Quartal Peak (Poboktan Pass)

I have no idea how I first got to the idea of “Quartal Peak”. It must have been on one of those cold winter days when I was dreaming of better times and perusing one of my many sources of peakbagging possibilities. The peak is listed on bivouac.com but there is no more information than the listing. I have another source that indicates a winter ascent in March of 2000 by Alistair Des Moulins, Bob St John and Arnold Westberg so I knew it couldn’t be that difficult. I found myself with a gorgeous Tuesday off on July 8th 2025 and decided it was the day to drive 4 hours from Calgary and find out for myself what the Poboktan Pass area looked like.

I left YYC at 04:30 and drove quick enough in the early morning quiet to pull into the warden complex at Poboktan Creek at around 08:00. It wasn’t obvious where exactly to park but I found a spot beside another vehicle and proceeded to get ready for a long day ahead. The weather forecast for the area was perfect – cool and clear despite a scorching hot outlook for pretty much everywhere else (another reason I chose this trip). Today was going to be another test for my new gravel bike. Instead of a full suspension mountain bike, I would be testing my Salsa Cutthroat set up on a lengthy ride with quite a bit of elevation gain and technical single track.

Despite a lot of internet sleuthing, I could not find any “official” confirmation that the Poboktan Creek Trail is actually a sanctioned bike trail from Parks Canada. They don’t explicitly DIS-allow it (like they do for other trails), so I guess it’s allowed but not advertised? I don’t remember where I first learned that it was allowable only to the Waterfalls Campground but it was shortly after I hiked it twice in 2015 for separate Mount Brazeau and Poboktan Mountain trips. The only hint that it’s done more often is several pages at TrailForks.com for the Poboktan Creek and Waterfalls sections. TrailForks indicates that the section after Waterfalls – to McCready’s horse camp and beyond is NOT a sanctioned bike trail anymore.

I remembered that the trail starts from the warden complex along a fence in a very understated, inconspicuous manner and sure enough – my bike barely fit the first 100 meters or so. Very soon after starting along a lively Poboktan Creek the trail turned uphill and when I say “up” hill, I really mean it! It’s always surprising to me how different a bike approach feels compared to hiking. I knew from the stats at TrailForks that I had to gain around 500 meters on the 2-wheel steed but there’s a huge difference between knowing the stats and doing the stats. I was very happy to be on the light gravel bike for the approach, it made several lengthy uphill sections 100% rideable whereas with my heavier mountain bike setup there’s no way I could have made it without walking.

The trail was in much better shape than the Evan Thomas “trail” a few days earlier but it was quite technical in places with unbridged stream crossings, roots and rocks. At some point I realized the ride down was going to be almost as adventurous as the ride up was. As I rode up a long hill I met my first hiker of the day. We chatted briefly, he didn’t quite believe I was going all the way to Poboktan Pass and above as a day trip but he came around eventually. He mentioned that folks regularly bike to the warden cabin (beyond the Waterfall Camp) and even further but gave no indication whether it’s actually an offense or not. It took me just under 2 hours of steady pedaling to finally descend a large hill to the Waterfalls Campground and the end of my ride.

The day was continuing cool, slightly cloudy and windy as I crossed a side creek and ascended to the campground and a great view of the falls across the valley. I was feeling stoked at this point. It’s always a great day when you’re not at work on a Tuesday and even a better day when you’re all alone in a gorgeous alpine landscape instead. I took some obligatory shots of the falls before shrugging my pack more comfortably on my shoulders and setting off up the long trek towards a still very distant Poboktan Pass.

As I hiked towards the warden cabin, which I knew was a few kilometers past the campground, I did indeed spot fresh bike tracks underfoot, just as the hiker had told me earlier. If you know me, you know that I like to bike as far as possible but I don’t like to risk huge fines. With a very public blog and YouTube channel I have to be careful about flaunting the rules. I have friends that have gone to court over such things and I don’t want the fuss or expense that brings. I stewed over the lack of clarity from Parks Canada over the biking boundaries for a few minutes before realizing that it really didn’t matter at this point. I was hiking, the day was gorgeous, I had a sore butt anyway. 😉

If biking is allowed to the warden cabin it is just about worth it IMHO, but not really afterwards. The views over the valley from the cabin were lovely, but soon I was back along the forested trail. The bike tracks continued here but with a narrower and wetter track I don’t think it would be very efficient. I was more than happy to be on foot for the rest of the trek.

