Tonquin Valley in Jasper with Nic, July 2023

Tonquin Valley Trail Head via Astoria

Well, this was quite a hike for Nic, with 43kms in 3 days and 1,000mts of elevation gain this has been by far the longest back packing trip for Nic!!

The Tonquin Valley is one of Canada’s premiere backcountry destinations, with impressive peaks, glaciers and scenic lakes. It’s also known for its variety of wildlife, which includes grizzly bears, black bears and caribou. The area has a reputation for muddiness and an abundance of mosquitoes.

It is a point to point horseshoe loop and the plan was to leave bikes on one end and the car on the other end, but luckily Amit was camping there over the weekend and we managed to get a ride to the start of the hike on Friday without having to leave bikes on the other end, thanks God this was the case, because the biking part after the hike would have been a challenge !!

We left Calgary on Thursday after work, and made it to Jasper at around 8:00pm. We quickly visited Amit in the campground to plan for next day and headed out to town for dinner before setting up camp at Whistler Campground.

Whistler Campground in Jasper

After a good meal in Montanas (our favorite family restaurant), we set up a tent and had a nice shower before bed. Next day we woke up at 8:30 and headed out to town for breakfast at Wafflato to have a great start. Amit drove us to Astoria Trail Head which is at Edith Cavell road and we left our car on the other end (Portal) where we were planning to end our hike. 

The weather was nice on day one, a bit on the warm side.

We hike to Switchbacks which is the second campground on the route.

The campground had room for 8, and there were three more tents that night. The mosquitos were quite bad.... forcing us to stay in the tent or wearing a net and jacket when outside :--)

After a good night of sleep, we were ready for day 2 !! we cooked breakfast (bacon and eggs) and filtered some water in the way out. Soon after we start it started to rain, then hail, than rain and hail... From Switchbacks to Portal was a 22kms section, I think this section was the most beautiful of the three, with the view of The Ramparts mountain range and the Amethyst Lakes. There was a down bridge and we had to forged the river, knee deep, very totally passable. After that, we called it the "freedom steps" which means that once your shoes are wet, you don't care anymore where you step in ! 

The Ramparts mountain range

Clitheroe Mountain

View of the valley to Portal

Between Switchbacks and Portal there was a campground called Maccarib (we had this as a plan B in case we were to tire to carry on, but we decided to push it in order to have a shorter last day). We stopped here and had a great lunch, we heated up some rice, had tuna, boiled eggs and even cucumber !!

It was still raining and decided to keep moving to stay warm. As soon as we started the storm kick in and it was coming down hard ! The Sun never quite came back that day, but eventually it warm up a bit. We had a full size chocolate bar in the spam of an hour, as well as many Jelly Beans :--)   

We arrived to Portal after 7 and a half hours, last campground just 9kms away from the car.. We set up the tent under another hail storm ! barely stay dry, got water and cooked dinner under a tree and ate inside the tent under the storm. We didn't have options but chill. We watched a movie in the phone, and tried to stay warm through the WINDY night. Thunders and more hail came down all night, but the tent was nice and dry. 

Next morning we woke up at 8:30 and decide to cook breakfast and pack quickly in case more rain was coming. We had toasts, bacon and eggs again, wow what a way to start the day !! Hot chocolate and coffee were the ticket before we departed. 

In the hike out it didn't rain, it was a bit cold at times, but overall nice. We used plastic bags in our socks to keep the feet dry today. I will never to able to thank enough my buddy Ryan Twa for giving me the idea of bringing in umbrellas, wow what a difference it made !! we would have been soaked @ This was the best idea ever, light weight and pretty much very easy to put in and out.

Nic wasn't very happy about the toilets !! he kept asking "why couldn't they put walls and doors, why"

Athabasca glacier

River crossing

Eating at Montanas

    We ended our hike at 12:30, drove to the campground and took a nice and long shower, went to Montana's for lunch, bought some beers for Amit, had coffee and drove home in nice weather with a quick stop in Lake Louise to enjoy the view of Temple !