Alderson, Mount — explor8ion

Twenty years ago I joined what was then the “RMBooks Club” on what was then a huge day trip scramble in Waterton Lakes National Park. We met at the Cameron Lake parking lot and scrambled a loop of Mount Alderson, Buchanan and Carthew. Of course, back then the Kenow wildfire hadn’t burned much of Waterton, and we hiked through forests and enjoyed larches along the way. Two decades later, things look quite a bit different in this area.

A summit panorama from Mount Alderson in 2005 – note all the trees and larches. L to R, Vulture, Guardhouse Carter, Chapman, Numa, Peabody, Custer, Kintla, Kinnerly, Parke, Long Knife, Carthew, Buchanan, Blakiston (R)

With Hanneke starting the 2nd year of her masters program in the fall of 2025, we decided one more relaxing trip was in order before the summer ended. We’ve always loved staying in Waterton, one of our favorite hikes of all time was to Crypt Lake and we love the small town vibes of the diminutive park. Somewhat annoyingly (and selfishly), we are always surprised how freaking busy Waterton has become lately, especially after Covid. There were license plates from all over the USA in every parking lot – I guess our cheap dollar is worth a long drive! 😉

On our first day we did a hike that we’ve done many times, around the shores of Bertha Lake. It was warm and windless as we made our way up a steep (and very busy) trail to the lake. For some reason all the hordes of people decided the lake circuit wasn’t worth it and we found ourselves almost completely alone as we hiked around it. After a great supper at the Lamp Post Dining Room, we enjoyed a relaxing evening and decided we wanted a bit more exercise the following day to burn off all that good food! I remembered Mount Alderson as a relatively easy hike (Hann doesn’t like scrambling) so we settled on that. I guess after 20 years and hundreds of summits the brain gets a little foggy with the details sometimes…

Views over the Cameron Lake dock from the never ending switchbacks to Summit Lake.

Fall vibes through the burn as we west end of Carthew near Summit Lake.

Hiking desert scree to a distant Carthew Col.

We started bright and early on Sunday morning as one of the first groups to leave Cameron Lake on this remarkably popular hike. Most people either stop at so-called, “Carthew Summit” (a small bump at the Carthew col), or continue down the GDT past the lovely Carthew Lakes to Cameron Falls and the townsite. Obviously a car or bus shuttle is required to do the one-way hike to town. The early risers were fast hikers and we got passed by a few speedy folks before settling into our own pace. I remembered the long switchbacks but they didn’t seem too annoying in the cool morning air. Within an hour we were passing unremarkable “Summit Lake” and rounding the west end of Mount Carthew on a good trail to a high col, still very distant.

Hmmm. That looks higher and more complicated than I remember! Mount Alderson from the Carthew col.

A shortcut trail from the col leads to the Alderson col and the start of Alderson's west ridge.

Within 2 hours of Cameron Lake we completed the final big switchback to the Carthew col and took in our first sights of Mount Alderson, rising to the east. If I’m honest, it looked a little further, higher and tougher than I remembered! I downplayed it to Hann of course, not wanting her to be intimidated. Hey! That’s what good hiking partners are for, no? 😉 We’d been playing “tag” with a young gentleman from Vermont the entire approach hike already, and sure enough – he was also tagging the summit and started out ahead of us up a thin trail in scree on the west end of Alderson’s ridge.

Starting up the west ridge, following an obvious trail. Note the figure ahead of us – he was from Vermont and we played "tag" the rest of the ascent.

Views back down the first part of the west ridge with upper Carthew Lake visible.

The rest of the route from atop the west ridge.

The first grunt to the west end of the west ridge was pretty simple hiking up the faint (but obvious) trail. From there the summit still appeared a long way off and I was a little taken back by the first drop-off we soon encountered.

Bypassing a bump along the west ridge. These "bumps" were unexpected and got more complex the further we hiked.

Still following a good track in the scree. Buchanan Ridge and Peak now visible too – and lower.

Things get more complicated. Cairns and ledges make this an "easy" scramble, but for hikers it definitely takes on a more serious vibe.

After coaxing Hann (she really doesn’t like exposure or any sort of scrambling) down the first drop off, I prayed that was the only one we’d encounter. NOPE. As a scrambler, I tend to forget that hikers really don’t handle exposure, loose terrain and scree covered slabs very well. We continued up a very scenic ridge before I spotted another, much more serious looking set of drops ahead. DANG IT. Why didn’t I remember these?! As usual, the terrain wasn’t as bad as it first appeared, but without cairns and a beaten trail this would likely be a moderate scramble.

