbia.
I knew I wanted to go on this trip the moment I saw it advertised on the ACC website. I easily convinced my partner to join me; both fans of multi-day ski traverses, we had never tried a summer trip together before.
Our group was comprised of ten people from across the country and we met each other, and our hiking guides Nathalie Drotar and Lenora (Lenny) Carbonetto, at the Bluebird Café in Golden early on July 21. While some members left to deposit four vehicles at our exit site near Quartz Lake, the rest of us divided the PeakEats dehydrated food and group gear and stashed the remaining vehicles at the Golden airport. After regrouping we rode in a van for a bit more than an hour up a rough logging road to the start of the 12 Mile Creek trail. We shouldered our 15 kg backpacks and started walking slowly uphill, through forests, into alpine meadows and to our first campsite near two lakes.
Clockwise from top left:
Red paintbrush, purple fireweed and yellow arnica. Photo Nathalie Drotar
Sheltering from the rain under the tarp. From left, Lenora (Lenny) Carbonetto, David Hanna, Jamie Scoular, Margaret
Ford , Alex Romanek, Fabienne Cahour and Bibiana Cujec. Photo Nathalie Drotar
Pika at Gorman Lake. Photo Jamie Scoular
Adjusting packs, talking and looking at the Selkirks across
the valley. Photo Jamie Scoular
Our days settled into a comfortable pattern. We had coffee at 6:30 a.m., ate breakfast while taking down the tents and packing up, and were hiking by 9:00 a.m. We walked through heathercovered meadows dotted with vibrant alpine flowers: red and yellow paintbrush, purple fireweed and river beauty, pink moss campion, yellow mountain arnica. From high on ridges, we saw the glacier-covered Selkirk Mountains across the valley and a rainbow forming behind Kicking Horse Mountain Resort. Every day, clouds moved through the jagged peaks as we ascended to cols and descended the other sides over talus and scree.
There were some long days, including one that involved bushwhacking through South Canyon over logs and alders in the drizzle until we finally came to a meadow bathed in sunlight and were able to set up camp. Most days averaged around seven hours of hiking, including breaks.
On the fifth day we approached Gorman Lake with light packs, anticipating a refill from a cache that had been arranged. Descending the ridge from Dawn Mountain on steep hard-packed scree delayed our arrival until twilight. Despite their fatigue, Nathalie and Lenny heroically staged a festive “hamburger night” while enduring a steady downpour in the dark. We had a much-needed rest day at Gorman Lake and spent it drying out in the sunshine, reviving our spirits.
One of many stream crossings. Photo Jamie Scoular
Our guides navigated through some difficult terrain, carried heavy loads and were always encouraging, caring and fun to talk with. We survived temperature extremes, falls in boulder fields and steep brush, stream crossings, bites from horse flies, rain and graupel but those memories are quickly fading, replaced by fond recollections of companionship. The people you travel with make all the difference to the success of a trip, and the group on this trip was exceptional. Although our backgrounds and life experiences varied, we were united by a shared love of the mountains.
As I watch the stars, a sense of peace and contentment fills me. Although there were difficult moments when the pack felt too heavy and I felt tired and frustrated, there remains a sense of accomplishment and awe at the beauty of this mountain range full of meadows, lakes and ridges that we traveled through.
I am very grateful to our hiking guides for putting this trip together and hope to be able to go on similar ACC backpacking trips in the future. We traveled 75 kms with about 4,100 metres of elevation gain and 4,500 metres of elevation loss over nine days of hiking. These mountain trips remind me of how far you can get by focusing on one step at a time, and the freedom that comes from disconnecting from life's many distractions.
Group photo at the completion of the Dogtooth traverse. Photo Jamie Scoular
Back row from left: Jamie Scoular, Dean Albrecht, Alex Romanek, Louise Rand, Brian Rand, Bibiana Cujec, David Hanna.
Front row, kneeling from left: Diane Albrecht, Lenora (Lenny) Carbonetto, Margaret Ford, Fabienne Cahour, Nathalie Drotar
Bibiana Cujec
Bibiana is a retired cardiologist with a lifelong passion for the mountains. She enjoys hiking, backcountry skiing and mountaineering and is very grateful to the mountain guides who have taken her to many high places in Western Canada, Nepal, New Zealand, Iceland and Ecuador. Bibiana has recently moved to Canmore to fulfill a dream of living in the Rockies.