Charlotte Alplands North Peak
Our week in the Charlotte Alplands was based out of a camp on Frog Lake, then we hiked up through the forest to subalpine and alpine terrain north of the Fish-Frog Lakes Valley. We spent two days hiking into rocky alpine terrain on the peak immediately north of the camp.
Maps do not name the broad peaks and ridges on the north side of the Charlotte Alplands so we have just called the mountain Charlotte Alplands North Peak. Chris Czajkowski lived at Nuk Tessli just 8 km away for 23 years. She passed through this valley on foot to get out to Charlotte Lake. She refers to this mountain as Halfway Mountain.
The weather was clear and we got high enough to see in every direction. The peaks to the west of the Alplands 35 km away are part of the Monarch Range. Monarch Mountain stands behind at 11 663 feet. In front are The Queen, The Serf, The Throne, and the Concubine.
To the north are some lower hills, Cowboy Lakes and Charlotte Lake.
We were very pleased to spot and identify Mt. Waddington, 75 km away to the south. Mt. Waddington is the tallest peak entirely in BC at 13 186 feet. It is surrounded by the Waddington Range peaks and glaciers.
To the northwest, Banana Lake fills the valley bottom. Frog Lakes drain into Banana Lake which in turn drains into Charlotte Lake. Along the same line of sight, the Rainbow Range (Tweedsmuir Park) is 70 km away.
From the top of the North Peak we could see Nuk Tessli Lake, the backwoods home of Chris Czajkowski. She hiked in to this spot and lived there for 23 years, building her cabins with only hand tools. This story can be found on a couple of websites:
The Charlotte Alplands lies to the east side of the Pacific Ranges and the mountains are lower and don’t have the glaciers of the mountain ranges to the west and south.
What the Charlotte Alplands do have is lots of lakes and tarns and accessible alpine terrain, an invitation for hikers to explore.
We enjoyed roaming along the alpine ridges of North Peak and would have happily camped in the alpine meadows at 7000 feet.
There were more passes, lakes, ridges and peaks to explore. Few people ever get into the area. This was a special privilege for our small group this past summer.