Summit Lake

Elevation: 1935 m
Elevation Gain: 333 m
Summit Lake is one of 47 officially named bodies of Canadian water, which share this title. The lake sits on a high pass immediately south of Alberta’s Mount Carthew and just north of the Canada-US border. Since the lake is not at a summit, it was presumably named for the views that it offers (which feature many nearby summits).
My Ascents:
August 10 2024
Trailhead: Cameron Lake

After a surprisingly successful “Team YYC” 🐎🏈 Banff camping trip in 2023, we discovered that it was nice to see our friends more than once a year at the Grey Cup. 🏆 To that end, we all set aside 3 summer nights for a repeat event in 2024 (this time in beautiful Waterton Lakes National Park). 🏕️

LEFT: After making our way to Waterton on Friday evening, we all managed to set up camp in time for some group “merriment.” 🍺🥳
RIGHT: Like most littles, Lillian, Mera and Eva love camping because it means staying up LATE! 🙉

While kids and adults alike enjoyed a festive Friday evening, the adults eventually tired and “bedtime” had to be declared! 🛌 Afterall, tomorrow promised to be a busy day… Most of our group had never been to Waterton (or at least never seen much of it) and I was eager to show them around this beautiful little park!

… After a pleasant Friday evening, Saturday morning arrived all too early for those of us with children! 🥱 Fortunately, the morning was beautiful (if not a tad crisp 🥶) and we enjoyed lakeside views and a visit from some locals as we ate breakfast outside. 🦌

Once the childless among us also woke, we picked up where we left off the night prior and took advantage of the opportunity to catch up. While the rest of the adults enjoyed themselves, I, however, grew increasingly restless. Everyone was discussing such “inane” things – like asking about each other’s lives or talking about current events but no one was talking about hiking! 🙄 My simple mountain-obsessed brain couldn’t handle this level of “adult conversation,” so I waited for the first (very) small pause and completely out-of-the-blue blurted out: “So what are we hiking today, guys?!” While awkward, my interjection (or was it an interruption?) proved effective and the conversation was jarringly steered towards plans for the day.

Knowing that our friends hadn’t been up the scenic Akamina Parkway, I suggested that we drive to Cameron Lake for a hike. This drive there would allow them to see a lot of the park, while also cheekily increasing our elevation. 😏 From Cameron Lake, I proposed that we attempt the pleasant hike to Summit Lake (the first stop on the much longer Carthew-Alderson trail). Arriving at Cameron Lake, I felt justified in my earlier interjection/interruption and hoped that this magnificent lakeshore view of Mount Custer (left) and Forum Peak (right) would convince my friends that this was, indeed, better than catching up around the campsite.

LEFT: And they’re off! Surprisingly, our little hikers (Eva, Mera and Kaden shown here) were motivated, and they wasted little time hiking beyond Cameron Lake’s scenic shoreline and up into the forest. Most of Waterton Lakes National Park was completely scorched by 2017’s Kenow wildfire, however, there is a small pocket of old-growth forest left near Cameron Lake that shows hikers how thick and lush the park’s forests used to be.
RIGHT: After a few minutes of hiking, 10-year-old Eva led the Team YYC kids out of the lush forest and into the fireweed-filled burn zone that makes up the rest of the hike to Summit Lake (and much of the rest of the park).

The Kenow fire devastated Waterton’s forests but it made many of the park’s subalpine trails much more scenic. With only matchstick timber left, we were treated to wonderful, wide open views of Cameron Lake as the trail switch-backed back and forth up the steep hillside above it. After the fire, this entire hillside was charred black and dead but only 7-years later, a proliferation of “first colonizer” plants have made Waterton’s valleys verdant once more. Notably, the carpet of “colonizer” plants on this slope was made up principally of delicious thimbleberries 🍓 so we were sure to make plenty of noise to warn any hungry bears who may have been in the area that we were coming!

LEFT: 8-year-old Kaden led our group up much of the steep hillside. While the fire-thinned forest provided better views, it also made us realize how exposed certain sections of this side-hilling trail were! 😵‍💫
RIGHT: Looking back down the steep hillside to the slowpokes on the switchback below us. 🙃

After six LONG switchbacks, the trail crested the hill above Cameron Lake and delivered us into an alpine meadow where the big kids promptly found and scaled a large boulder. 🧗

Having conquered the boulder, Kaden promptly resumed his rocket-like pace 🚀 and reached our destination for the day, Summit Lake, a few minutes later.

Wonderful views of Mounts Chapman (left) and Custer (right) reflected in the lake’s wind-rippled surface. While the hike up had been sunny and hot, the sky began to look a little more ominous as we sat down for our lakeside lunch!

Sleeping Beauty… As though he hadn’t slept in late enough earlier that morning, childless Chris wasted little time settling in for a nap at the lake 😴 (as the parents muttered jealously under their breath while serving lunch to their suddenly-demanding littles)…

Not long after reaching the lake, the wind picked up and rain began to fall, rousing Chris from his Summit Lake slumber. Not wanting to get soaked, we took a quick group photo, 📷 packed up and began our retreat to lower, hopefully drier ground.

What goes up (6 very long switchbacks), must go down (6 very long switchbacks)…

Mount Custer’s snow slopes commanded much of our attention on descent. For their part, the littles were all very excited to learn that this peak was in a different country.

Rising up above Akamina Pass to the west, Mount Rowe’s gentle (snowshoe-able) south slopes provided a dramatic contrast to Custer’s steep north face. For their part, the littles were also very excited to learn that the far side of this pass was in a different province.

LEFT: Thanks to skies that cleared almost as soon as we left the lake, we were able to enjoy a leisurely hike down amongst the prolific fireweed.
RIGHT: 6-year-old Penny had little interest in matching Kaden’s speed and elected instead to set her own sloth-like pace. 🦥

Steep hillsides that felt somewhat exposed on ascent felt doubly so on the way down. Knowing Penny’s tendency to trip over her own feet, I therefore kept a close watch as she hiked down. Fortunately, the descent was uneventful and Team YYC ultimately survived our first group hike of the year. 🥳

LEFT: As she often does, 22-month-old Lillian was perfectly happy to be carried all day – except for the last 10-minutes. Eager to put a stop to her sudden protests, 😭 we therefore released the baby shortly before we made it back to Cameron Lake.
RIGHT: The big girls, Mera and Eva, happy to be back down to Cameron Lake.

Littles in a lake! Surprisingly, all of our kids seemed to enjoy the hike (but it must be noted that its end was still their favorite part)! 😂

Having survived our hike and satisfied my hiking restlessness (for now), we returned to our campsites where we enjoyed another evening together around the propane firepit. 🔥😄 It’s not that I don’t enjoy catching up with friends over beverages – I just believe that you need to “earn” your merriment when you’re camping! 😂🍻