Queen of the Castle

Queen for a day: Mary on top of Castle Mountain, views east down the Bow Valley

Castle Mountain from just off the TCH

Castle Mountain is, perhaps, one of the most iconic symbols in the Banff National Park pantheon of peaks. Driving down the Trans Canada Highway visitors see the south west slopes of the mountain rising, like a fortified medieval castle, almost straight up from the valley.

I know I've looked up at it many times and dreamed of standing on top, but always thinking its cliffs and crags were too much for me. Imagine my surprise to find that Castle Mountain has a much gentler aspect: the north / north-east side above Rockbound Lake affords scramblers an easier route to the summit. Well, perhaps "gentle" is not quite the right description - at 28 km round trip and an elevation gain of 1400 metres it is still a bit of an excursion, but Mike and I found it well worth the effort.

Eisenhower Tower above Tower Lake

The first few km of the trip is a tad dull as the trail ascends through pine and spruce forest. Red squirrels and lovely wildflowers do hold one's attention, but when the first views of the Eisenhower Tower heave into view, sailing above the treetops, the vistas quickly open out. Soon enough we reached Tower Lake, ready to begin the final on-trail push to Rockbound Lake.

Castle was named in 1858 by Scottish geologist and surgeon James Hector. Using common Scottish good sense he named the mountain for what it looked like: a castle. But, with the stroke of a government pen, in 1946 the mountain was renamed Mount Eisenhower in honour of the US general (an soon-to-be President) Dwight D. Eisenhower. Happily, public pressure caused its original name to be restored in 1979, but the tower on the southeastern side keeps the Eisenhower moniker. 

The view from Rockbound Lake gave us a good idea as to what the 2nd half of the route had in store -- limestone galore! We went up and to the right around Rockbound and started a counter-clockwise scramble along the limestone terraces, gullies, and rocks high above the lake. What a day! We walked on ancient limestone laid down under the ocean 530 million years ago. In places the rock was so bright I had to shade my eyes to look at it -- kind of like sunning on a Pre-cambrian beach.
 

Views from the early Cambrian limestone terraces

There was a bit of optimal route-finding to be done in getting to the summit - to say nothing of some scree-slope slogging. But, once there we had some stunning views. While lounging around the top two climbers showed up. They came up the cliffs on the highway side. We chatted for a few minutes and found we had someone in common -- the lead climber knew my sister Janice back in Revelstoke. What a small world.

Summit views: Rockbound Lake

White-tailed Ptarmigan

Coming down we retraced our steps, enjoying yet more views and the golden evening light. We even came across some White-tailed Ptarmigan. Normally Mike and I would not bother birds like this, whose existence in the alpine is already quite difficult. But, these two walked right out in front of us - less than a metre away. I didn't feel too guilty about snapping a few shots before moving along.

We got back to our car around 8:00 pm that evening, after spending about 11 hours on the mountain. I can say without a doubt that Castle Mountain left me feeling like a queen for at least one day. I give our time on Castle my royal seal of approval.

Map of our route:

View Castle Mountain via Rockbound Lake, Banff National Park in a larger map  

More images on Flickr

 

A different kind of Eiffel Tower

Hike and scramble up Eiffel Peak: Eiffel on the left, Pinnacle Mountain in the middle, Temple Mountain on the left.

Mike and I did our first over 3000 metre peak of the summer: Eiffel Peak in the Lake Louise area, Banff National Park. It was a moderate scramble with a few moves that were made a bit more difficult because of the weather -- nothing like two cold runnels of water running from your hands into your armpits and out your pants to get you moving!

Eiffel Peak is 3084 metres high and affords outstanding views of the Valley of the Ten Peaks (the image that used to be on our - Canadian - $20.00 bill). Temple Mountain, Pinnacle Mountain, and the popular Sentinel Pass are also right in your face on this scramble.

Valley of the Ten Peaks

The day started out overcast and cool, and we did get some rain at about 1:00 (just in time for the hard stuff). The trail up was challenging, especially the interminable switch backs up out of Moraine Lake, but once on the mountain the views opened out beautifully. I stopped about once every 100 steps, let my heart rate settle for a moment, and gulped down some water.

We were a group of six, with Rick, a nurse from Washington state, joining us for the majority of the hike. Doug and Pat - our hosts from Canmore - along with their daughter Arianne and her boyfriend Gijs completed our group. This was a fit group and we moved along smartly. Sadly, I was the caboose on this hike, but I don't think I held the group up too much. And besides, someone has to be last.

This hike and scramble were exactly what I hoped our sojourn in the Canmore area would yield: great views, interesting terrain, some physical challenges, new wildflowers, wildlife sightings, and good times with friends. Here's hoping our Eiffel day will be the start of more to come.

More pictures from the day: Eiffel Peak Scramble.

Map of the route:

View Eiffel Peak via the south east slope in a larger map