The Judge

September 8th, 2022. Brisco Range, British Columbia.

Round Trip: 8 Hours, Elevation Gain: 1150m

Mostly Hiking; Easy Scramble

The Judge 2752m, and more-so Diana Lake where you access The Judge, has been on my hiking radar for a few years, most of the hype was purely via word-of-mouth. My good friend and frequent scrambling buddy Scott went up the week before we did, so I went purely off his description and what I could see on the map. The route is plainly illustrated on the Gem Trek 5^th Edition of Kootenay National Park map, as well as in the 8th Edition Backcountry Roads Map for the Kootenay Rockies BC. We teamed up with Flo, Ashley and Anne – Anne had previously hiked in to Diana Lake and was our lead for the day.

While not literally a hidden gem, accessing the trail via a 24km Forest Service Road (FSR) does help hinder the crowds, and as such we only encountered two other hiking parties the day we went. We also encountered a moose on the drive in (thankfully not while out on foot) and noticed that some of the cars at the trailhead had used chicken wire wrap around their vehicles. We didn’t bring any for this single day outing but if doing any overnights in the area you will want to keep out the pesky porcupines!

From the end of the FSR the trailhead is relatively straightforward; there are trail instructions posted at the start of the FSR when you pull off from Highway 95 and again posted at the trailhead. These are worth noting for the initial start as the trail technically covers the last 1km of the FSR before reaching the actual trailhead. Once on the main trail its easy to stay the correct path. It took the slower part of our group (me being one of the slow ones) two hours to reach Diana Lake, our path winding first through old growth forest and later through subalpine meadows. We stopped by the Tea House and some chose to enjoy some soup while the rest of us plodded onwards along a distinct footpath leading to the alpine meadow northeast of the lake. If in doubt, just ask the friendly folks running the Tea House!

The trail then veers east onto a saddle separating The Judge from Fossil Ridge; we continued for The Judge following a distinct footpath that takes you up the western slope of the peak. The majority of the ascent is little more than a steep and scenic hike. Towards the uppermost slope leading into the summit block are some blocky cliff sections that can be scrambled head-on (easy scrambling) however if one wishes to avoid the hands-on parts, the footpath snakes through here and most of the scrambling can be avoided if one chooses.

The hiking party we encountered had backed away from this part, and to their credit the summit block does look worse than it is from a distance. Close up however, the path of least resistance is pretty obvious, regardless if you walk it or scramble it. It took us around 2 hours from the Tea House to the reach the summit; Bri and Ashely caught up within half an hour of their soup snack break. And OH WOW what a summit it is! Some of the best views for effort we’ve done, I’d put The Judge in the same tier as Paget Peak in Yoho.

Regrouped we spent quite a while on the summit identifying various peaks (curse you Will for not tagging along with your Peak Finder app!) before setting off back down the same route. Once back at the saddle we apparently followed a different footpath that detoured slightly above the meadow, a few minutes in I noticed another trail a hundred metres or so off to our right and went “huh, that trail down there looks a lot more familiar than this one!” It was a quick fix and soon we were back on the correct path, and took our time on the return hike, including a great stop & chat with the lodge owners who showed us some awesome print photos of the different seasons around Diana Lake. Once back at the cars, we were relieved to see the porcupines spared our tires, and were entertained by a very lost looking family wandering around the creek crossing at the end of the FSR in street shoes & casual clothing. I doubt they ventured much further that day.

I will say as a final side comment, the FSR was in pretty good shape that day except for two deep potholes within the last hundred metres of the road. Our vehicles only just cleared (Subaru Forester and Honda CRV). Logging operations were done for the season so we literally had the road all to ourselves, except of course for Mrs. Moose on the morning drive. It would have been a very different driving experience had it been a wetter season or if logging was in operation.