Buller Pass Loop Trail

July 7, 2019 In Outdoor Edventures

Where:

When:

Who:

Trailhead:

the trail starts at the Buller Mountain Day Use Area which is 30 km from Canmore on the Spray Lakes Road
park on the entrance road to the day use area which is on the right (west) hand side of the road
the trailhead is straight across the road on the east side

Degree of difficulty:

1300 meters of elevation gain and 20 km distance to do the loop around Buller Mountain
the trail is relatively easy to follow although you have to be careful where it intersects the High Rockies trail in two spots near the beginning
4 km up the valley (just across the fourth bridge) you take the fork to the right to do the trail in a counterclockwise direction
the climb to the first pass is steep but only takes 20 minutes
at the top of the pass, the trail drops down a hundred meters and then across a rock area before you meander up into the valley around the back side of Buller Mountain
there is another climb out of the valley before you descend a steep switchback on the north side of Buller Mountain
on this particular day, we encountered numerous snow chutes on the back (north) side of Buller Mountain which made for a tricky ascent to the second pass, and we triggered a small avalanche on one of the chutes
the hike took us five and a half hours and had several climbs that made it a tiring day

Interesting notes:

on our way to the trailhead we encountered a young black bear (probably 6-7 months old), that was seemingly orphaned from its mother and kept crossing back and forth across the road in a distressed manner
partway up the forested valley, there are several unique trees that have multiple trunks (still a mystery to me how they are formed)
the wildflowers added some nice color to certain sections of the hike
as well there are several burnt areas in the valley where they have been trying to control the spread of the pine beetle
around the 4 km mark, there is a beautiful waterfall in Buller Creek that is worth stopping to enjoy for a few minutes
there are a few other waterfalls on this trail that are also quite impressive
in the meadow before the ascent to the first pass there was a huge area where bears had dug up the ground looking for ground squirrels
the views are tremendous once you break out of the forested area with Buller Mountain to the north and east and Mt. Engadine to the south
at the pass, you look across the valley to Mt. Kidd and Guinn Lake, down to Ribbon Lake and Mt. Bogart off to the left (north)