CR2012: Paget Lookout

Today, our tenth day of the trip, was a transfer day; we would drive from Field and the Kicking Horse Lodge to Mount Engadine Lodge, outside Canmore. This drive is short enough that we were able to bag a hike that we had been talking about for several years, the trail to the Paget Lookout. It's only 4.4 miles round trip, but the trail gains almost 2,000 feet.

We had our breakfast as the sun was slowly climbing down the mountains into the valley. The yard for the Canadian Pacific Railway, a stone's throw from the Kicking Horse Lodge, was still in shadow.

The parking for the Paget Lookout trail is just 2¼ km west of the Lake O'Hara parking. The lookout trail is a side trail to the much longer Sherbrooke Lake trail. Grizzly bear warnings were posted for the area, so in addition to my carrying bear spray, Joan and I made loud calls every couple of minutes to avoid stumbling into a bear encounter.

You can see that the first leg of the trail is relatively flat, but then begins to climb, and then the Paget turnoff climbs relentlessly. Early on, we saw, without knowing what in the world it was, purple fairy club fungus.

We marveled at the first specimen, not knowing that we would see it several times in the remaining week of our trip.

In this picture Joan is admiring the view while she catches her breath. We were about 15 minutes from the lookout.

We reached the lookout, hot and sweaty from our exertions. The old cabin is still there.

Of course, we stopped to have our lunch at this viewpoint. Here is Joan looking down the valley towards Field.

This panorama reveals most of the rest of the view from the lookout.

At the far left, the Trans-Canada highway begins to curve towards Lake Louise. The valley heading into the mountains, in the center of the picture, holds the road to Lake O'Hara. (With binoculars, you can see the Paget Lookout from Wiwaxy Gap, and vice-versa.)

The cabin isn't locked, although the doorknob came off in my hand the first time I tried to open it. Inside there is a table with a sign-in log, and this plaque on the wall.

Shortly after beginning our return, we paused to admire the geological strata on the opposite ridge, which leads up to Mount Ogden. In particular, look at the erratic folding on the far left, where the darker purple band zigs and zags. It's a long road from being a flat sedimentary deposit to being over a mile above sea level.

Joan enjoys a brief level stretch of trail.

Ten minutes further down the trail we came to this young squirrel, who was clutching a skinny branch as tightly as he could.

On the lower section of the trail, where wet spots occurred from time to time, we often found stunning tall white bog orchids.

Many orchids are definitely not hothouse flowers. We've seen them "in the wild" in environments as spartan as Iceland.

Then we drove on to Mount Engadine Lodge, which I have written about several times before; to easily find those posts, just type 'mount engadine lodge' into the search box below my photo at the top of the blog.

One of the top attractions at Mount Engadine Lodge is reliable moose sightings. Just below the wrap-around deck at the lodge is a mud or mineral wallow that attracts moose almost every night, as well as the occasional deer or elk. The moose, who prefer seclusion, tend to visit the lodge in the evening, as the light is fading, although morning visits are also possible. On our first night we saw this big fellow come in ...

and partake of the waters.

The light continued to fade, although on August 1st at almost 51° North, sunset was much later than it would have been back in Ohio. Finally it was time for bed.