Paget Peak Puffer

Fri. 10 September: Paget Lookout and Paget Peak

Finally nabbed Paget fire lookout! And then a lot more.

Back in May I had attempted a trip to Paget lookout, just across the Continental Divide in Yoho National Park. But the snow was just too deep and there was no sign of a trail. So instead I snow-shoed up to Sherbrooke Lake which was still frozen over.

Today, J and I had no problem following the excellent trail up to the lookout - but we did not stop there. In the end we slogged (or puffed) our way to the 8,415 ft. summit of a wild and rocky Paget Peak.

Since we had to travel just over 200 km from the city to the start of this hike, we were on the road well before dawn. Two hundred kilometers westwards through the Rocky Mountains is no burden. Traffic was steady, thinning out west of Banff. There was an overcast sky, but we had confidence in the forecast of sunshine. The road-works west of Castle Junction will take another year to complete, but they were busy grading and paving even at 7.30 in the morning as we passed slowly by.

Our trail started at West Louise Lodge, just across the Alberta-BC border, beside Wapta Lake. The Lodge had closed until November 5th for renovation.

The familiar trail contoured up the forested hillside, from the highway. It took us only twenty five minutes to reach the Sherbrooke Lake/Paget Lookout trail junction. Today, with no deep snow to contend with, the Paget trail was plain to see. This narrow pathway switch-backed up the lower slopes of Paget Peak, taking a very nicely graded line up the hillsides. In less than an hour from the Sherbrooke Lake junction, we had arrived at the lookout building. Along the way, we had a few sprinkles of snow, but nothing serious.

Yoho National Park made a decision many years ago to preserve their three fire lookouts intact, when they decommissioned them back in the nineteen seventies. So today, Paget Lookout, together with Mt. Hunter and Tocher Ridge lookouts, is a perfect refuge from the weather. Unlike the fully furnished Tocher, this lookout (as Mt. Hunter) is an empty weather-proof cabin except for some benches, and a broom in the corner. Apart from some names written on the white interior walls, it is clear that hikers have over the decades respected these refuges, which is good to see.

Paget Lookout sits halfway up Paget Peak on a flat section of ridge, with a bird’s eye view back down to Wapta Lake, and across to the mountains and glaciers surrounding the Lake O’Hara area. To the west, one has a grand view down the Kicking Horse valley to Field and beyond.

And there was our promised “weather window” approaching over the mountains. A line of blue sky was advancing from the west, pushing away the clouds overhead. An hour or so later, as we toiled up the mountainside, the sun came out and lit up the scene all round.

After relaxing for a short while inside the lookout building, we decided to hike a little way up the tempting mountainside above, for a better view. These decisions are always dangerous! Having slogged up the first section of rocky slopes, we were faced with another peak ahead. Of course, we should make it to the top, we decided, since it didn’t look THAT far. And so on. In the end, we puffed our way up a wild and rocky Paget Peak to the very summit at around 8400 ft. The last section required a scramble over large and smaller rocks, interspersed with slippery scree and loose rock.

From below, this peak was deceptive. It really didn’t look too far at all, but in reality it was another 1400 vertical feet above the lookout, was very steep and rough, and seemed to grow larger as we approached the final summit.

Luckily the weather held, and so we clambered onto a dramatic ridge top, with sudden drops all around, and remnants of snow drifts along the ridges. We could see several glaciers in all directions. The sound of a train horn came drifting up from the valley, and we could see a long Canadian Pacific freight train snaking around Wapta Lake far below. Up here at well over 8000 feet, I felt very exposed, and seeing a new cloud front moving in on the cold wind, was happy to start back down again.

This was not an easy task. Clambering down through a jumble of massive rocks required careful attention. The rocks were particularly hard and spiky and so we stopped to put on our gloves to avoid getting “rock punctures” in our hands. To slip would have been nasty. Back down off the upper summit, we stopped briefly to admire the view down to Sherbrooke Lake. This glacial green lake sits to the west of Paget Peak in a narrow valley, and is on the exit route from the large ice-dome to the north – a trip M did last winter.

The slopes were long and steep, but we made it safely back to the lookout hut. Here we relaxed for a while before heading back down the path to the car. We noticed the first signs of Fall colors in the bushes and trees. I thought that we were bound to meet other hikers today, but we saw nobody else all day – just distant traffic far below us, snaking along the Trans-Canada Highway down the Kicking Horse Pass.

Back at the Lodge, we stepped back to catch a glimpse of the summit of Paget Peak, far above us in the sky, wondering how we had ever had the energy to make it all the way to the top.

We returned to Calgary, avoiding most of the road works by gliding along the peaceful Highway 1A as far as Castle Junction. Since my last trip, the old access road to the Icefields Parkway had been replaced by a new bridge, and this section of road should be completed before winter.

Passing Sulphur Mountain, we carefully eyed the old fire road up the west side of the mountain – looking for our next trek in the National Parks. But we had done enough hiking for one day – in fact, more than we had planned!


Statistics
Paget Peak
Fri. 10 September

Total Dist. 10.4 km (hike)
Height Gain 3117 ft.
Max. Elev. 8415 ft.
Time on trail 5 hrs. 23 mins.