Coronet Creek Camping

I was a lit­tle hes­i­tant in writ­ing about this trip, because I want­ed to keep it secret from the mass vis­i­tors to the area. Real­iz­ing that the best expe­di­tions can­not be hid­den away. This trip con­sist of water­crafts (canoes & sea kayaks) of human pow­er. The length of Maligne Lake is approx­i­mate­ly 22 kilo­me­tres long and Coro­net Creek camp­site is at the south end of the Lake. Need­less to say it is a long pad­dle down, if you can afford to rent the elec­tric motor­ized ver­sion (no gas pow­ered motors allowed) at var­i­ous places in Jasper, you can relax and enjoy the scenic ride.

There is some­thing about pack­ing all your gear and being self suf­fi­cient for a cou­ple of days in the wilder­ness. This par­tic­u­lar trip start­ed with a thun­der and light­ing show min­utes before we arrived at the put-in. The weath­er seemed to clear up, so off we went on our annu­al trip down the lake. We chose not to stop and camp at Fish­er­mans Bay (approx­i­mate­ly 14 km south) this time around, so the trip only need­ed three days and two nights, main­ly due to work rea­sons. Only two camp­sites are on this lake and only eight tent pads per site, so reser­va­tions are a must. Pick up per­mits at the Parks infor­ma­tion build­ing in Jasper.

Lets get back to the weath­er as this played an impor­tant role on this out­ing. Giv­ing thanks to Moth­er Nature at first, great tail wind that pushed us along to the nar­rows and then the dread­ful head­wind that fol­lowed. The sky was over­cast and the the waves were start­ing to rise, and the tour boats that roam up and down the lake added to the wakes. Still in good spir­its, some of us were wor­ried about the waves, so we took refuge at sev­er­al spots along the lake. There is some day use areas with fire pits if you had to stay out of the water. Real­iz­ing the weath­er was not going to let up we ven­tured onwards to Coro­net Creek.

The kayak­ers got there first and we canoeists soon fol­lowed. Six and a half-hours since we put-in, we final­ly arrived, a shout of joy and a shout for BEER! After quench­ing our thirst, tents and tarps went up fair­ly quick­ly as a storm was approach­ing. We pad­dled across the bay to pick up drift­wood and dead­falls for the camp­fire. It was sad to see that ear­lier campers had left cans in the pits. A beau­ti­ful place and quite a bit of work to get here and still not enough respect for the area. OH well, I digress.

Noth­ing like a well-earned meal by the fire with the tarps over our heads and the rain pour­ing down, yet we still man­aged to stay dry. Morn­ing came quick, the dis­cus­sion about whose tents stayed dry and whose snor­ing was loud­er was the top­ic. The rain did not let up, but that did not stop Mike, Dan and Al from a hike to Coro­net Glac­i­er. The rest of us stayed by the camp under the tarp and wished the next day would bring good weath­er. No such luck. The war­den came by in the morn­ing to con­firm the bad news, head­wind and snow all the way back home!

Why did we ven­ture here? Well, after five to six beau­ti­ful lucky years, we were bound to have one crap­pie weath­er canoe / camp trip. Coro­net Creek, still a mag­i­cal place even if you can’t see the moun­tain tops. Just be pre­pared and make the most out of it.

Access: Maligne Lake

Park­ing: Yes

Trail­head: Boat Launch on Maligne Lake

Dis­tance: 21 kilo­me­tres on the lake.

Activ­i­ties: Canoe / Camp­ing

RELATED LINKS

• Alpine Art Eco-Tours ( Guid­ed Eco Tours )
• Jasper Adven­ture Cen­tre ( Guid­ed Tours )
• Jasper Rid­ing Sta­bles (Pyra­mid Loca­tion, Horse­back Tours)
• Jasper Park Sta­bles Fair­mont (Horse­back Tours)
• Rock­ing K Sta­bles (Horse­back Tours)
• Ton­quin Val­ley Back­coun­try ( Horse­back, Back­coun­try Cab­ins )
• Jasper Motor­cy­cle Tours ( Tours and Rental )
• My Jasper Nan­ny ( Child­care Ser­vices )
• Ton­quin Adven­tures (Horse­back, Back­coun­try Cab­ins)
• Edge Con­trol (Ski & Out­door Store)
• Bor­der­line “Snow­farm­ers” (Horse Tours)
• Jasper’s White­wa­ter Raft­ing Com­pa­ny (Raft­ing Tours)
• Rocky Moun­tain River Guides (Raft­ing Tours)
• Jasper Raft Tours (Raft­ing Tours)
• Maligne Adven­tures (Raft­ing Tours)
• Pure Out­doors (snowsports/watersports rentals)
• On-Line Sport & Tack­le (Fish­ing Guides)

The Cast:
Nan­cy, Miri­am, Lar­ry, Jay, Mike, Al, Dan, Rhon­da, Rob, Eddie