The Carthew-Alderson Trail is 17 km (11 mi) long, with 1450' of elevation gain.
This was our last day of vacation before driving home, and the Carthew-Alderson Trail certainly sent us home with a final set of incredible memories. We had read in the guidebooks about how windy the pass can be at the top of Carthew, and people we talked about the hike made the same remark - beautiful scenery, but expect a lot of wind! Yet when we were at the top of this trail, the weather was completely still and and sunny. We enjoyed terrific views in all directions on a warm pleasant day - I can't imagine better weather conditions for doing this hike.
Because Carthew-Alderson is a one way trek, a little bit of logistical planning is required - basically, you go to the Tamarack Mountain Shop the evening before and sign up for their shuttle van. We actually signed up two days early just to be sure we could get a reserved seat, but that turned out not to be necessary. The van holds about 24 people, and it wasn't quite full. But then again it was after Labor Day, so the peak season had already passed.
The map of the trail shows a series of switchbacks right at the beginning of the trail, which looked intimidating, but turned out not to be that strenous. We reached Summit Lake without too much trouble. At Summit Lake is where the views begin. Above Summit Lake you climb up above the tree line and start to enjoy the vistas that make the Carthew-Alderson trail justly famous.
Up at the promontory you really feel like the king of the world, with mountains stretching away in all directions. I think my pictures look pretty good, but of course real life is so much more impressive. We were lucky to have such a fine day.
Back in Waterton, the locals told us that bears were common at this time of year along the Red Rock Canyon road in the evening. So we took a drive back out to Red Rock Canyon, and sure enough we saw three black bears on our excursion. A nice treat to close out our trip.
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Carthew-Alderson Trail Photos
