Cameron Lake to Summit Lake

Well its been a busy few weeks now that we have become earthly bound again.

Moving in and preparing for winter has somewhat curtailed our adventuring for the moment….but luckily, I still have a few adventures to catch up on..

This is the third trail we completed in the oh so beautiful Waterton Lakes National Park. The trailhead is deep into the park, a long and beautiful drive through the skeletal forest of the burned parkland.

The trailhead is at a ranger station by Cameron Lake. It’s a spot where paddleboarding and kayaking seem to be the main activity.

…and the trail heads off upwards almost immediately. The path is bounded by the lush greenery of the opportunistic raspberries taking their chances with the access to sunlight in this part of the cycle of the forest..

As we came around the first corner there was a local standing right on the path in front of us. She stood and took a long look at us before she bounded off into the trees.

The climb up to Summit Lake is a series of long steep switchbacks.

…up, as usual, the upside of the up grade…is the view down…!!!

…and of course, appreciating the view is the greatest excuse to stop and catch a breath from time to time…!!!

Nearing the top we were starting to see more signs of bear activity. Scratched up trees…….scat on the trail…..

As the top neared, the landscape leveled out, and the raspberries gave way to tough grasses….

Summit Lake was a very small body of water….

….there were people there already with their picnic, so we walked a little further on to see if we could see in to the next valley

Its hard to believe that its been four years since this burn. The charring of the tree trunks looks so fresh. It also makes some quite spectacular patterns…!!

Time to head back down. It was starting to get a little cooler, fall is definitely in the air….

…another upside of the changed tree-less landscape….the visibility for marauding wildlife is that much clearer…….hopefully they see us coming as well as hear us (we are not quiet…!!)…ie we saw no bears…!! (phew..!!)

I keep saying it, but its true……the walk down gives you a prolonged look at the views….spectacular……

We even found an especially weird looking fungi……and tons of wild raspberries..

We started out fairly early to this one. Turned out to be a good plan…there were lots more people heading up the trail just as we neared the end…….we had it mostly to ourselves…….most of the way…

Another beautiful trail, another beautiful day.

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