Yates Mountain (Barrier Lake Lookout)

Elevation: 1996 m
Elevation Gain: 625 m
Yates Mountain is the unofficial name of the high point of McConnell Ridge immediately north of Barrier Lake. The peak was named after Emily Yates who ran the Diamond Cross ranch which was located on the site presently occupied by Camp Chief Hector. The peak has a long history of serving as a lookout, beginning with the Stoney Nakoda whose name for it, Tokyapebi Ipa, can be translated to: “Lookout Point for the Enemy.” Today, the peak is the site of the Barrier Lake fire lookout.
My Ascents:
March 26 2023, September 9 2016, December 28 2014, January 1 2014
Trailhead: Barrier Dam Day Use Area
GPS Track: Yates Mountain (December 2014)

In theory, the vernal equinox marks the beginning of spring. In Calgary, we (of course) know this to be false. Nevertheless, the advent of spring (on the calendar at least) marks a shift in our family’s mindset. During the dark winter months, weekends are about catching up on things around the house with brief forays into the cold on skates or skis. As the days grow longer, however, we begin to crave more substantive fresh air adventures. Having not been to the Rockies since Thanksgiving, the impetus for this most recent mountain adventure came from a surprising source: my wife Brianne! 🤯 Seeking to remedy her long absence from the mountains, she requested that I plan a suitable family hike and I happily obliged.

With a 6-month-old to carry and 5- and 7-year-old kids to contend with, I suggested a trip to Chester Lake. Chester Lake is a mellow but pretty hike whose year-round popularity ensures a well-packed trail that eliminates any need/conceivable use for snowshoes. In my opinion, it’s a nice place for a winter kiddy walk.

Setting out from Calgary with a car full of littles, I was surprised when the day’s first “are we there yet?” came from my wife (while the children slept peacefully or quietly colored). As a passenger, Brianne’s attention span is, apparently, 1-hour-long at most; maybe I need to buy her a coloring book too? 🤦‍♂️ Weary of her whining and noting an ominous wall of cloud deeper in the mountains (where Chester Lake is), I made a spur-of-the-moment suggestion: why not hike up Yates Mountain instead? From our position on the highway, we could see clear skies over Yates and I noted that it would save an hour of additional driving each way. Eager to get out of the car, Brianne agreed that this would be preferable (even though Yates is about double Chester Lake’s elevation gain)… Either it seemed like a good idea at the time or Brianne just really hates Chester Lake! 🤷‍♂️

Sunny views 🌞 from the Barrier Lake Day Use Area. Between the warm, atypically-calm conditions here and the obvious wall of cloud deeper in the mountains, we started the day in high spirits and confident that we’d made the right call with our last-minute family hike switcheroo.

LEFT: As we packed up our gear in the parking lot, 6-month-old Lillian was very excited at the prospect of tackling her first peak in the Canadian Rockies. Of course, I’d be excited too if someone offered to carry me all the way up a mountain… 😂
RIGHT: 7-year-old Mera was also excited to be hiking again as we set off along the Barrier Lake dam, enjoying fine sunny views towards nearby Mount Baldy.

The whole “dam” Hobbs family.

McConnell Ridge and its high point (Yates Mountain on the right) rise up to the west of the Barrier Lake dam.

LEFT: After reaching the end of the perfectly flat dam, the kids followed the packed trail as it turned north and started to gain elevation towards Yates Mountain’s gentle, forested shoulder.
RIGHT: Soon after leaving the lake/dam, the trail entered the woods (where it stayed for most of the ascent). Apart from its first and final kilometers, Yates isn’t an especially scenic endeavor (minus the cute little unicorn backpack 🦄🥰 in the photo above).

Having not eaten in about an hour, our 7-year-old grew “hangry” so we ended up eating most of our lunch in a random spot in the middle of the woods.

LEFT and RIGHT: The random lunchbreak allowed us to give little Lillian a break from her restrictive carrier. In return for this freedom, she rewarded us with some serious cuteness. 🥰

LEFT: Penny and Mera, refuelled and ready to go!
RIGHT: And GO, Mera did! 🏃‍♀️ Before our impromptu lunch, 5-year-old Penny dramatically outpaced her older sister. Mera’s sandwich must have contained rocket fuel 🚀, however, because no one could catch her afterwards!

