Tuesday,
12/25/2018, Castle Lookout – Hwy1A, Banff NP, AB
· Round Trip: 7.6km;
Elevation: 2090m; Elevation Gain: 617m; Time: RT - 3:40hrs (9:05-12:45), ascent
- 1:55hrs, descent - 0:50hrs; An easy on-trail hiking
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References:
Drive
From Calgary, drive west on Hwy 1 for about 141 km,
take the exit for Bow Valley Pkwy, turn right onto Banff-Windermere Pkwy
driving northeast to a T junction, turn left onto Hwy 1A driving northwest for
4.8 km, turn right into Castle Lookout parking. Driving time would be around 1:40
hours.
Hike
Even though the forecast for Banff wasn’t
in our favour, we still chose Castle Lookout hike to celebrate Christmas for
the reason that we could come back to Calgary on time for a party in friend’s
house after this half day hike.
We were the only
one when we arrived at the trailhead, and it was lightly snowing when we
started hiking. The trail was well-packed and we had no issue following it all the
way to the lookout. Since it was early, we kept going up through a narrow gully
to explore a bit, and then heading back on the way we came.
This is a very
easy and short hike even in snow condition, but it does involve avalanche risk in
the right condition while crossing steep slopes in several short sections. Fortunately,
the snow amount wasn’t enough to slide yet for our hike. But the view
unfortunately was quite limited under an overcast sky.
Before driving
back to Calgary, we went to Vermilion Lakes and Johnson Lake to hunt for methane
bubbles, but it seemed not success.
The trailhead
Hiking on the well-packed trail
Wind trail becomes single trail high up
Carefully crossing a canyon like gully
The narrow gully
Looking up the gully
With greater amount of snow and right condition, it could slide
A standing alone tree and grey views
On the site of the former Castle Lookout
A overcast view to the SE
Since it was early, we kept going up through a narrow gully to explore a bit
Looking down the narrow gully
It was still snowing
Heading back to the lookout
View SW
Descending the way we came
Crossing the canyon like gully
Back to the parking
The end.
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