Caldron Lake Off-Trail hike on 30-Aug-2025

We had a lovely day. Many reported that it was one of their very best hikes this season. Only a few of us had ever been to this scenic lake, and those who had, had done it a long time ago.
I had called Crowfoot North Outlier originally, but changed trips after hearing about parking issues at Bow Lake. It did look like there were in fact a few spots available, but in the end most or all of us were happy that we changed to Caldron Lake.
We set out a little after 9:30, first having to elbow our way through the throngs of Instagram/Social Media tourists to the new larger (I think) viewing platform. But we were quite quickly on the long descent to the shore of Peyto Lake.

Down 300 m from the lookouts to Peyto Lake level. Caldron Lake is above the waterfalls in the distance.

After scouting for a reasonably shallow crossing we donned water footwear and made out way across the braided streams.

Crossing Peyto Creek close to the lake

It was fairly easy to make our way across in water well below our knees. More time spent rebooting.

Putting our boots back on (Mt Weed left bkg) - photo from Teresa

Arnold and I were I think that only ones who had done the trip after the loss of and older route that had a bridge over the stream much higher upstream. Neither of us remembered anything about the section between the lower Peyto crossing and the crossing of Caldron drainage. The trail clambers up and down the left bank of Peyto creek, with at one point a climbing rope installed to assist.

Happy for the safety line along here.

At the Caldron drainage crossing most switched to water shoes again as there really was no single step crossing opportunity.

Crossing Caldron Creek - photo from Uli

From there the route follows a rather long moraine.

Looking down the long moraine (Observation Pk in bkg) - photo from Susan

Some happy folks at the top of the rather steep uphill climb.

Happy ladies/women Cordula, Kate, Susan, Krystyna, Teresa, Cathy (South pk of Caldron at left)

Then comes the crow of the trip. The "trail" crosses a very steep slope of handpicked dirt. A tumble would be extremely serious and even a slip could be awful.

The "heart in your mouth" section of the trip, no stumbles allowed.

With some trepidation we all made it across and then had some OT5 over boulders to the scenic Caldron Lake.

Dave, Clifton, Arnold, Uli, Cathy J, Teresa, Susan, Gary, Kate, Krystyna , Cordula, Cathy R at Caldron Lake (Mistaya mtn in bkg)

We lingered near the lake for half an hour or so before heading back.

Uli on the sketchy bit (Mt Patterson in bkg)

The Cathys on the sketchy bit, taken from a less intimidating alternative - photo from Krystyna

The trip back, unlike many hikes is not a lot faster. The steep slopes, footwear changes, and the climb at the end are not like many of our "back down to the car" returns.

The long tedious climb back to Peyto Viewpoint at the end of the trip - photo from Cathy J

Distance 14 km, ascent 900 m, time over 8 hours. The eight hours seems like a lot, but with all the footwear changes, a large (for this coordinator) group, and also largely the wonderful scenery demanding of hundreds of photos between us this was not a trip to be rushed. Other than the descent to and climb back from Peyto Lake we were constantly presented with wonderful views of mountains, glaciers, falls, sky, and companions.

Many thanks to participants: Arnold, Gary, Susan, Cordula, Clifton, Teresa, David, Cathy, Cathy, Ulrike, Krystyna, and Kate for joining me, Carl (C/S).

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