Intrigued by the history of the old pack trail route through Sentinel Pass, we successfully negotiated this not only historic but also fun and challenging wilderness route, making better time than expected, probably due to your scribe’s built-up knowledge from five previous attempts.

Guidebook author Gillian Daffern captured the essence of the place in her description: “Long before there were roads, a trail between the plains and the Oldman River ascended Pekisko Creek to the pass between Plateau Mountain and Sentinel Peak, then descended to the Livingstone River. After being used during the Twin Creeks gold rush of 1931 the trail was neglected for decades, no doubt owing to the intrusion of exploration roads and cutlines overlying everything and locked gates discouraging access. Too bad we can’t preserve some of these historic routes.”

Sentinal Pass approach

With a 6 a.m. start from Calgary and a long summer day we were prepared for a long, tough, one-way exploratory trip. On the drive out Ron saw a bear in the Highwood valley. We started up the gas well road on the upper Livingstone River, the Hailstone Butte access road and cow trails up into Sentinal Pass. For added enjoyment we went up Sentinal Peak’s gentle south side, taking the grassy slope and ridge to the top.

Carolyn trying out her latest photographic gear

Poised precariously on the peak, Carolyn tries to set up her self-timer and tripod for a summit group photo, unaware that she has become the photographic subject herself.

Lunch on Sentinel Peak

Despite a touch of frost in the morning it was a sticky and somewhat buggy day, with an afternoon temperature of 26. It was a glorious 16 with refreshing breeze on the peak, where lunch was enjoyed, with views to the south of Hailstone Butte, Windy Peak and Saddle Mountain.

Sentinal Pass from Sentinal Peak

We descended the northwest ridge into Sentinel Pass, spotting five sheep and a moose below.

Cliff bands and pouroffs are a challenge

Here the scrambling fun began. The north slope of the pass has a couple of serious cliff bands with numerous pouroffs. Finding a way through is “interesting.” It is amazing to think the old pack trail made its way through this. Since we dropped in on the east side, we had to do a bit of testing, backtracking and scrambling to get through these obstacles. I believe we were on some parts of the old trail, but it has been taken over as a sheep migration highway. At the bottom of the headwall three of the group followed a more modern but still overgrown exploration road, while two followed the sheep highway across the scree at the base of the cliffs. Finally past all difficulties we had an uneventful finish over Salter Pass, reaching Cataract Creek at 6:15 for the car shuttle.

Participants: Ron, Carolyn, Mark, Carmie and Carl, coordinator and scribe.