Cascade Amphitheatre, Hot Pool and Dinner in Banff (10/6/2018)

A Banff landmark, Cascade Mountain forms the northern skyline in the view from town. The Cascade Amphitheatre trail ascends into a steeply-walled cirque on the southwest flank of the mountain. Walk on asphalt between the ski area ticket office and the day lodge to pick up the trail, which begins as a bulldozed track. Just past the Mystic Chairlift, the trail begins a steady descent through open lodgepole pine forest. This descent continues for a little over 3km, until the trail crosses 40 Mile Creek.

Across the bridge, the uphill begins in earnest. The dog-tooth spire of Mt. Louis in the Sawback Range dominates the views west. During the climb from 40 Mile Creek, you pass from a montane ecoregion into the sub-alpine ecoregion, although the forest of lodgepole pine changes little. These trees seeded after a large forest fire in 1894. The trail levels at the entrance to the amphitheatre, where there is a marked transition from pine forest to a mix of Engellmann spruce and subalpine fir, typical of the upper subalpine ecoregion. Cirque valleys, such as Cascade Amphitheatre, were created and enlarged during the various ice ages of the last 2 million years. Glaciologists speculate that there have been 20 to 30 glacial advances in this time. The trail undulates over a series of low recessional moraines as it enters the amphitheatre. These moraines mark places of brief pause during the most recent glacial retreat.

Although the glacial ice is now gone, a chill remains on the floor of the amphitheatre. Cold air flows downhill and collects in depressions, creating frost hollows where full sized trees cannot develop. The many small mounds are earth hummocks, relict formations produced when permafrost existed under the soil. The meadows support the typical array of moisture-loving, alpine wildflowers, along with sedges and willows. The trail is vague in places but keeps to the western edge of the meadows, where it crosses rockslide debris from which several springs issue. About 1km after entering the amphitheatre, you climb through a small stand of trees to trail's end on a knoll of rockslide debris. You may see white-tailed ptarmigan, pikas, and hoary marmots nearby.