Castle Mountain Hike/Scramble
July 30, 2009 25km round trip. 10 hours.
Elevation Gain: 760 m
(to Rockbound Lk).
Wildlife seen: one mule deer, many squirrels, marmots,
and when we arrived back at the
trail-head another hiker told us a black bear and two cubs
had just made an appearance then then disappeared again.
Elevation Gain: 760 m
(to Rockbound Lk).
Wildlife seen: one mule deer, many squirrels, marmots,
and when we arrived back at the
trail-head another hiker told us a black bear and two cubs
had just made an appearance then then disappeared again.
We got a bit of later start than anticipated. Sleeplessness from the heat the night before prompted us to hit the snooze button a number of times. But with the right amount of coffee and a little 'morning dance' we were able to comfortably make the drive to Banff National Park. We started out on the at 10am.
The trail was nice and wide. The grade was steady and was not too grueling. The trail to Rockbound lake is 8.4km. First we came to Tower Lake - thinking we had arrived at our lunch destination, we soon remembered that Rockbound Lake is beyond Tower Lake. A very steep trail on the West side of the lake brings you to Rockbound Lake. We stopped there for a half hour lunch before moving on the scramble.
At Rockbound Lake the West side of the mountain, the 'back side' - the side that faces away from the highway (see photo). Our Goal - to reach the summit. This meant climbing some rocks to the ridge. The day was getting on and we had to turn around prior to reaching the summit. Our estimate is that reaching the summit will take approximately another 3hours. Our late start had set us back. Next time....
The trail was nice and wide. The grade was steady and was not too grueling. The trail to Rockbound lake is 8.4km. First we came to Tower Lake - thinking we had arrived at our lunch destination, we soon remembered that Rockbound Lake is beyond Tower Lake. A very steep trail on the West side of the lake brings you to Rockbound Lake. We stopped there for a half hour lunch before moving on the scramble.
At Rockbound Lake the West side of the mountain, the 'back side' - the side that faces away from the highway (see photo). Our Goal - to reach the summit. This meant climbing some rocks to the ridge. The day was getting on and we had to turn around prior to reaching the summit. Our estimate is that reaching the summit will take approximately another 3hours. Our late start had set us back. Next time....
Above: This is us in the morning.Happy little granola munching back-packers.
Castle Mountain in the background.
The 'front' of the mountain, as viewed from the highway.
Above: Rockbound Lake
Above: To the right is the North side of Castle Mountain. The lone tower at the end of the range is called Eisenhower Tower.
Above: The scramble up to the ridge. 
1 comment:
Wow, I obviously haven't been on here in a while. Gorgeous pictures!
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