Elbow Lake & Rae Glacier

July 13, 2024. An enjoyable journey to a popular lake and diminutive glacier in K-country. Elbow Lake is a picturesque and easily accessed lake in Kananaskis Country. There’s a backcountry campground on its shore and it’s also the jumping-off point for some longer hikes. Put all that together, and you have a popular and crowded […]

Mount Alderson

July 9, 2024. Straightforward but scenic scrambling to a summit overlooking the Carthew-Alderson trail. Mount Alderson is one of the Waterton scrambles described in Kane’s Scrambles in the Canadian Rockies. The ascent route is very obvious when hiking on the Carthew-Alderson trail from Cameron Lake down to the Waterton townsite. From the hiking trail the […]

Sapphire Lakes & Tanal Lake

July 4, 2024. Summertime hiking in springtime conditions in Kokanee Glacier Park. Following our first night at the Kokanee Glacier Cabin we set out bright and early for Sapphire Lakes. A well-established trail leads to the pair of lakes which sit between Lemon Pass and Glory Basin. The reputed beauty of the area was reason […]

Kokanee Glacier Cabin, Slocan Chief Cabin & Helen Deane Lake

July 3, 2024. A trek into the BC wilderness to a luxurious backcountry cabin. In 2022 I had a hiking trip planned out for Kokanee Glacier park that ultimately fell through due to the huge Briggs Creek wildfire burning in the area. Luckily, this year I was invited along on a group trip to the […]

Crypt Lake

September 16, 2023. A beautiful day on Waterton’s most famous trail. Sooner or later, this blog was going to have a Crypt Lake post. I’ve hiked the Crypt Lake trail twice in the past, most recently just before I started writing this blog. The hike is a true gem, though, and I was bound to […]

Mount Haig and Gravenstafel Ridge

August 5, 2023. A return to Mount Haig to deal with the “unfinished business” of Gravenstafel Ridge. Almost exactly 4 years ago I climbed Mount Haig. That day I decided to return to my car by descending down to Haig Lake and following the trails out. For whatever reason I didn’t feel like ascending adjacent […]

Bertha Peak – “Gullies” route

June 3, 2023. Route finding and moderate scrambling to the top of Bertha Peak. Alan Kane’s Scrambles in the Canadian Rockies describes a route to the summit of Bertha Peak which involves scrambling up gullies on the east face beginning at a spot somewhere behind the backcountry campground. On previous visits to the lake I’ve […]

Forum Peak & Akamina Ridge

October 8, 2022. A scramble to a summit on the Alberta/B.C. boulder followed by an iconic Southern Rockies ridge walk. Akamina Ridge is one of the premier hikes the Southern Rockies. The usual route involves following a well-maintained trail starting in Waterton Lakes National Park which passes over Akamina Pass and enters British Columbia’s Akamina-Kinishena […]

Mount Chester

July 31, 2022. Scrambling a K-country 3000’er next to a hugely popular lake. Region: Kananaskis Country. Traditional territory of the Stoney, Tsuu T’ina, and Blackfoot First Nations Distance: 13.5 km round trip Total Ascent: 1140 m Elevation of Objective: 3054 m (the official summit elevation, my apps gave wildly different readings) Total Time: 5h 8m […]

Hawkins Horseshoe Part 3: Mount Lineham

July 24, 2022. The third and final leg of the Hawkins Horseshoe: Lineham Ridge to Mount Lineham. See Part 1 of this trip report for distance and elevation details for the entire route. Part 2 can be found here. Safety and Disclaimer From Mount Hawkins to Mount Lineham there’s no more scrambling to be found, […]