Willmore Hiking Tips
Willmore Wilderness Park, Rocky Mountains, Alberta, Canada

As I hiked into Willmore Wilderness Park this August, I met four backpackers from the United States who had decided to visit the park. I asked them how they had found out about this almost unknown Alberta park. They told me that they had asked a Jasper Park Warden for places where there would be few fellow travellers. The Warden’s response was "If you want seclusion and true wilderness, try Willmore Wilderness Park, just north of Jasper." And, here they were, coming in the opposite direction, going out, while I was going in.

I asked them about their trip and they mentioned that they had travelled through Jasper on the North Boundary Trail into Willmore via Little Heaven and Glacier Pass. In six days, they had, admirably, done about 80 miles … but unfortunately, it was all on hard, horse-bitten, sometimes wet, willow laden trails.

They were, at the moment, up to their knees in mud because the horse trail leading out of the park is a dirt road that was bulldozed as part of a fire fighting exercise in the 1950s and which has since been completely neglected by the Alberta Government. Horse travel on the road has created pock marks which fill with water and the slippery Alberta clay-based soil does the rest.The trail that day was wet from the morning rain. Twenty foot long mud puddles stretched from side to side bounded by thick, impassable willow groves on either side. I felt badly for them because this typified their experience of the park.

I didn’t mind walking the dirt road in because my method of being in the Willmore is to use the road to get into a base camp, in this case one at the headwaters of Seep Creek, and then to do day hikes with light packs for the rest of my stay. One day’s pain for the gain of a week of pure pleasure in a very beautiful place.

To give an example, there are 5 ridge hikes out of the Seep Creek base camp, each beautiful and unique in its own way, and each defined only by very light horse trails or by even lighter game trails or by no trails at all … in short, a place as close to true wilderness as you can get.

The extraordinary aspect of Willmore is its broad willow and grass covered valleys and it’s green sub-alpine and alpine ridges which are generally an easy climb from the valley bottoms.

The horse trails, made first by indigenous peoples and trappers, and later by outfitters and hunters, are what you would expect … deep ruts and gouges in an otherwise lushly beautiful place.

In short, it’s not much fun to walk the Willmore trails, but that’s what most uninformed hikers do. Typically they start at one entrance of the park [entrances are through Jasper, Rock Lake, the Berland River, and Grande Cache] and hike a backpacker’s circuit. Consequently, they miss much of the beauty of the park which involves hiking into the basins and on the ridges, many of which have either no trails or unmarked trails.

As an example of what they miss, had these four hikers started at the Rock Lake staging area and simply hiked to a campsite on Persimmon Creek [the North fork of the South Berland River] they would have had access to several great day hikes, each day returning to camp and to their heavy gear which they’d have left behind.
The basin containing the headwaters of Persimmon Creek is about 4 miles deep and 2 miles across. From a base camp, it’s an easy hike up Persimmon Creek and an exquisite walk to either the north or south branch of the basin and then back to camp. The right basin is composed of a unique, creek bounded by a dark, rock wall and creek bottom, has a series of lovely waterfalls and ends in a high meadow surrounded by peaks with a crystal clear stream running through it.

A deeper hike is go up Persimmon creek, enter the middle branch, and climb to the back ridge top of the Persimmon Mountain Range from which there are spectacular views of the Rock Creek Valley, the Starlight Range, the headwaters of the West Sulphur where Hardscrabble Pass takes you into Jasper National Park, and the Wildhay and the Sulphur River valleys. To get off the ridge top, there are several excellent skree runs that reach nearly to the bottom wildflower meadows of the Persimmon basin. Or, it’s possible to travel along the Persimmon Crest line to the back of the headwaters basin of the South Berland River and to drop into that basin and return to the base camp on Persimmon Creek ... a very long, but worthwhile day.

On such day trips, it’s likely that Mountain Goats and Big Horn Sheep will be viewed … and with luck, Woodland Caribou, Moose, Wolves and Grizzlys. Of course, the usual array of Pikas and Marmots will also be present.

Good places for base camps abound. While it’s tempting to camp in the horse outfitter’s campsites, it’s legal to camp anywhere in Willmore Park. The outfitters often bring in chain saws and utilize dead standing trees for firewood. They need dry trees because the tin stovepipes on their cooktents will clog up if they use punky or wet wood. However, 50 years of unregulated use has made it difficult to find dead standing trees near the campsites, so hikers who typically have neither saw nor axe are at a disadvantage.

And, the horse outfitters' camps are often beaten up and rife with horseshit — not just the outfitter’s line of gab, but he real thing. But, anywhere that doesn’t have a outfitter’s camp has a large supply of easy to get wood that is perfect for a backpacker’s evening and cooking fires. So, the trick is to look for a place along a stream that comes down from a ridge and to make camp. Don’t pick one of the main valley bottom rivers … the Wildhay, Rock Creek, the Sulphur, the Berland are all Girardia risks.

Starting out from the Rock Lake Staging Area, there are several good places to consider for base camps … places that offer a variety of day hikes: Seep Creek, the East side of Eagle’s Nest Pass, the headwaters of the Wildhay River [also called Hay Summit], the west side of Eagle’s Nest pass, the western headwaters of Rock Creek [also called Cannonball — for the round rocks found in that area], and the Northern Rock Creek Summit. All of these base camps are within one or two days from the Rock Lake Staging area.

A second option for hiking in Willmore Wilderness Park is to use the services of outfitters who cater specially to hikers. One such outfit that I frequently use is Wildrose Outfitting. Their horses carry our tents and clothing duffels while we hike with relatively light 25 pound day packs — lunch, camera and survival gear in case of heavy rain or snow. The outfitters travel the muddy roads while we hike the ridges from campsite to campsite. They supply a cooktent and plan and provide meals and firewood for the evening fires. The cooktents are great for drying out if the day is wet and for hanging out in if the day is especially cold and/or rainy. They’re a sharp contrast in comfort from cowering in a small backpacker’s tent while waiting out a heavy rainfall.

If you would like to know more about Willmore Wilderness Park, I've placed several links that may be of use and you're welcome to contact me for information: ray@raysweb.net.

Each year, I guide a trip into Willmore that is designed especially for hikers and photographers. Riders are also welcome. If interested, contact me.

And, if you're not doing it already, please consider contributing to one or both of these great organizations that have served Albertans by fighting the good, but lonely battle for Alberta's Parks and Wilderness. Without them Willmore Wilderness Park would have been logged and developed years ago.

• The Alberta Wilderness Association
• The Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society

Good travels to you all ...

Ray Rasmussen