Roche Bonhomme, or a Good Old Hubby

Roche Bonhomme, 2498 m, is a popular mountain near Jasper, in Jasper National Park. The name is often translated from French as meaning "Rock of an Old Good Fellow." In a book describing the trail to the mountain (unfortunately, I didn't record the author), it is referred to as "off-trail hike," with round-trip distance of 10 km, and altitude gain of 1300 m. As my story will try to illustrate, only the last information is correct.

We parked at Maligne Canyon parking lot and looked into the trail description to identify the beginning of the trail.

My companions were lovely Ela and Basia, along with the Club Harpagons: Mike, Piotr and Roman. Though somewhat confused after a hot night, we quickly established that the description was incorrect. It asked us to "walk back on Maligne Lake Road for 350 m." In fact, the beginning of the trail is about 300 m UP the road, not down.