Rainy Ridge North - Castle Wildland Provincial Park (AB) / SE Kootenay Region (BC)

2025-08-02 - of all the unnamed summits and points in the Castle Wildland (and there are many) there is no peak more noticeable and seen than a northern outlier of Rainy Ridge designated only as Rainy Ridge North or RRN. The reason for this is RRN is perfectly framed between Highway 774 as skiers, bikers, hikers and campers make their way to Castle Mountain Resort. It sits right in view just before people turn into the parking lot. It becomes even more prominent on the West Castle Valley Rd. which begins in the SE corner of the resort parking lot. It looms high and dominates the view to the south as much as Barnaby Ridge does to the east. I had wanted to climb the peak for some time as I had passed by it on several adventures around Middle Kootenay Pass. During a scramble from nearby Three Lakes Ridge to the high point of Rainy Ridge I could see a good line to RRN that definitely looked doable. Other than that there wasn't a lot of info. on the summit, although I did find one online source on Andrew Nugara's blog. Melissa and I set out on a beautiful sunny day. Melissa wasn't really interested in RRN but wanted to come along part of the way as she wanted to pick huckleberries which are especially ripe and plentiful this year. I biked my way up the first 6 Km or so and then stashed my bike. From there I made my way to Middle Kootenay Pass. This is a steep hike but nothing too strenuous. This pass is easily my favourite of all the mountain passes in the area. It is expansive and scenic and easy to get to. The route from MKPass is simple enough. I could see that I would first have to go up one red argillite bump. Then I'd lose a bit of elevation and then have to make my way up to a 2nd, steeper bump. From that bump I would then have to lose significant elevation and get to a col that would then get me to the final approach of RRN. I really enjoyed the little bit of scrambling that go me to the 1st bump. I had a leisurely lunch there before setting off to the 2nd bump. That one is more difficult but it had fantastic scrambling. This could be avoided on the right but I took it straight on for the most part. Once at the top of the 2nd bump I was tempted to first make way to the south to yet another outlier of Rainy Ridge known as Rainy NW1. Melissa had ascended this point while I was doing my Three Lakes-Rainy traverse a few years ago and noted that it had a super easy approach from the Middlepass Lakes. Hmmm... maybe next time I thought! The descent from the 2nd bump was easy enough. It was mostly through light vegetation with the occasional downclimb through a cliff band. I made it to the col / saddle in good time. I thought I was going to get into more serious territory on the final approach but I was surprised to find that the rock was firm and I ascended quickly. The summit offers fantastic views, especially of the West Castle Valley which lies directly below the peak. I could see my entire route all the way back to the resort. Although the east peak is lower I made my way along just so that I could say that I had walked along the whole thing. This was a good idea as it was an easy stroll with just a bit of scrambling right below the east peak. On descent I made the unwise decision of making my way through the steep cliffs below the final col. I just wanted to go down and explore and get a bit of a loop hike in. This line was tedious and involved a lot of bushwhacking. I wouldn't recommend it. But despite that I never felt lost or too enmeshed in the alder trees and other scratchy bits. Before too long I pushed my way through and got back to the main trail. I looked back on my descent line and, not for the first time, seriously had to question my sanity. ;-) From the main trail it was a quick return to my bike and then back to the trailhead at the resort. References: https://anugara.net/rainynorth.html Music: "A Handful of Summer" by Roo Panes    • Roo Panes - A Handful of Summer (Official ...   "Walking on Sunshine" by Beth & James    • Walking On Sunshine   "Old Scars" by Jill Andrews    • Jill Andrews - Old Scars (Official Audio)