Sunshine Village to Mt. Assiniboine, hiking Canada - FAQS (Frequently Asked Questions)

FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)

Can I fish Assiniboine?

Absolutely, though the fishing is not great — at least for us. Try your hand at bringing in an Eastern Brook trout from Douglas Lake.

Logistics are complicated. You need separate fishing licences for waterways in British Colombia & Alberta.

If fishing regulations frustrate you, head for Glacier National Park in Montana where you need no licence to fish.

Can I buy food on the Trail?

Yes, meals at Assiniboine Lodge are excellent. The restaurant is open to all.

At the Sunshine Ski Resort bus stop you can gorge on a poor selection of junk foods.

Are there toilets on the hike?

Yes. There are pit toilets at every campsite.

Bring your own toilet paper.

One quirk in the high valleys above the treeline on this hike is that you may have troubled finding a place to hide out of sight when you get the urge to purge away from a pit toilet.

Showers? Hot Springs?

No showers anywhere en route. We washed up in glacial creeks.

We normally splash in the famous Banff Hot Springs when we finish a hike in the Rockies.

What flora & fauna will I see?

On this trip you have a good chance to see mountain goats, bighorn sheep, elk and mule deer, pikas, chipmunks & hoary marmots. Sunshine Meadows is home to thousands of Columbian and mantled ground squirrels, as well as chipmunks. Hoary marmot & pika are often heard, sometimes seen.

It is possible, but unlikely, that you will see grizzly or black bear, grey wolf, cougar, lynx, moose, porcupine, coyote, wolverine, badger or marten.

More animals of BC.

Grizzly near Healy Pass in 2004.

Birds are less numerous than you might expect. The most commonly spotted of these many species are northern harriers, our old friends the grey jays (whiskey jacks), golden eagles, northern harrier, Clark's nutcrackers, white-tailed ptarmigans, pine grosbeaks, rosy finches, pine siskins, boreal chickadees, chipping sparrows and white-crowned sparrows.

In the Rockies we know we’ve reached about 2100m (7000ft) when open stands of alpine larch begin to appear. But the real highlight of the high alpine are the wild flowers.

Mid-summer alpine meadows are ablaze with wild flowers. Mountain heather, woolly everlasting, arctic willow, (impressive) western anemone and sedges are typical. Look for alpine arnica, columbine, indian paintbrush, spring beauty, alpine fleabane, mountain daisies, and hundreds more wildflower species.