After waiting for her Mom and Sisters, Mera happily posed with them at the day’s first “viewpoint.” As you can see, that wall of cloud advanced significantly as we’d hiked up through Yates’ viewless forest. 😑

LEFT and RIGHT: Our little hiking machine! 😁 Beyond the first viewpoint, the trail steepened considerably before turning to the north and breaking through a cliff band on a narrow, forested ledge. Despite being only 7-years-old, Mera expertly tackled all of the day’s hardest sections on her own. Her only complaint? That they were “too easy!” What sort of little hiking monsters are we creating?...

Above the steep crux, we offered Mera and Penny the chance to stop for the day at the “Prairie View” outlook but they both elected to continue up towards the summit (*proud Dad moment*). From previous jaunts up Yates, I recalled little more than an easy walk between Prairie View and the summit but this memory proved all-together false as the final 150 vertical meters were much steeper/snowier and took much longer than we’d bargained for! I had to hold Penny’s hand the entire way to prevent her from disappearing into the deep sugar snow that surrounded the narrow, packed trail. At various points, Brianne and I questioned the wisdom of continuing but, thanks to whiteout conditions, we incorrectly assumed that the summit was just ahead (over and over again). Drenched in sweat and achy from carrying/assisting kids, we wove our way up the steep, forested slope deeper into the heart of the clouds, passing ridge-top cornices that looked to be bottomless. 😬 To our great relief, the summit-top Fire Lookout eventually manifested itself from the surrounding mist; somehow, someway, we’d all made it and no one even complained despite the unanticipated rigors of doing so! 🤯 A pleasant kiddy walk to Chester Lake, indeed! 🤣

As a reward for our efforts, we were treated to brief splashes of sun amidst the swirling clouds.

An “atmospheric” summit panorama provided only hints of the surrounding grandeur. Click to see larger.

LEFT: Little Lillian was overjoyed to have experienced such an epic on her first peak in the Canadian Rockies! 😍
RIGHT: Little Lillian’s Mom was also overjoyed to take her out of her carrier for a bit, giving her achy shoulders a much-needed rest!

Celebrating with my littlest peak-bagger! 🥳

Penny and Mera celebrate with hard-earned hot chocolates atop their 26th and 38th different summit, respectively.

With daylight hours beginning to wane and a long descent ahead of us, we capped our brief summit stint with a whiteout family selfie.

LEFT and RIGHT: Mera and Penny casually retrace their steps alongside the summit ridge’s, seemingly, bottomless cornices. 👀

Mera descends into the billowing clouds with visions of Brewster’s Mac & Cheese dancing in her head…

LEFT and RIGHT: Easy does it… After a quicker-than-expected descent to Prairie View, we carefully made our way down the steep, slipper crux sections of the hike.

Below the most difficult sections, my amazing little hikers stopped to pose for a selfie with Dad at the last good viewpoint. Below this opening, the trail meanders (somewhat aimlessly) through viewless forest before re-emerging on the wrong side of the Barrier Lake dam. In essence, it’s literally and metaphorically downhill from here!

LEFT: Look who escaped her hiking carrier! Hoping to give Brianne’s shoulders and Lillian a break, our littlest hiker enjoyed some prime seating for her trip down through the never-ending woods. While the kids did wonderfully during our descent, Brianne and I quickly grew weary of the plod as our bodies ached. Yates is supposed to be an “easy mountain” but I have a theory that there’s no such thing when you’re constantly “on” and trying to manage kids (no matter how well-behaved they are). By the end, Brianne and I were more exhausted than we would have been after a significantly larger, more intense scramble! 🥵
RIGHT: It’s all over but the damned dam! Oh the dam… Penny didn’t seem to mind the hike back along the dam but it really put me over the top. After so much descent in the viewless woods, you’d think the open views from the dam would be welcome but, in this instance, they only revealed how far away the parking lot still was! 😭 As had been the case on the drive (where the kids were better-behaved than Brianne), our little hikers were once again less whiny than the adults by the hike’s end! After an interminable plod, Brianne and I eventually limped into the parking lot as our girls laughed and ran and played. A winter kiddy walk, indeed!

EPILOGUE: While the kids' energy never wavered on our long hike up Yates, they were pretty low-key the following day and spent a good deal of it camped out in PJs on the floor! 😂 Come to think of it, I think this is how Brianne spent the next day too... Maybe next time, she'll let us enjoy the easy kiddy walk to Chester Lake! 😉