Mount McCarty

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Mount McCarty

On 3 September 2023, Zosia Zgolak and I ascended Mount McCarty in Alberta's Castle Wildland Provincial Park. Mount McCarty is one of those infuriating summits that, from afar, looks like it should be an easy walk-up, but the approaches from all sides of the mountain appear to be guarded by dense and uninviting forest. In 2014, Jeff Lang, Dave McMurray and Bob Spirko muscled their way up the mountain's bushy northeast ridge, and this route was repeated by Brandon Boulier in 2019 who described the bushwhacking as "horrible". Boulier completed a loop by descending the west face which coincidentally was the route used earlier that same year by Jonathan Alston for his ascent. Apparently, the bushwhacking there was even worse according to Boulier. Alston also descended all the way to Macdonald Pass via the southwest ridge which might be the least bushy option, but this route adds significant distance and extra elevation loss and gain. In 2020, Vern Dewit published a report of his ascent via the unnamed lake tucked in the bowl northeast of the summit. He had somehow learned of a secret trail to the lake but had promised not to reveal it. Naturally, I wanted to find this trail and avoid the bushwhacking that the others had endured. Although Dewit's secret trail is not marked on any maps, OpenTopoMap shows a trail which supposedly makes a loop with the trail to Macdonald Pass on the north side of Mount McCarty. After scrutinizing satellite imagery from Google Maps, I figured that this trail--unlikely as it was to be Dewit's secret trail--would still at least make for a good starting point.

From Highway 774, turn right onto Range Road 3-0 (2WD gravel), 15.0 kilometres southwest of the junction with Highway 507. Drive 1.9 kilometres and turn left onto O'Hagen Road. Drive 7.8 kilometres and turn left onto Carbondale River Road. Drive 2.5 kilometres and keep left at a junction with Lost Creek Road. Drive 3.6 kilometres and park before a footbridge that crosses Carbondale River. The last few kilometres of road are fairly rough, and a high-clearance vehicle or bicycle approach is recommended.

From our parking spot, Zosia and I crossed the bridge over Carbondale River and followed the continuation of the road southward while keeping an eye out for any hidden side trails or cryptic markers. Early in the proceedings, we made a detour to investigate a promising-looking trail, but it ultimately looped back to the main road. About 1.3 kilometres from the bridge, we noticed a branching exploration road with a horse hitch blocking its entrance. The road appeared to be heading in the wrong direction, and it was also on the wrong side of a nearby drainage. Reluctant to waste more time and eager to find the aforementioned loop trail from OpenTopoMap, we skipped the exploration road and continued along the main road for about another 400 metres to where I thought the loop trail was supposed to begin. Unfortunately, we found no signs of any trail when we reached the marked location and simply waded into the bush hoping to get lucky. Sure enough, we found an old road not too far in, but it was pretty overgrown and probably had not seen any human passage for many years. Still, it was better than nothing, and we tried following the old road as best as we could but inevitably had to thrash through some pretty heinous undergrowth. After about 1.5 hours of bushwhacking which ranged from not-too-bad to miserable, we finally stumbled onto what appeared to be Dewit's secret trail. What a treat it was to walk unmolested by alder branches to the unnamed lake below Mount McCarty's northeast flank! Upon reaching the lake, we circled briefly along its eastern shore before turning uphill on a faint trail to gain the northeast ridge. This was also a bit of a thrash though nowhere near as bad as what we encountered earlier. Where the northeast ridge abuts the east ridge of the mountain, we picked up another good trail that led us conveniently up steep north-facing slopes and onto the crest of the east ridge. Here, the angle of ascent eases considerably, and route-finding through the thinning vegetation was much easier. When we finally broke out of the trees for good, we were buffeted by some strong winds, but the final walk to a lonely cairn on the broad summit plateau was easy.

Zosia and I huddled on the lee side of the summit cairn for about half an hour before retreating the way we came. We had some minor route-finding problems while trying to descend to the lake from the northeast ridge, but fortunately, the thrashing here was short-lived. From the lake, we hiked out Dewit's secret trail in its entirety. In retrospect during our bushwhacking ascent, we were at one point only a mere 30 metres or so from the trail but had turned the wrong way prolonging our misery. Near the bottom, the secret trail crosses the aforementioned drainage and connects with the same exploration road that we had skipped (Doh!). Route-finding would still be a little tricky here since the trail is not so obvious (no cairns or flagging) if approaching from the main road. We had no further issues with the rest of the hike back to our car.

	Mount McCarty is visible in the distance as Zosia crosses a footbridge over Carbondale River.
	Abandoning the main road, Zosia searches fruitlessly for the start of a loop trail that is marked in OpenTopoMap.
	Zosia finds an old road which is severely overgrown and largely reclaimed.
	Bushwhacking on Mount McCarty is typically like this.
	After 1.5 hours of bushwhacking, Zosia finally stumbles onto a secret trail.

I can see why somebody would want to keep this place secret...

An unnamed lake is tucked in a bowl on the northeast side of Mount McCarty.

	Above the lake, Zosia makes her way toward Mount McCarty's east ridge.
	Route-finding and travel are much easier once Zosia gains the east ridge.
	Here is an aerial view of the unnamed lake from the east ridge.
	Syncline Mountain dominates the background as Sonny makes his way up through the last trees. Photo courtesy of Zosia Zgolak
	A solitary cairn stands out on the broad summit plateau of Mount McCarty.

And I've climbed all four of these!

Despite cloudy skies, some notable peaks to the northwest can still be distinguished.

	Zosia and Sonny take shelter from the wind behind the large cairn on the summit of Mount McCarty (2365 metres).
	Zosia prepares to descend back to the unnamed lake.
	Zosia follows the secret trail out.
	The secret trail connects with an exploration road that joins the main road at this horse hitch.
	Total Distance: 14.2 kilometres Round-Trip Time: 8 hours 16 minutes Cumulative Elevation Gain: 894 metres GPX Data