On June 13, 2009, my friend Amy and I had little trouble finding the Cowlick Creek Staging Area parking spot (mostly because we’d done a recon the day before!). The trail started along a flat road, continued along a canal that connects Grand Cache and Victor Lakes. After crossing the somewhat funky bridge over the canal, it felt like the hike had really begun.
The ascent to the summit is done entirely on a ridge and that ridge just continues, unrelentingly, up. Because the ridge is, of course, mostly rock, we lost the trail a couple of times but were able to find trail markers fairly soon to get us back on track
On the way up we were overtaken by a local couple who were climbing Mt. Louie as something a little different from their usual routes to prepare for the locally hosted Death Race. I remember them counselling that we really should have some kind of bear deterrent with us, something I have carried along on all hikes since.
By the time we were near the summit, I have to say felt kind of like a pack mule. I was was just plodding dumbly forward, by this time too tired to be aware of my surroundings. Amy, who’d decided to take a more “switchback-like” path up, suddenly called out to me that I was actually making my way past the summit cairn! I still remember the elation when I realized we’d reached the goal.
The cairn box and an inukshuk at the summit of Mt. Louie
We rested had some lunch and after I searched around a little, had fun playing in the snow that was still lingering near the summit in June.
After taking the photos at the Passport to the Peaks “mailbox” at the summit, we made our way down slowly having accomplished a really nice hike that brought some excellent views of Grande Cache from afar.
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