Mount Robson Ep 2 Waterfalls

Continuing from episode 1, day-2 of our trip began overcast but with no precipitation. With no rain overnight, and minimal condensation in the tent despite the proximity of the Robson River, it was nice to pack up all the gear dry. In years past, I commonly hiked all the way to the Berg Lake campsite in one day. But as we are now in our 70s and 80s, it's nice to take the luxury of a halfway camp at Whitehorn, which is only 10.5 kilometres from the trailhead with not a huge amount of vertical. Whitehorn is also an option for families with young children, not just as a halfway camp but as a destination for two nights, affording the opportunity for a lightweight day hike up to Berg Lake. That being said, we still plan to hike all the way out in one go on day-4. The hike from the Whitehorn campsite to the next campsite above Emperor Falls entails most of the elevation gain on the Berg Lake Trail. However, this effort is significantly offset by the incredible series of waterfalls: White Falls, Falls of the Pool and the climatic Emperor Falls. Any of the three is amazing to behold, and the combination of one after the other is truly one of the wonders of the natural world and is something that everyone who is able should try to experience at least once in their life. For those of us fortunate to live in one of the World's best places and BC's northern capital, the city of Prince George, Mount Robson is an easy four-hour drive away and is a hike that I try to do every year, and sometimes more than once. And this stretch between Whitehorn and Berg Lake never never gets tired. I first made this hike in the fall of 1978, shortly after moving to Prince George from eastern Canada... that was 48 years ago. You can view that hike here, and note how the Berg Lake glacier has shrunk in nearly half a century:    • Mount Robson Berg Lake in October 1978  . This is only the second year that the rebuilt trail above Whitehorn has been open, following the July 2021 flash flood and debris flow disaster that caused the evacuation of everyone on the trail and closed it for repairs and remediation for up to four years. Part of that process was rerouting and rebuilding the trail to be more resilient to future such events, which are expected to be more frequent with the Earth's warming climate. To that end, the trail crosses a new bridge at the Whitehorn campsite that has replaced the old suspension bridge, and ascends on the west side of the Valley of a Thousand Falls to cross a new, long bridge over the creek that flows from Whitehorn Mountain and backtracks to join the original route up past the three main waterfalls. From there the trail is more or less unchanged until crossing the Hargreaves fan to the shore of Berg Lake. The Hargreaves fan is a wide gravel outflow fan from the Hargreaves Glacier, which can be viewed via a loop hike up from the Marmot campsite at the south end of Berg Lake (taking in the Hargreaves Glacier from a side trail) and descending via the equally spectacular Toboggan Falls to the main campsite at the north end of Berg Lake and Hargreaves Shelter, and completing the loop via the shoreline trail:    • Under the Heat Dome - Berg Lake Revisited  . The trail over the Hargreaves fan has been rerouted from higher up down closer to the Robson River to take advantage of the many shallower braids in the Hargreaves Creek, in which have been placed (by helicopter) some 400 large and alternatively offset stepping stones in place of the old wooden bridges. This is obviously intended to be more resilient to future flood events; however, it may not be enough as BC Parks have constructed footings for future bridges since we were here a year ago, and they have stockpiled several metal bridge segments (repurposed stage scaffolding) for future use. The Marmot campsite has become my favourite in recent years, offering fewer people, a two-kilometre shorter hike out, and easy access to all the amenities in the Berg Lake area. For example, on one occasion we hiked the aforementioned Hargreaves loop, then spent a lazy afternoon on the beach at the main campsite, followed by supper at the Hargreaves shelter and an evening lakeshore walk back to our campsite. The only downside to Marmot versus the main campsite is that it adds a four-kilometre round trip extension to the already long day hike up to the spectacular Snowbird Pass. However, that is not an issue in the early season as the Snowbird Meadows are closed for May and June to minimize impact on wildlife at a critical time of the year for them. Further to its other advantages, Marmot has now been completely upgraded with a new picnic shelter, new outhouse, and all new wood tent platforms with incredible views of Mount Robson. These are great to camp on but can present challenges when pitching a tent, so it's a good idea to take some extra cord.