Wes, David and I set out early Sunday morning. The trail head starts at a small parking lot along Owen Creek. There is no signage for this trail head so you will probably need to use some sort of gps to locate the small parking lot. The trail follows Owen Creek and before long you will find yourself at an amazing canyon! At points you can cross the canyon with a small jump as the water rages below. The trail continues along Owen creek with some sharp inclines here and there. The trail is well marked for the most part, although there is a lot of dead fall you will have to step over.
It’s hard to give accurate distances since this trail is pretty remote and uncommonly used. We had downloaded an offline map from AllTrails to keep us on track. Splitting off from Owen Creek you follow the trail up another unnamed creek. This portion of the hike is brutal! Its steep and unrelenting. You will probably lose the trail a handful of times due to washout on the riverbank. If you keep following the trail and continue the slog up you will eventually come to a small campsite on a tiny ledge above the river. We didn’t make it this far with our overnighter packs. We had left them a couple km’s below since we wanted to reserve some of our energy. This creek has some really interesting waterfalls and pools which we great for a quick dip and refilling our water bottles. The creek will meander in and out and eventually you will find yourself at the bottom of a large pass. In order to get to Michelle Lakes you will need to trudge over this pass. However, once you are at the tip-top you will be granted with an amazing birds eye views of Michelle Lakes. We decided to hike down the other side of the pass and check out the lakes. I have never seen such a beautiful, remote alpine lake in my life. It was amazing! Wes and David continued to the far end of the bottom Michelle Lake where there is a giant waterfall descending 1000 feet off the face of a cliff. Unfortunately, I stayed at the first lake and attended to some blisters. It was hard to leave the lakes after we put in so much effort to get there, but our camping gear was about 6 km’s away. We made our way up and over the pass and headed back the way we came coming to our packs a couple hours later. In total, we were on the trail for about 10 hours and had trekked just over 20 km's. It was high time for a hot meal, foot soak and well deserved sleep. 10 hours later we woke up, had breakfast and took to the trail. From here it took us a few hours to get back to our vehicle. Overall, this hike was amazing, although it was extremely strenuous. I would allocate three days for this trip if I were to go again in the future. If you plan on taking this trip make sure you do all the necessary research. This is a remote area and it can be easy to get lost. We depended on a downloaded map, and I did lots of research beforehand. Fun Fact: This trail is a small portion of the Great Divide Trail which spans from Waterton to Northern BC. You are bound to meet a couple thru hikers if you hike this in the summer. Happy Trails, Cassidy
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Of all the paths you take in life make sure a few of them are dirt. John Muir Archives
September 2017
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