BOU AVENUE
Cinquefoil Mountain
Kelly Wood and I checked out of the Greenwood Lodge in Jasper, Alberta on the morning of 8 July 2007 and headed east of town to scramble up Cinquefoil Mountain.  Starting from the Merlin Pass trail head (unsigned), we followed the meandering, overgrown trail past an unnamed lake which was so full to the brim that part of the trail was submerged, forcing us into a short bushwhacking detour.  We eventually reached the base of a steep grassy slope at the west end of Cinquefoil Mountain and began climbing in earnest.  Kelly was not feeling very energetic on this day, and she decided to stop once we gained the crest of Cinquefoil Mountain's west ridge.  I continued up the ridge following a series of cairns and beaten paths.  The ridge gets steeper around the halfway mark, and I was pleasantly surprised to find some good, hands-on scrambling here.  Beyond this steep middle section, the rest of the ascent is merely a long but easy hike, and I eventually reached the summit cairn without fanfare.  After spending about fifty minutes on the summit, I returned down the west ridge and ultimately rejoined Kelly for the final hike back to the trail head (round-trip time of 7 hours).  To cap off our weekend, we briefly stopped in Jasper for gas and greasy hamburgers before driving home.
This lake doesn't even show up on my GemTrek topo map! Pyramid Mountain pokes up above The Palisades in this view from the small unnamed lake near the trail head.
Mosquitoes were really bad here since there was very little breeze. Kelly climbs up steep grassy slopes near the west end of Cinquefoil Mountain.  In the background is Mount Greenock.
I was a little surprised to see this goat well below tree line. A lone goat climbs up the trail.
You're only halfway there when you reach the high point in the photo! Here is a foreshortened view of the lower west ridge of Cinquefoil Mountain.
It looks worse than it really is, but at the same time, it's no cakewalk either. Sonny approaches some of the more interesting sections of the ridge.
If you look very closely, you can see a guy descending below some slabs. This is probably the most challenging section of the entire ascent.
There are an annoying number of false summits! Sonny easily hikes the upper ridge.
I like the star in the centre of each flower. Cinquefoils are abundant on Cinquefoil Mountain at this time of year.
My last Jasper Area Kane summit! Sonny holds up the register on the 2260-metre summit of Cinquefoil Mountain.
Even the clearing at the end of the road is visible! Pyramid Mountain is visible to the southwest.
It's funny how the colour of one lake is different from the other. To the north are Jasper Lake and Talbot Lake.
Looks rather challenging! This is the next highpoint east of Cinquefoil Mountain's summit.
A rather gloomy day in the mountains, isn't it? The Athabaska River appears to be a braided mess down in the valley.
I lichen this very much! Orange lichen covers much of this stone.
There were lots of these flowers in the forest near the unnamed lake. An ant crawls around on a western wood lily.
Not really great bang for your buck. This is looking at the lower west ridge of Cinquefoil Mountain from near the unnamed lake.  The summit is not visible here.