Cameron Lookout revisited (25 years later!)

Sat. 2 October: Mt. Burke - Cameron Lookout

Ironically, now that October had arrived, I was rewarded with one of the best weather days of the year for this steep hike up 8,330ft. Mt. Burke.

It was a quarter century ago, in July 1985, that the author, then 34 years old, first climbed this mountain. On a related note, I remember as a teenager on an early hike in Scotland seeing grizzled old Glaswegians out on the hills and being told that they would walk you off your young feet any day of the week. I thought – well, if I can still go hiking in the hills when I am as old as sixty, then I will feel as if I have accomplished something in life. I only have 8 months to go until that particular milestone and I am pleased to say that I found this hike up Mt. Burke no harder than the first attempt back in 1985.

Anyway, back to today’s story!

Deciding to camp out, I left the city on Friday afternoon, heading south and west into the Highwood. Only a few campsites are still open at this time of year and so I turned south onto the gravel forestry road at Highwood Junction, and was soon at Etherington Creek. The campsite was empty except for two sites, and so I picked the same spot I had stayed in last year, above the tiny creek, which runs around the perimeter of the campsite. As far as I know, not one other person arrived during the evening, and I never even saw the person who ran the campsite. Although it was a clear evening it was quite cold, and so I was glad of a warm fire and then my comfy sleeping bag. I slept well.

The following morning it was still dark at 7.30 a.m. but soon the light started to filter through the trees. It was a short drive down the forestry road to Cataract Creek, the start of my trip today. The campsite at Cataract Creek was closed, so I parked in a large picnic area across the road, and biked up the campsite road and across the Salter Creek bridge.

In earlier days, the trail to Cameron Lookout used to follow a fire road on the south side of the creek. In 1997 there was a devastating flash flood, and it washed away the road. So now the trail wanders eastwards along the north side of Salter Creek. You can actually then stay on the north bank or cross over to the south side. Both paths lead to the same place. I chose the latter. After a few hundred meters I crossed back over to the north side of the almost dry creek, and headed up a side creek into the lower folds of Mt. Burke. This side creek was totally dry, although there were signs of earlier floods.

After a short stroll up this narrow-sided valley I came to the important junction for Cameron Lookout Trail. On my last visit here in 1985, there was a sign pointing to the lookout. Now instead there was a strange combination of cairn and poles and bent tree branches, to point hikers in the right direction.

After a steep scramble up the bank, the trail settled down into a long series of nicely-graded switch-backs up the steep forested slopes. I took my time climbing the path. Reading my diary from my first ascent I see that I apparently raced up the lower slopes, but then paid for it higher up when I started to run out of breath. Being older and wiser I now adopted the slow-but-steady approach. This trail reminded me a lot of the lower section of Sunset Trail in northern Banff Park. On my return down the trail I counted the zig-zags and found that there were 33 of them up to the tree-line – just a few less than on the Sunset Trail.

Eventually I pulled myself up above the trees, my leg muscles starting to ache a bit from the relentless uphill slopes. I could see signs of horse riders having used this trail. It would have been a tricky ascent for a horse. Now on open slopes, the trail continued to zig-zag upwards to the lower ridge. Immediately the views to the west were spectacular. Surprisingly all the snow from August and September had melted and there was no snow at all on the trail, even above 8000 feet.

Once on the lower ridge, the bare, rocky summit came into sight, with the lookout building perched right on the top. To reach it, one has to cross a narrow but safe section of ridge – safe that is unless there is a strong wind blowing. Today there was a light breeze so it was no problem at all. Finally I reached the top, not feeling particularly worn out.

The lookout building is in rough shape and I am surprised it is still standing after all these years. Here a strong westerly wind was blowing, making an eerie howling sound as it passed through the open glass-less windows of the building. One shutter rattled in the wind. The atmosphere was not perfectly clear to the east, but the views all round were fine. The city of Calgary could be seen in the haze to the northeast. Directly below the lookout on the ridge top was a modular building with aeriels, which looked to be a new addition to the summit. It had a remote camera so I gave a friendly wave to the viewers who might have been watching me from a comfy office somewhere in Calgary I suppose.

It was a pleasant return down the mountainside and back into the forest and the thirty three switchbacks down to the valley floor. Near the bottom I met my only other humans, two young couples heading up the trail. They seemed to be making slightly heavy work of it, but they had plenty of daylight left.

Before returning to the car, I biked through the closed Cataract Creek campsite, and into the meadows beside Cataract Creek. This is one of my favorite places to relax, beside the river, under a warm sunshine. To the east I could look across to the high mountainsides of Mt. Burke, and as usual wondered how I had ever managed to make it all the way up there.

Returning to Etherington Creek I quickly packed up my tent and set off back home. Given the perfect weather today, the roads were as busy as I have seen them all year – and about 50% of traffic consisted of motorbikes. It was an ideal day for a bike trip over the Highwood Pass, and there were plenty of people doing it.

Once again I dropped into the Turner Valley store to do my part in making them profitable! And so home.


Statistics
Mt. Burke - Cameron Lookout
Sat. 2 October

Total Dist. 16.0 km (hike) + 3.0 km (bike) = 19.0 km
Height Gain 2885 ft.
Max. Elev. 8330 ft.
Time on trail 5 hrs. 25 mins.