Incredible Waterton views off the ridge.

Hann picks her way carefully down a ledged drop off on the west ridge.

A cairn in the foreground – there are a few different trails to the summit but they are all easy to spot and follow for the most part.

Hann did really well on the steep, ledged downclimb (quite fun terrain tbh) but she was questioning my “easy hike” rating at this point. Once the questioning started, I really hoped that the rest of the ascent would be easier than it appeared – it looked freaking steep and loose to the summit. Thankfully there were good trails in the shale / scree and within 3.5 hours of Cameron Lake we were at the windless summit of Mount Alderson.

Summit views include (L to R), Carthew, Buchanan, Blakiston, Crandell, Bertha and Vimy. The Waterton Lakes in the distance and Bertha Lake at lower right.

Views over Bertha Lake (one of the few unburned lakes in Waterton) to a distant Mount Cleveland and Richards.

Stunning views and warm temperatures kept us entertained for about 30 minutes at the summit before we started thinking about a return. Clouds were building to the west and we didn’t want to have to rush to beat any tstorms. We returned carefully to the first downclimb (now a climb), which proved easier than the descent had been – typical of course.

Alderson Lake sits far below its namesake peak.

This is why it's a "scramble" rather than a "hike".

A fun, narrow little section as we return along the west ridge.

There were stunning views from the upper west ridge, especially down the sheer east face over Alderson Lake, tucked in below its namesake mountain. I found an exposed ledge with lots of room that was a really good vantage.

Alderson Lake sits far under the west ridge. The summit of Alderson at upper right. Most people on the hiking trail (GDT) continue down this valley to the townsite after starting at Cameron Lake.

Continuing down the ridge, we were surprised at the dozens of people we spotted, tiny dots far below, all hiking the GDT towards the Waterton townsite. I’ve never done this hike, but now I want to. There are apparently hiker shuttles you can take to Cameron Lake so that you don’t have to arrange your own ride to or back to the lake.

The GDT snakes its way past the lower Carthew Lake on its way down to a distant townsite – a great hike traversing from Cameron Lake to Cameron Falls.

The trail sneaks past a cliff. There were dozens of people hiking it but only 5 of us doing Mount Alderson.

Upper Carthew Lake with many hikers visible.

After ascending the last bump along the ridge on return, we descended the easy trail off the west ridge before ascending back to the Carthew col under a hot afternoon sun.

Another moderate step on the west ridge. All steps are downclimbed on ascent which actually makes it more tricky with the return being slightly easier.

Hanneke hikes back up to the Carthew col with Alderson fading into the distance now.

From the col it was a nice hike back to Summit Lake. We managed to get caught in a brief rain shower along the way, but it was so warm that we welcomed the brief cool down.

Descending the GDT towards a still distant Summit Lake – note the trail along scree slopes at distant mid-right. "Carthew Summit" at upper left.

Interesting landscapes down the trail to Summit Lake.

Interesting landscapes down the trail to Summit Lake. We had a brief shower overhead here which cooled us off nicely.

We spend a few minutes lounging by Summit Lake, but honestly I don’t see this as a destination worth hiking to on its own. The forest is all burned here and the lake is more of a muddy pond than anything else. There seem to be a lot of biting bugs there too. YMMV of course.

Summit Lake is nice enough, but not as a destination in itself IMHO.

From Summit Lake it was a somewhat annoying hike down 5 huge switchbacks to Cameron Lake. This hike is annoying because each arm of the switchbacks is around 500m long and not steep enough. We could hear the lake for what seemed like a very long time before we finally bottomed out on the trail.

Cameron Lake still far below as we negotiate the endless (ok, 5) switchbacks down towards it.

Our round trip time of 7 hours wasn’t too bad – Hanneke proved her fitness on this one! As I’ve hinted throughout this report, most scramblers will find Mount Alderson an easy hike with cairns and trails for 98% of it. Hikers are another story. They might find certain sections a wee bit exposed and might even have some issues with route finding on ascent. As experienced Rockies travelers will know, down climbing on ascent can make for tricky route finding since the terrain always looks very exposed from above. In this case, as in many others, everything is a little easier than it first appears. I would highly recommend a shuttle to Cameron Lake so that you can enjoy the GDT down from the end of the west ridge towards Waterton, instead of returning via the annoying switchbacks to the lake.