Thought I'd share this one, even though I am usually too lazy to post TRs. Verdant Pass has been on the list for a while now, and it is a bit confusing to get to.

The first two pictures show the turn into verdant pass from Astoria.



Next few are from inside the tree lines. Quite a few fallen trees along the way. And the trail gets very narrow with branches blocking the way in places. The final stretch to get out of the trees is steep, and has hard ground. Very slippery when you are going down.



This is where it gets confusing. There are at least two "trails" crossing the creek. Follow the path all the way up and you'll come to a dead end. The lake here is what the Copelands are talking about. I had to scramble up a ledge to see where the trail leads to inside the meadow. You can also see the ridge where we stopped.



This part you can entirely avoid by going on the lower trail all the way. I had to get down from the ledge and bushwhack a little.



Into the pass and there are no more trails after a while. You have to navigate the bogs and what not. There is a river/stream across the valley. Follow the stunted tress and not the grass for easier crossings. (Common sense.) We stopped at the ridge shown in the distance from the last set of photos. You can see Edith, Chevron, the ice fields, whirlpool etc. We think it's about 26km-30km trip if you arrived at where we were, depending on route.



Didn't see any major animals until this point. I thought we'd see a bear or something because of the vegetation and marmots. We were going to ridge walk to the other side and walk back. We ran across a baby male caribou. He had zero fear, and came in within 8 meters, also stomped foot and lowered head for couple seconds. Thoughts of headlocking endangered charging caribou, and making it on the park ranger blacklist ensued.

Then mom showed up with us between the two. While exciting, it seemed a little dangerous given there are no trees higher than me all around for couple kilometers. Luckily the little guy eventually went to mom and had a suckle. We gunned it back to the trailhead in less than 3 hours.

this disappoints me terribly as I have been up Verdant Pass a few times looking for caribou and haven't seen one yet! makes me think I'll go next week and see something! thanks for the photos.
I would like to go across from here to Whirlpool river trail sometime, however that one needs company!

Nice trip report. Verdant Pass is a very nice spot no doubt. Our group almost hiked past the trail turnoff for Verdant from Astoria River trail. We noticed the two trails further up as well but figured at this point it did not matter so much as we were simply content on exploring the open country of Verdant Pass with all the tarns and meadows, beautiful creeks etc. What a beautiful place. Thanks for sharing your report.

Nice report and photos! The Elk was icing on the cake! Thanks for sharing.
You just never know what wildlife you may encounter, always smart to take precautionary measures

What elk?

The trip to whirlpool would be amazing, even with the mosquitoes. I honestly think you'd have better chance with Caribou close to medicine lake. Seems every time I drive up there early the big male is blocking the road...

I hiked into Verdant pass for the first time today. Wow- Amazing! Our round trip was about 23kms...so we didn't go as far into the pass as you did. (The two people I was with had to be back for a dinner at 6).
But what a great place to explore...I loved the little tarns up near the cirques and kept my eyes peeled for caribou the whole time...no luck.
Hope you can find one up there Mtnlioness! There was definitely fresh snow on the mountains and even some on the trees on the way up. Brrrr...a chilly start at -2 this morning and one too many beer last night. Ugg! All in all a great hike and a great place to go back to for more exploration!