Sawback trail or brazeau loop?
 

Hello, i recently booked 7 days on the sawback trail and I was wondering if the brazeau loop would be a better option. I'm getting the feeling from reading on other forums that the sawback trail isn't as scenic. Also, if I do book the brazeau trail, how many days should I book to really have time to enjoy it? And which campsites ideally? Thank you!

make sure to get jonas pass in there; its definitley worth it. The side with wolverine camp is pretty muddy (or at least when I was there a few years back).
are you starting at nigel creek or pobokton?
Im not sure you would need a full 7 days for that area;how much hiking are you wanting to do daily?

Brazeau is a solid 5-day loop, with a night at Four Points on either end (Brazeau Lake and Jonas Cutoff in between). If you wanted to increase that, you could spend a bonus night at Boulder Creek and day hike up the Brazeau River to Cataract Pass, which is beautiful.
Actually, you could turn it into a sort of horseshoe trip by returning *through* Cataract Pass to Pinto Lake, with optional sidetrip up Cline Pass way if you wanted. That would be quite cool. That could give you a 7-day.

But yes, the Sawback trail has scenic *spots*, but a lot of valley grinding in between them. If you just want to go far with fewer people, it can be a good way, but there are much more scenic options.

Wow! that is some amazing scenery up the Cataract Pass I'm definitely not going to miss it. I will be coming from Banff and plan to start at Nigel Pass. How far up from boulder creek is Cataract Pass? I would definitely be interested in doing the horseshoe trip you mentioned but I can't find a good trail map for the White Goat wilderness area. Do you have any resources you can link me to?

Another option I've been thinking about is doing the Brazeau trail up to Jonas Cutoff then head through Maligne trail to Skyline and finishing up at jasper for a 10-day trip. How difficult would it be to hitch a ride from Jasper back to Nigel Pass? I really appreciate the suggestions. Thank you

When I did my 10 day trip from Nigel creek back through skyline to Jasper I originally parked my car in Jasper and took a bus down the icefields parkway. The driver was nice enough to stop at a pull-out about 2km from the nigel creek trailhead for me. So you could always try to get a bus ride closer if you don't want to hitch; having said that I did hitch back to my car a short distance and it wasn't hard at all as there are many cars.

When are you planning on doing this?

Was it a private bus that you would have to book ahead of time? Dropping my car off at Jasper ahead of time sounds like a better plan.
I plan to do the Cataract Pass on the 5th of September and stay at Boulder Creek for the night. I have Little Shovel and Curator booked for Skyline on September 10-11th so it'll have to be a 7 day trip. How is the scenery in the Maligne trail section?

Yes it was a private bus that I booked; it wasn't more than $20. I cant remember the name but there are a few that do the same trip from Jasper to Banff along the icefields parkway. Just make sure to ask ahead of time if they mind stopping at the pullout for you to hop out; you can always bribe the driver ;)

The maligne trail is getting pretty overfrown from mary vaux through to maligne lake. I think they actually removed the trail markings on the parks map. It feels pretty remote though and you wont see many other people. I am not sure I would do that section again as it was mostly low elevation and bush / shrub, but if you want to do it to make a connector then its not terrible. I can try to find some old pics of that section later tonight if it helps.

If you haven't booked sites already chances are that they're all booked up. I booked several sites along that part of the loop already two months ago and had a tough time getting reservations...

Where did you end up going :)?

Me and my two buddies are planning on going on the Sawback Trail next July and would love to hear about your experience there!

It's our first hike so we know it will be challenging but that is also what we are looking for and at the same time amazing scenary!

How did you get from nigel pass to skyline? That would be an amazing trip!

Probably Nigel Pass -- Jonas Pass -- Poboktan Creek -- Maligne Pass -- Maligne Lake -- Skyline -- Jasper

Almost, good guess though!

The camp spots were full before and after Jonas Pass so I went to Brazeau lake after nigel pass, then through mary voux to maliegne lake then to skyline trail then to jasper :). I think I did about 147km or so; it was amazing!