Tucked away in Elbow Pass, Rae Lake is a busy equestrian trail and backpacking site nestled north of the gigantic Mount Rae. Plenty of campsites can be found around the entire perimeter of the lake - arrive early to settle into the more established spots. The approach is mostly flat past the Elbow Lake campground with a neat waterfall to stop at halfway there. A final climb through tighter trees will gain the lake. Water purification tablets are recommended on account of all the horse traffic. Depending on the season there may be some creek crossings but easy access to water helps the pooch stay hydrated.
Arrive early and park at the Elbow Lake parking lot on the farside designated for overnight users.
Start with a steep hike up to the Elbow Lake campground and follow the wide path towards Tombstone Pass. A very large cairn partway through will lead to Edworthy Falls - a nice stop along the way. Once you reach the branch for Piper Pass on the left (roughly 5.5km), a small tight trail will branch into the forest on the right. You'll pop out in a nice meadow and follow a wide double track before a cairn (6.9km) marks the beginning the ascent up to the lake. The return trail is the same, or you can follow the alternative ascent route (light purple - less steep) that follows the creek.
With year-on-year increases in the number of smoke days in Alberta, last year's "unseasonably" nice summer was spent almost entirely dangling at local crags. I'd had an itch to get out backpacking but things never lined up. After making the jump to full frame with the a7cii and a recently acquiring a wide zoom, I wanted to take another stab at some landscape photography - something I haven't been able to practice much of lately.
Between the mountain biking and climbing we were doing this summer, I an easier loop was in the cards as it was Basia and Baloo's first time hiking with a loaded pack in a while. We settled on Rae Lake, an area that flew under my radar as I was preoccupied scouring maps for more headwall lakes instead. This was our first time in the area and the scenery far exceeded our expectations. Once we passed the Elbow Lake campground, the crowds thinned out and views of Elpoca and Tombstone Mountain came into view. What initially looked like a spire off of Elpoca turned into more of a shoulder as we got closer.
Minus the stampede, both of us had very limited interaction with horses and the various branches of equestrian related culture. My only other exposure to horses was over a decade ago in Mongolia, and our friend's mules and mini donkeys (who apparently killed it in Colorado's Burro Race). Seeing all the cowboys and cowgirls with all their different gear and setups was very cool. We definitely had some camp envy later as a group down the meadow from us set up a yurt with a wood burning stove.
Coming around Elpoca Mountain a view of Mount Schlee's "cat ears" next to Piper Pass came into view over a series of rolling hills. After some investigation, I might try to approach this area from the Romulus side next time. With eyes bigger than my stomach, a multi-day through Paradise Pass looked appetizing but would require a lot more preparation.
Just down the road, the familiar rumbling of a waterfall briefly foreshadowed the (massive) cairn marking the turn off to Edworthy Falls. After receiving a set of Maven magnetic filters, I was pretty eager to try some daytime long exposure. One of the main factors that drew me to them was the combo ND + CPL filters. They added some great motion during our trip to England a few months earlier. Quick access to polarization without stacking filters and easy on/off was game changing compared to the last time I played around with some Tiffen filters. Note the rocks down to the falls are steep and can be a little wet and slippy - poles help a lot.
As we approached the turnoff towards Rae Lake, we began second guessing ourselves as the dotted line on Gaia made it look like we had already passed the return trail. Another older couple celebrating their 40th anniversary had missed the earlier turn off and made a big loop from the Sheep River trail side. As we shared our interpretations of our respective maps, we decided to follow a well-beaten trail that progressively got steeper as we reached the lake.
Despite our best efforts to make it in time to get a good spot, we quickly found out we were group #15 that day with more that arrived later that evening. Plenty of (occupied) established campsites and clearings studded the east side of the lake. Continuing towards the south side of the lake a rope stretched across the path blocking the meadow for another groups horses to graze. We ended up settling for a spot just far enough away from the bog to remain dry. The enormous cliff face in the background looked like it'd make for a very cool climb.
A few years back we met a hilarious oldschoolcool duo during a stay at Memorial Lakes. We had a hatchet but couldn't make logs, they had a saw but couldn't make kindling - and so by Grabthar's hammer we united and built a great fire. Having learned our lesson that trip, we now carry both.
As we looked at a thoroughly soaked pile of logs left to us by a previous group, our hopes for a nice fire waned. Mildly optimistic, we began cutting them into smaller logs, splitting the wetter ones in half to dry out better, and amassing a good amount of kindling. Our efforts were later rewarded with a fire so hot we produced blue flames and were even able to burn wet logs.
As we sat around the fire, we felt vindicated in our choice to pick up some MEC camping chairs. Only 100g or so heavier than the Helinox ones, the taller backrest felt much more stable and comfortable when reclining. Without these, we would have ended up with the usual sore backs and cold bums.
In the fall last year Sony released the camera body I'd been waiting for. A crop body with a full frame sensor and an impressive AI-enhanced autofocus that blew their already famously good eye AF out of the water. The jump from the a6600 to the a7cii was huge. Image quality upgrades aside, all the extra dials and customizability made on-the-fly shooting so much faster. The improved colour science and extra resolving power was instantly noticeable and the ability to drop the ISO down to 200 when shooting in SLOG-3 made videography much more flexible.
Only recently before this trip did I discover there was a new bulb shutter time setting thus eliminating my interest in picking up a remote. With a full moon peeking up over southeastern ridge bright enough to illuminate the ground, I tried firing off a 4 minute exposure. The final resulted produced some mild but pleasing star trails in-camera. I look forward to experimenting with this further. Some sleuthing revealed other photographers going up to 60 minute or 3 hour exposures for star trails.
The next morning, I left Basia and Baloo in the tent as usual as I went off to poke around in the early morning. Without last night's wind, the fog sat gently over the lake and wisped around. Wanting to try more on the 16mm side of things I looked for textures that interested me. Guarded by a very mushy bog, I delicately tip-toed across sunken logs to a patch of very long grass that were weighed down by the condensation. I liked how they pointed towards the main cliff face.
Satisfied with what I was able to find on the edge of the lake, I began trudging up the nearby ridge. My patience at the top was rewarded as the clouds finally broke through and a dramatic light filled the valley. The morning haze obscured the distant peaks along Tombstone pass but I think I preferred it that way. After spending some time relaxing on the ridge and expecting a radio message from Basia that never came I made my way back down to camp.
The other nice software addition was an option to shoot timelapse that the a6600 was lacking. It may be enough to replace intervalometers entirely. In our case it meant that I no longer needed to hit the 10 second countdown and run over to Basia and hopefully be in the right position. I can have it fire off a shot every second until I go back and tell it to stop. This was great for more candid shots at camp.
This trip ended up being quite memorable and I'm glad we made the last minute decision to give it a go. Wanting a change of scenery on the way back we looked for the original ascent trail that turned out to be parallel to the creek. No longer encumbered by the weight of his kibble, Baloo moved with more pep before conking out in the car for the drive home.
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