Sat, May 10 2008, Sun, May 11 2008 - Backpacking/Camping Weekend - Siffleur Falls (View Original Event Details)
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Due to reports of a surprise heavy snowfall in the Nordegg area, the hike location was switched from Allstones Lake to Siffleur Falls to reduce the amount of elevation gain that we would be facing. Siffleur Falls ended up as an excellent choice for this trip. The weather actually was very cooperative: temperatures were above zero during the days, the weather remained clear, the snow was never more than ankle-depth, and the rain held off on Sunday when we were hiking (the rain started to pour literally 5 minutes after we had started driving back to Edmonton!)
We had a thoroughly enjoyable 8 km hike along the Siffleur Falls trail to our campsite. The hike indeed had its challenges – we had to scramble up and down a few steep hillsides, and we somehow managed to just barely miss the campsite that we had actually intended to camp at. Fortunately, general consensus was that our campsite (where we actually spent the night), was even better!
We camped slightly upstream of the third waterfall on the Siffleur Falls trail, and our campsite had enviable amenities: plenty of space; the flowing Siffleur River lulling us to sleep; and, nothing to really worry about (even including unnervingly frequent landslides off a scree slope on the opposite side of the river … which fell harmlessly into the river). In fact, we didn’t spot any particularly dangerous wild creatures on our entire trip, apart from a few bighorn sheep perusing Hwy 11 who fortunately allowed our cars to pass!
After supper on Saturday, some of us explored the area further, finally discovering where we were supposed to camp, and getting up close and personal with the waterfalls (but not too close!). We then sat around the campfire until dusk, getting to know each other better. On Sunday, we broke camp, hiked the 8 km back to the trailhead, re-convened at Boston Pizza in Rocky Mountain House for some well-deserved post-trip refreshments. Then … we called it a trip!
Have some photos from this event that you'd like to share in our photo album? Please forward them to Mark G at photos@edmontonoutdoorclub.com. If you have a LOT of photos, please submit up to thirty of your favourites (only) for a day event, or up to sixty of your favourites for a multi-day event. Thank you.