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Hagelslag.ca

Ramblings by a summit-crazed Dutch Canadian

Engagement Peak & Yates Mountain

Trip Date: May 7, 2026

Route Map
Summit Elevation: 1747m, 1981m
Elevation Gain: 1079m
Round Trip Time: 5hrs 28min
Total Distance: 17.01km

Technical Rating: Hike
Difficulty Notes: Trust the map cautiously, use your eyes, and this is no more than a difficult hike.

GPX Download

My rapidly-recovering back showed no new symptoms from a midweek trip up Stoney Lookout Mountain, and so I decided the next day to up the ante and link two objectives I’d scouted while up Exshaw Mountain, both of which looked clean of snow. I headed out after work and arrived at the Quaite Creek pullout off HWY 1 at 1709hrs.

The first of my targets was Engagement Peak, sometimes referred to as Biffy Peak after a small outhouse-like hut that can be found at its summit. I hiked to where the route was supposed to be according to the map, found nothing, and started bushwacking upwards - quickly happening on a trail that I’d stopped maybe 20 meters short of! Once I was on it, it was pretty obvious.

A well-defined trail leads upwards, crossed by a few unofficial MTB tracks.
Prairie crocuses are starting to bloom in the lower regions of the Rockies.
What the heck am I supposed to do here...?

I ended up briefly stumped at the 1450m mark by a steep ~50 degree slab section that the trail goes straight up, according to the map. I quickly decided that it couldn’t possibly be right, and resolved to ignore any specifics on the evidently inaccurate map after the two mishaps I’d already had that day. I followed the defined trail to climbers right, and it didn’t take long before I found an easy slab with a trail on the other side, which I quickly crossed.

Note: After crossing the slab, I noted that following the trail a little further along the mountainside connects with my route and avoids any scrambling. This trip is rated assuming you follow that trail.

Easy scrambling to return to the trail.
It was hard to capture the slope angle on-camera, but I think this does the trick nicely.

The sun beat down as I ascended, reminding me that the hardiness that enables me to wear shorts for most of the winter also hampers my power output as soon as the temperature rises. I do eventually acclimate, but that takes time and we’re still at the start of the season here!

I heard a group of dog-walking hikers coming up behind me as views opened up, and waved them on ahead. They’d evidently been exceeding my pace thus far and it didn’t make much sense to hold them up. I would closely match their pace for the rest of the ascent, lagging just far enough back to avoid exciting one of the less-friendly dogs (the owner was quite nice though; no shade there).

Views start to open up over the bow valley. Exshaw Mountain in the foreground at center left, with Door Jamb, Loder, and Goat to the right. I would follow the ridge to its end and ascend Morrowmount just two days later.

I reached the summit at 1831hrs, and briefly took in the view after taking photos for the group of hikers ahead. I suspected my second objective would offer a better look at the surrounding area and saw no need to linger, moving on just three minutes later.

The ramshackle hut which gives Engagement its alternate name of "Biffy Peak".
Summit views over the Bow Valley and out towards the prairies.

The trail down the southwest side of Engagement was an entertaining excercise in routefinding - just enough difficulty to keep the mind engaged, but with basically zero consequences for guessing wrong. Aside from an intersection where the northern branch leads to the Razor’s Edge mountain bike trail, there was no flagging tape, and there didn’t really need to be. It didn’t take long before I’d rejoined the Quaite Creek trail and was properly headed towards the Jewell Pass intersection.

The southwestern descent trail is well-defined.
Flagging tape leads the way.
Jack Frost pops in for a friendly reminder that winter is not done yet.

Snow made a proper appearance on the Quaite Creek trail. I wondered whether I’d need to use the microspikes that were actually in my pack for once, but it provided excellent traction and was only about six inches at its deepest. A brief trek, sometimes on snow, sometimes on dirt, brought me to the Jewell Pass intersection, where I headed up the Prairie View trail. This trail leads to the viewpoint of the same name, and continues from there to the fire lookout on top of Yates Mountain - my second objective of the day.

Another sign for the Razor’s Edge MTB trail indicated I was in the right place as I ascended on a superhighway of a Rockies trail. The infrastructure here is in amazingly good shape, and should be passable to just about anyone who has the stamina to grind up a few hundred vertical meters of shallow grade trail.

The Jewell Pass intersection. My path is at center, up the Prairie View trail.
Signage indicates the start of the Razor's Edge MTB trail.
The trees finally start to thin as I approach the Prairie View lookout point.

I noticed the trees thinning around 2000hrs and before long broke out of them to the Prairie View outlook. Views over K-country weren’t half bad but were still hampered by trees to climber’s right, and I didn’t linger for long.

HWY 40 and K-Country seen from the viewpoint.
The trail turns from dirt to packed scree as I continue upwards.

The trail shifted to gravel as I continued what was now a pleasantly windy and cool stroll up the ridgeline and towards Yates Mountain. As I climbed I started noticing more snow and ice, and while I had no issues navigating it, I think some folks with less steady footing would probably do well to bring microspikes at this point in the melt. I had no significant difficulties and arrived at the fire lookout at 2042hrs.

A respectable amount of snow was still present on the ridgeline.
Golden hour at the fire lookout.

I have to admit the peakbagger in me gets annoyed when I see something obstructing the summit and keeping me from getting to the last few feet. In this case it was a handful of signage and fencing to keep people away from the lookout, which is unfortunately necessary. I noticed that the radio mast ~100m from the summit has been completely destroyed - solar panels smashed, wires cut, lock on the electronics bin jimmied - for effectively zero reason. Heck, the copper’s still there so it certainly wasn’t for any financial gain.

True summit or no, views from the summit plateau were still pretty great and I spend a good few minutes taking them in, with the golden-hour sun painting the surrounding mountains with the glorious hue that no photograph does justice to.

Golden hour views over Kananaskis and the prairies to the east. Views over Canmore are blocked by the fire lookout.

Looking at my watch I realized the time was already 2050hrs - just about 20 minutes to sunset, and 50 to dusk. I reluctantly started downwards, pausing once again to admire the magenta sky at the Prairie View outlook before resigning myself to a heavily treed descent by headlamp.

Taking a moment to admire the magenta sky on my way back down.
Dusk falls as I descend back towards Jewell Pass.
Returning along the Quaite Creek trail via headlamp.

The return trip beyond this point was quite monotonous and a touch eerie, with the forest almost completely silent. I did not hear a single squirrel or bird the entire time I descended, and filled the void by belting out various sea shanties and Gordon Lightfoot songs as I made my way back to the trailhead. I paused my singing only near the Quaite Creek campsite, as it was now past 2200hrs and I didn’t want to wake anyone who may already be sleeping.

I reached my car at 2238hrs, wishing I’d have gone a bit faster and coming to terms with the fact that I had to show up at work at 0730hrs the next morning! At this point there was nothing to do about it but drive home and head to bed as quickly as I reasonably could. I’m pleased to report as I write this that I survived the workday just fine and would absolutely do it again.