14.1km, 1056m elevation gain, 11h12m (from Baby Bedwell Lake)
On Monday I left for a five day trip into the Bedwell Lakes area. Most people come here to visit Cream Lake but I was there last year. I was looking to summit both Mount Tom Taylor and Big Interior Mountain this time.
Monday was pretty uneventful. After a long drive to the South end of Buttle Lake and down a bit of well maintained logging road I arrived at the trailhead. I was off to an early start and would arrive at Baby Bedwell Lake before noon.
I decided to set up camp here for the night. The camp at Baby Bedwell Lake (and Bedwell Lake) have camp pads, a bear cache and toilets. I also didn't want to drag 5 days of food, crampons and an ice axe to the other unnamed lake camp.
I got the best tent pad with a great view of Tom Taylor and shared the site with one other quiet couple. I explored the immediate area but had a quiet day otherwise.
On Tuesday morning I got off to an early start. 30 minutes after sunrise and I was on the trail. The trail made its way through the forest and eventually up to a little ridge and a great looking lake. It would have been nice to camp here but it would have been too much extra work this time.
After the unnamed lake, the hike got more interesting. Route finding became a bit of a challenge at parts, even with a track. There are cairns everywhere. Which ones do you follow? Sometimes you would follow one path, look up a rock wall and wonder "how the hell am I going to get up that?" so you follow the other cairn path to find out it's way up was even more tricky.
It made for a fun time climbing up some of the obstacles or hugging a rock face while you move across a narrow ledge.
I spent about an hour on the summit, relaxing and eating lunch before making my way back down. The path seemed easier to find on the way down the mountain but there was still a couple of tough spots to get down.
Besides a couple of tricky spots, Tom Taylor was just a long hike with some great views!
Comments