Blakiston drainages North II
    







    
 
June 23, 2024
 
Elevation gain:    630 m
Round-trip time:  6:45
 
Solo scramble.
 
After a very rewarding ascent of a drainage on the northeast side of Blakiston in somewhat dreary weather conditions 8 days earlier, I decided to repeat another drainage I had explored 2 years earlier. Normally I would reserve these exploratory and often summit-less trips for dreary weather days, however, some reflection made me reconsider the logic of that rationale – that is, there was no logic! If views and terrain are beautiful on cloudy days, they will very likely be infinitely more so on clear ones, summit or no summit.
 
I had pretty much forgotten about this drainage until spotting it from the Anderson Southeast Shoulder 2 days previous. The innumerable cascades and waterfalls running down red argillite rock made it a great candidate for a repeat ascent.
 
A play-by-play would be fairly repetitive, so I’ll let the photos serve that function!
 
In a nutshell, the first drainage provided breathtaking water and rock scenery at every turn. I reached a highpoint in the same area as my previous trip then decided to traverse west into the next drainage. While this one was initially bushy and a little disappointing it eventually yielded similar and sometimes even better scenery than the first. Once back down to Blakiston Creek, I walked back to the first drainage – a real treat in itself, as I had never experienced the argillite section of the creek from the other side of it.
 
An outrageously enjoyable trip with enough red rock and waterfalls to keep me satiated for at least the upcoming week!

The northeast end of Mount Blakiston and the drainage I ascended 8 days earlier



The Southeast Shoulder of Anderson Peak, ascended 2 days earlier



The start of the first drainage


It begins. Go no further if you don't like long exposure photos ad nauseam of water running down red argillite - it's 2 minutes of your life you'll never get back! 


















Cool tree















Approaching one of the major waterfalls, as the Sun tries to illuminate the drainage







The east summit of Anderson Peak is one of only a few mountains visible during the ascent



Something other than water



The waterfall







Very cool rock colours here











Had to see it from every possible angle!



















The tree shadows on the argillite here made for some interesting views



























Still fascinated with the shadows



























































Many trees are still standing, however, that's not the case further up the drainage











Glendowan, Cloudowan, and Cloudy Ridge makes appearances







The rock and the scenery in the drainage change at this point



But there are still tons of cascades



The drainage here is filled with a chaotic mess of deadfall - time to leave it



Starting to get more open views



Add Lone and Kishenina to the view. Lone and Festubert are the only two official peaks in Waterton that I have only ascended once - not sure if that will ever change, though I am curious about Festubert via its northwest ridge from South Kootenay Pass.



A significant outlier of Mount Blakiston, though its more of a ridge than a distinct peak



Blakiston's northeast side



Like my first run up this way, gaining any of the highpoints at the left was not in the cards



Pano from where I stopped



Same as above



Left to right: Newman, Newman Senior, Glendowan, Cloudowan, Cloudy Ridge, Dundy, and Dungarvan



Close-up of the deadfall in the drainage



Back in the same drainage but above the deadfall



This section is comprised of green argillite (non-oxidized argillite)






    




Leaving the drainage and heading west to the next one



Typical terrain



  The drainage is down there somewhere



In the second drainage, but getting photos of it initially were not easy







Here come the cascades, waterfalls, and red argillite of the second drainage






    
































Red tree to compliment the red argillite







The east peak of Anderson looks slightly different now






























    








One of the bigger waterfalls



Detours away from the water were sometimes required



But it was always easy to get back to it



















Back to Blakiston Creek, but upstream from where I started



Tons of amazing rock on this side of the creek















This section of rock was very striking



























































Back at the first drainage



Mum and her kids

The End

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