Mount Shadowfax, Mount Aragorn, Mount Gandalf

July 09, 2026

Mount Shadowfax, Mount Aragorn, Mount Gandalf

Mount Shadowfax - 2315M

165M Prominence

50.64179, -122.67686

July 9, 2026

Mount Aragorn - 2435M

225M Prominence

50.64244, -122.70600

July 9, 2026

Mount Gandalf - 2391M

107M Prominence

50.63240, -122.70205

July 9, 2026

1695M Ascent and descent

8H 30M C2C, 7H 30M moving

24.4KM

The last of my Pemberton peak bagging days was set to be a grand loop of the Lord of the Rings area. This area comprises all the peaks around the Brian Waddington hut. Mount Shadowfax, Mount Aragorn, Mount Gandalf, Mount Frodo and Peregrine Peak. I had planned to complete at a minimum the three first peaks listed, and if I had time the last two as well. I went back into Pemberton after coming down from Saxifrage and Cassiope the day before, so a early start was needed to drive back out to the Pemberton Portage road. After driving Pemberton Portage road for a bit I turned off on Blackwater road, and head toward Birkenhead lake. This road is not paved but is probably one of the best gravel roads I have driven, just before the lake I took a right turn onto Phelix creek FSR. This FSR is not that bad either, but there are 19 cross ditches that slow down progress to a crawl. I was unable to make it to the very end of the road and the trailhead due to what I think is a somewhat recent washout, where I ended up parking. I got hiking at a reasonable 8AM start, and made my way past the washout to the actual trailhead. This addition only added roughly 15-20 minutes each way. The start of the trail was actually surprisingly overgrown with spring growth, but it soon faded away as I entered a nicer forest. I was yet again blown away at the access in these areas by the fact that I could reach the alpine in less than 2 hours from the car, on a great and very well established trail. Once I got to Long Lake I looked for the trail up to Shadowfax. I walked right by the trail at first, as it is a little bit hard to spot (it is right after the creek). The trail was quite marshy at first, and quite eroded in spots, but I was soon up higher and out of any marshes and making my way up the interesting "Z" route. The standard route for Shadowfax is an interesting route that follows up a series of dirt sloped ledges and rocky terrain under rock walls and zig zag's it's way up to the summit. I spent a record minimum amount of time on the summit as I was more motivated on what was to come and I could see that the clouds were not going to stay at 3000M all day. I made my way down the Zig Zag route and back down to the eastern most of the 3 lakes on this plateau between the peaks. I then began threading my way between the lakes over the undulating terrain in direction for the Aragorn-Gandalf col, that was pretty much always in sight. I stopped for lunch at some point on the plateau as it was a bit warmer than any summit would have been. The plateau offered a variation of terrain, and a lot big boulders to navigate. The way up to the col was probably the sketchiest part of the day as it was pretty steep gravel mixed in with loose rocks that could shift at any moment, it was pretty unenjoyable as far as scrambling goes. From the col I hiked out and back to Mount Aragorn's summit first. This was a simple hike on a very broad ridge and was extremely straight forward. Aragorn's summit was quite flat, but was unique in that it had a big boulder perched on the edge of it's exposed north east face. Unfortunately anything above 2300-2400M was in a thick cloud by this time, so there was really not much to be seen and I just carried on back down to the col. From the col I made my way toward Mount Gandalf, which was only a short distance away. Again it was just a hike, but near the summit I scrambled a bit and went through a portal to gain access to the area where Gandalf's summit boulder sat. Gandalf's summit was even more unique than Aragorn, with a series of very interesting boulders that I often wondered how they must have got there. The summit boulder was significantly bigger and more daunting than I expected, and after circling around it I decided to make an attempt at climbing it. I made it about half way au cheval before deciding that it wasn't for me, especially being alone, as it is very exposed on every side. The descent off of Gandalf down to the Gandalf - Frodo col is also quite uneventful, but I found that staying skier's right was less steep and didn't require any dirt scrambling. Once I got down to the col I gave up on trying for the two remaining peaks. I had lots of time left in the afternoon, but they really didn't motivate me all that much. By this time the clouds were also dropping and it was starting to spit a bit of rain. I made my way down to the upper lake, following a decent trail, then along the lake. This area was amazing and really beautiful all day, and the upper lake was no exception. The trail between the two lakes was quite marshy though. I am not sure if it is just this time of year, but it seems there is no shortage of boggy trails around Pemberton. Back down at Long Lake I took a break in the Brian Waddington hut and sat down for a minute to check it out. I then carried on the hike back around the lake and descended the same trail and FSR I had come up earlier in the day to get back to my truck.