Lost Mountain
Welcome to the West Kootenay’s latest and greatest hike! The Lost Mountain trail offers highway access and a steady workout. Most of this hike is done in the forest, but the final ridge and summit are worth the effort!
Distance, round trip: 10.6km
Elevation: +1109m
Season: mid-June to early October
Difficulty:
Difficult
Background
The Lost Mountain trail was restored in 2017 through a partnership between the Salmo Valley Trails Society and the Kootenay Mountaineering Club.
Trailhead
The trailhead is located in a massive pullout just after the avalanche gates on the Salmo side of Kootenay Pass. Watch for the trailhead kiosk on the South side of the highway. The pullout is 27km from Salmo, following Highway 3 South-East towards the pass. It’s not at the top of the pass.
There is a kiosk at the parking area. Look for the trail across the highway, angling up along the slope above. Cross with care!
Up through the forest
The trail starts off climbing steadily and evenly and uneventfully through the forest. The sounds of the highway fade, but the forest continues. We kicked up plenty of dirt and startled plenty of grouse, but the scenery didn’t start to get interesting until about 2.3km when we came to the scenic mid-point:
The trail leads to a rock outcropping and we could suddenly look down towards the highway and Kootenay Pass. Looking ahead, the summit of Lost Mountain was visible in the far distance:
More forest!
Leaving the rest point, the trail continues onwards and upwards through the forest. The trees thin very slowly, until suddenly you’re hiking high on a ridge – at last! Scenery!
Above the trees
As the trees fade away, so does the trail disappear into a line of cairns and reflective blazes. But at this point, the route ahead is easy to see:
Aim for the ridge, approaching the summit from the left.
Summit Time
We reached the summit within 3 hours. Although it was a sunny day, cool wind was blowing at high elevation. The view towards Kootenay Pass was relatively clear, but wildfire smoke was hazing the other directions.
Heading down
We were flying on the hike down – only 2 hours! Lost Mountain has similar distance and elevation to the Mount Loki trail, but I kept marvelling at how much easier it is. The trail crew did an excellent job at managing the grade!
Trail crew did about 5 km. Several sections were rerouted.
Hey, I believe someone in Ymir found your cell phone or keys Chris Cowan. Posting at Ymir store.
Not mine..
Lots of deadfall out there today! Did in a bit less than 3 hours, 1:50 ascent, 1:07 descent
Wow, that is impressive hiking time!
Mostly all cleared up now xcp a few really large chunks you have to go around.
Any chance this would be doable now or do you think still too much snow?
There will be snow on the upper half of the trail, but it should be compact and hardened to walk on top okay. There is usually a lot of dead fall on this trail – the KMC is doing a clearing hike in June to clean it up. 🙂
It’s definitely a bit of a slog up those switchbacks. Not terribly interesting until you get above the trees. Summit was nice though, there’s a little register tucked into the cairn.
Note this trail is actually 12 km round trip if you are going to the true summit. At 5 km you come to a false summit and the trail markers end. It’s easy enough to find your way up the last km (stay to the left)
Aha, I logged 5.3km one-way on my GPS from the trailhead to the summit. I’ll get a new track next time I go and double-check the distance.
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