There isn’t much to say about the 7 kms from the warden cabin to the Jonas Pass junction. There is a reason to bike as much of the approach as you can – it’s mostly a forested trek with limited views. Lovely and peaceful but a little boring compared to higher elevation trails in the area.

I went left at the Jonas Pass junction, headed for Poboktan Pass. Views were finally opening up as I continued up trail and they did not disappoint! A steep grunt got me into alpine meadows between Quartal, Sunwapta, Struan and outliers of Andover, Flat Ridge and the Jonas Shoulder. This is where the long approach became worth every turn of the pedals and every step of the hike. Cool alpine breezes blew over fields of wildflowers and short grasses and hills on every side as puffy clouds floated overhead. Marmots and Pikas bounced their calls off surrounding peaks. This was paradise.

I continued on an obvious trail as it slowly curved east and finally made the last few steps to a small sign indicating “Poboktan Pass”. I tried to avoid looking at the numbers on the sign before turning uphill towards my objective. The route from here was very easy, very obvious and very, very scenic.

All the things I was hoping for today. Some days are all about convoluted, complex route finding and scrambling while other days are about none of those things. Today was a day to wander alpine meadows and let me thoughts wander along with my feet. I didn’t want complications and I didn’t get any.

As I hiked to the bottom of Quartal’s easy looking SW ascent slopes I encountered 2 or 3 drainages but nothing more complex than that. Each one was scenic and provided access to fresh running water as a bonus.

Finally, over 26 kms from the parking lot and 5 hours into my day I started up steepening slopes of my destination summit.

There were no complications on the peak, just as there were none on approach. The scree was easy to ascend and rubble was firm where I needed it to be. All-in-all this was proving to be a very hiker-friendly mountain. As I took in the views all around me I marveled at how lucky I was to be able to enjoy days like this.

At the summit ridge I first deviated to my left to get some good views of Poboktan’s south end and then walked to a small stone cairn overlooking Brazeau Lake, shimmering far below to the east. I spent some time marveling at all the familiar and unfamiliar peaks visible from this relatively unobtrusive summit including White Goat, Columbia Icefields and the Grand Brazeau areas. As with the Beauty Creek area peaks, it was surprising how far reaching the views were from this area.

By 14:30 I was headed back down the easy SW slopes to meadows below. My camera stayed warm as I took in the scenes below, the lovely Poboktan Creek valley taking most of the action. I couldn’t get enough of the Waterfall Peaks on one side of the valley with Poboktan Mountain on the other. To the north, the forms of other striking peaks stood out amidst growing dark clouds. There was rain forecast for around 17:00 so I knew I’d be flirting with some weather at some point today.

My exit line to the trail worked perfectly (I shortcut the pass on return) and it was time to transition back into mindless hiking mode for 12+ kms to the bike. I was all alone on the trail as the clouds grew darker overhead and the wind gusts became a little more ominous. Nothing transpired and by 18:00 I was hiking through a surprisingly busy Waterfall Campground and back to my patiently waiting bike.

The ride to the parking lot was mostly fast and somewhat furious. Several big uphill sections on return were a PITA and several technical sections were infuriating but other than that it went swimmingly. Once again the gravel bike was proving its worth as a backcountry ride, I just have to get used to a lack of shocks and a light bike getting thrown around more than I’m used to on big descents. I rode back into the parking lot just after 19:00, taking half the time to egress as I did to approach. Rain drops were falling as I got into the Prius and started the long ride home. Talk about perfect timing.

As with so many of my objectives, Quartal Peak won’t appeal to most folks but it will appeal big-time to a small subset of my readers. And it should. With an easy on trail approach and continuing easy ascent slopes, I could see trail runners appreciating this particular adventure. At 56 kms and almost 2k vertical it demands a certain level of suffering but surprisingly it only took me around 11.5 hours and I wasn’t racing. Honestly the worst part of this hike is the drive from YYC – it’s a lot of wheel time. Smarter folks than myself would combine it with other worthwhile objectives in the Poboktan Creek area, but I never claimed to be a genius.