We were excited that our friend Chris agreed to join us for a day trip. I generally try to avoid All Fails, but I kept an open mind when Chris brought up Falls Lookout Ridge Loop as a trip option. Did it ever pay off! This little gem of a ridge walk is above the trees for most of the day and only had one section of moderate scrambling. Most of the ridge is easy, but with terrain and views varied enough to keep me interested.
The route begins from Hummingbird Campground. Google maps was handy for navigating the gravel roads to reach the campground. The campground has an outhouse.
Our plan for the day: Ascend the left ridge, complete a grand loop, and then come down the right side.There were a few trees to bushwhack through at first, but the views opened up within minutes.Dan found this fun rock to pose on.Looking back to the gentle start of the ridge.This downclimb is the only section of scrambling. The wide crack and textured rock make for a good stem down to the bottom.The ridge winds around to the high point just left of center before continuing further back. We will eventually make our way around to the lookout on the high point at the right.Some of the varied terrain along the ridge. Dan pauses to “Captain Morgan” on the cliff edge.The slabs up ahead were easily bypassed around the left side, in the shadow of the ridge. As we got closer they became less steep looking. This section could perhaps be scrambled head-on, depending on how much adventure someone is looking for.Looking back, these clouds seemed to form especially for Chris.Walking around the left of the slabby ridge was a bit of a scree slog, but there were no difficulties otherwise.We found only a small rock cairn on the high point. Looking across the loop, the lookout is still quite a distance away (left).Continuing along the ridge through an easy section of downclimbing. Onion Peak pokes out above the ridge to the north (it will not be part of today’s route).Looking back to the high point we had passed.The next high point didn’t look noteworthy as we approached, though it is slightly higher than the last.Imagine our surprise to find a summit register! We were the third party to visit this peak since the register was placed a year prior, including one January ascent.We all joined Dan for a Captain Morgan pose.After a break at Leeky Peak, we continued along the ridge toward the lookout.Eventually, the route to the lookout came into view. The lookout is on the high point to the left.Looking toward a particularly photogenic section of ridge leading to the lookout. The back side (right) offers much gentler terrain.We passed a little window along this section.Glancing back as we near the lookout. Does Dan almost look… happy?? it’s probably just the lighting.Falls lookout. The lookout itself was locked, but one of the outbuildings was open. Through the window of the lookout we spotted hand-painting around the roof showing every peak on the horizon, lovingly hand-labelled. Someone spent a lot of time here.The view to the southwest. We will follow the ridge to the left for most of the way back out. Our vehicle is parked near the clearing at center.Beginning the return trip from the lookout.We’ll be taking the nose off to the right, down into the bowl.Once on the nose, I was hoping for a fun scree ski down its side, but we ended up encountering slab further down. We likely would have been better off sticking to the crest of the nose.We had to navigate around a slab section to get back to scree.Back on scree and cruising to the bottom of this drainage. There were some loose rocks in this section and a helmet would have been prudent. Or, better yet, just sticking to the crest of the nose.We finished the day hiking back out to our vehicle through the flat center of the bowl.We thought the adventure would end on the mountain, but we were mistaken. 2022 Friend Of The Year Award goes to Chris! We safely made the drive back to Edmonton on our little donut of a spare tire.
Leeky Peak and Falls Lookout made for an excellent ridge walk. Thanks for picking this one out, Chris. I would recommend this one to a friend, provided they have OK route finding skills. There wasn’t a trail to follow, but I found the circuit fairly intuitive. However, poor route-finding skills could have led to trouble on the descent into the bowl.
Peak Bliss 