Mount Richards August 30, 2013

This hike was the one year anniversary hike to commemorate the passing of my father, so my two brothers and oldest son decided to do a hike in his memory.  We chose Mt. Richards and had a beautiful day hiking up to Bertha lake.  Once we reached the lake we hiked to the far side of the lake and proceeded to climb up the back side and angle over till we reached the false summit of the day.  The true summit was just above us and we would have attempted it but we were running out of time, so the true summit was going to have to wait another day.  The view below to Upper Waterton lake was impressive as well as the view of Bertha Lake.  It was good to hike with family and to remember the great man that was our Father.

Starting the off trail portion of hike with Bertha Lake below us

The cliffs we hiked under (this is the ridge between Richards and Alderson)

Getting a little higher

Another view of the cliffs, we stayed pretty close to the vegetation and tried to keep off the scree

Stopping for a rest, the scree was difficult to hike on as it was a lot of big rocks and hard to walk on

Heading up to the false summit ridge

True summit behind us, I've since learned that if you descend on the left a ways then there is an easier path to get to the top, but from this ridge it is way to technical

Father and Son with false summit cairn

Brother picture (Steven wore dads hiking hat and David wore dads boots)

Looking North with Bertha Lake just in view

Mt. Alderson on right

Vimy Peak across the Lake

Upper Waterton Lake with Mt. Cleveland's peak covered in clouds

Saw a few Ram's on the way down

Almost down to the lake again

I tried Google Tracking this hike but my battery died and I lost the track, but here is a view of approximately where we hiked

Photo of approximate track we took