Zigadenus Lake Trail hike on 3-Oct-2024

The weather was not looking very good as we approached Castle Junction. There was a comment from the back seat: “Just for your information, the closest coffee shop is at Louise Village”. However, things improved and we set off up the road towards Temple Lodge at 9:30 under cloudy skies with a hint of blue here and there. We made good time up to Temple Lodge, then to Halfway Hut and on towards Boulder Pass. The snow was deeper than I had expected (about 10-15 cm) and it hid the 15 cm cairn that marked the turnoff to Packers Pass. We quickly realized that we were going too far along the lake and headed uphill to the trail and reached a cool and windy Packers Pass. After a short photo break we continued down to Zigadenus Lake for a pleasant lunch out of the wind.

The larches were mostly past at Zigadenus. We went along to the end of Zigadenus to have a view down towards Myosotis Lake and the valley leading to Skoki.

Then there was the climb back up through the snow to Packers Pass. The sun had emerged from the clouds to give us good views looking down to Ptarmigan Lake and Redoubt Mountain.

The walk along Ptarmigan Lake to Boulder Pass was very enjoyable with mountains coming in and out of the sun and a lovely view at the head of Ptarmigan Lake.

From Boulder Pass we passed through larches that were still near their prime as we descended to Halfway Hut.

The trip was 23.4 km with a vertical of 967 m and took us about 7 hours of activity time.

Participants: Gary, Douglas, Alda, Susan, Janice, Nardi, Clifton, Jane, Evan, Ivan, Cheryl, Judy