Carthew Summit and Alderson Lake

Akemi and I attended the wedding of Ryan and Teresa, held in Waterton Lakes National Park.

The ceremony was held in a small Catholic church and the reception at the Bayshore Inn in the Waterton townsite. It was very nice, not too large, and we even got to spend some time with the bride and groom as they were running around fulfilling their obligations. Congratulations to the two of them.

The day after the wedding, a small group of us decided to check out Ryan's favourite hike, referred to as the Carthew Alderson Trail. It is considered one of the "big three" inWaterton, along with Crypt Lake and Akamina Ridge.

Not being big partyers, we met at the not-so-painful start time of 7:30am to have breakfast at Pearl's Cafe. I have to say, their food is quite good. The Hungry Hiker wrap was so big that I ate half for breakfast and the rest for lunch.

We started the day at Cameron Lake, where we ran into Carol and Simon as they prepared to have a more relaxing day paddling.

Meeting up with Carol and Simon at Cameron Lake before starting

The trail skirts around the left side of the lake before climbing up the western slope of Mount Carthew. The switchbacks, however, were very gentle, and this would be a theme for the entire hike. It didn't take long to start getting some views, and eventually we reached Summit Lake, which wasn't actually at the summit of anything, so the name was a bit misleading.

Summit Lake, with a couple of peaks on the U.S. side in the distance

The route to the top of the pass followed more gentle switchbacks, first in the forest, and then on scree fields. We could see a couple of groups ahead of us in the distance, and we saw a few more groups behind us on this day.

The pass between Mount Carthew and Mount Alderson, with Carthew Summit on the right

From the pass, we did a short scramble to get on top of what is called Carthew Summit. There we had lunch, took some photos, and relaxed for a long while. The rest of the way would be downhill, so we were a bit ahead of schedule, and could afford a leisurely pace.

Angie chillin' with some cheddar

One of many well-fed marmots

The view from Carthew Summit (2311m)

Wildflowers in full bloom

Carthew Lakes and Mount Alderson

On the way down the northeast side of the pass, we encountered quite a lot of snow. I did some boot skiing, and Angie found that an ice axe might have been useful. I wonder if people ever ski along this trail in the winter?

Playing in the snow

We passed by the Alderson Lake campgrounds, after which we were below treeline and the views became obstructed. The last 8km or so of the trail was actually quite tedious, although again the slope was very gentle so it was easy to jog down stretches.

A large spring runoff, and it will go for a while

We exited at the Cameron Falls parking lot, where we had left a car at the start of the day. It was a good shuttle trip, but I think it might be worthwhile to just do the portion from Cameron Lake to Alderson Lake and back, getting all the views without any of the drudgery. Still, it was an excellent day and we plan to spend a bit more time exploring Waterton in the future.

Cameron Falls