Kathy and Craig Copeland have written two of the better hiking guide books for the Canadian rockies. They are opinionated, passionate, and detailed. Unfortunately, a lot of the details are incorrect or misleading, leading to a lot of time wasted.
Angie and I had both tried to summit Mount Burke in the past (twice, in the case of Angie), and we had been turned away due to snow. This time, we were determined to succeed, bringing our backcountry ski gear with us.
Unfortunately, the route description in the Copeland book had us attempt to cross Salter Creek. "Cross the rubbly, usually dry creekbed", they said. Nowhere along the creek was it anything remotely close to being dry, partly due to the massive spring runoff we were having, but partly because ... well, let's just say that we were not the first to encounter this problem. Bush whacking through dense forest with skis on our backs was not easy. "I've never been tall before," Angie said.
Eventually, we did manage to pick up a faint trail which led roughly in the direction we wanted to go. We found the "metal pipe protruding from the ground", which signalled the steep switchback up the southwest face of Mount Burke.
As we gained elevation, the trail became more and more difficult to follow, as the snow patches increased in frequency. Eventually, we decided to forego the trail entirely and just shoot straight up the hillside, hoping to re-find the trail again after getting above treeline. More bushwhacking ensued.
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| Finally clear of treeline, with the summit in the distance |
Fortunately, the plan worked to perfection, and we even exited the trees not far from the actual trail. From there, it was another hour of slogging up scree and snow patches before finally arriving at the summit, on which stood the old Cameron fire lookout.
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| The dilapidated Cameron fire lookout (2540m), held up by steel cables |
Inside the fire lookout were some inscriptions dating back to the 70's. There was also a very modern looking weather station.
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| An interesting looking scrambly ridge walk |
The reason for placing a fire lookout on this location became obvious - we had an unobstructed view of a very large portion of Kananaskis Country. Mount Burke looks to be the highest peak for around 20km in every direction. We could see patches of blue skies next to torrential downpours. The delineation between sun and rain was sharp and stark.
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| One last look before heading back down |
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| A two-lane highway on ... Plateau Mountain? |
The hike back down to treeline was uneventful. Once we got back into the trees, however, we again had the problem of losing the trail amidst the snow patches, so we spent another hour or so bushwhacking before we finally regained the trail, free of snow.
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| Enjoying the lightness of being before putting the pack back on |
Once we got back down to the creek, we decided to follow the trail we had found part-way in (and which the guidebook states specifically to ignore). This trail led directly back to the car without having to attempt dangerous creek crossings, bushwhacking through dense forest, or scrambling along the side of loose mounds of dirt and rocks.
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| Time to diverge from the advice of the Copelands |
This hike was definitely a reminder not to treat guidebooks as gospel.
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