Back to Canada: Castle Mountain Lookout

My previous post described the automotive troubles Joan and I had during our drive to Storm Mountain Lodge. The chef and maintenance man, Gary, rechecked all the tire pressures the next morning, July 21st.

We drove forty minutes to the Enterprise office in Banff, a cubicle at the Caribou Lodge lobby. After a bit of a wait, the helpful folks there accepted our suspect black Malibu for the only car they could give us, another black Malibu. All the other vehicles were being driven to other Enterprise locations.

 

Joan and I had time for an afternoon hike, and chose the Castle Mountain Lookout as our goal. (Click on the image to enlarge.)

It sounds like a good half-day hike -- 4.5 miles round-trip, and 1827 ft. of altitude gain, and we'd hiked it before, but not for a long time. The day was hot, and the hike was tough. We often stopped to catch our breath. Joan and I reached a man with a large, elderly dog lying down in the shade; the heat forced them to turn back.

The route began as a dirt mountain road, but narrowed as it climbed. At one location, the 2013 floods had carved a channel that the trail dipped into and out of.

The path switched back and forth as it relentlessly climbed. It grew narrower as it went, and near the end, it sometimes reverted to skinny steps on a steep rock face. A couple of times, Joan and I debated whether to turn around, but we pushed on. It wasn't until the final flat stretch that I hauled my camera out.

Then we reached the site of the former fire lookout.

The final view was fabulous. The road and rail traffic headed east or west all funneled through the valley before us. The trains looked like strands of painted spaghetti as they followed the tracks.

Joan and I encountered several groups on our way back down, each wondering how much further they had to go. We encouraged them with words of praise for the view.

Back at Storm Mountain, we enjoyed our cleanup, and dinner, and then sacked out. For the next day, we had reservations for a guided hike on the Stanley Glacier route, a full-day affair.