Siffleur River, Nordegg Alberta

[Peter]

In the Canadian Rockies the David Thompson Highway is the lesser know access route to the National Parks, and it has some great hiking in its own right. In the fall, the spectacular mountains are augmented by fall colours, and that makes the drive up the highway an attraction worth seeing.

The Siffleur River trail is a gorgeous hike, starting with a walk across the Kootenay Plains. The trail crosses the North Saskatchewan River and the reaches the Siffleur just a few kilometres above its confluence.

From there, the elevation begins as the trail follows the canyon up into the Siffleur backcountry. It is important to remember that there are both safe and unsafe routes to follow - as well as numerous tourists, eight British SARTechs have died on the trail while training. Especially in wet weather, the limestone cliffs are particularly treacherous. Avoid the clifftop trails and take the secondaries that parallel them farther from the edge.

The first Siffleur Falls are easily reached, and we stopped for lunch. Great scenery, and a pleasant spot for a break.

There is an option of continuing farther upstream, where two more sets of waterfalls await, but the trails are unmarked and rough. I'll save those for another day, preferably in summer when the nights will be a bit warmer.

...and back to the Shunda Creek hostel for the night.

Edited October 24, 2013 by Peter

[Peter]

So how do I get a gap in between the photos? Not really liking the visual appeal of having them spaced right together.

[PaulGS]

Thanks for the trip report Peter though I can't help you with the photo placement. :confused:

I've never been on the David Thompson Highway; hopefully next summer. How is the highway for accessing trails for backcountry camping?

[Peter]

Hi, Paul. The David Thompson corridor has provided easy access to a lot of backcountry areas for horse outfitters for a very long time. That includes Siffleur, Cline River/Coral Creek and White Goat, as well as many others. While horseback trips seem to be waning in popularity, the same trails are open for backpacking.

[Aaron Zagrodnick]

So how do I get a gap in between the photos? Not really liking the visual appeal of having them spaced right together.

Hey Peter,

Great photos. You should be able to add spaces between the pictures by placing your cursor between them in the editor and hitting the enter key for as many spaces as you need. Working in WYSIWYG (What you see is what you get) mode might help make things easier - You can make sure it's selected (Should be by default) on the left side of the toolbar that appears when posting / editing a message. Let me know if that doesn't work!