Elevation Gain: 653m
Distance: 8.70km
Total Time: 5 hours 55 minutes (including lake hike and hang out)
Date: September 10th, 2023
Gotcha Peak is the smaller neighbor to Gott Peak at the head of the Blowdown Creek valley. It’s easily accessed from the north via Blowdown Pass and is often combined with Gott Peak in a single day. Andrea, myself and her family were spending the weekend up at Gotcha Lake and were now on our last day in the area. On the previous day, Andrea and I ascended Moomin Peak. Now for the following day we were keen to get up Gotcha Peak. Andrea’s sister Heidi was down to join us, but first the whole family wanted to do a short day hike to some unnamed lakes around the south side. We spent the first part of the morning walking out there and then Heidi, Andrea and myself set off for the summit.
We scrambled around the talus fields on the east side of Gotcha Lake to save a bit of distance and then scrambled up creek bed regain the road at Blowdown Pass. From there we followed the broad class 2 slopes up until it naturally funnelled into a narrow section of ridge line. Here we had perhaps a move or two of class 3 before topping out onto the huge upper slopes below the summit.
Another 2-300m of hiking got us up to the summit where we had phenomenal views of the Stein Valley and deeper towards the Silent Hub area. I hopped rock to rock trying to get some good photo angles and taking in all the views. A cold wind eventually forced us off the top and it quickly warmed up further down the slopes. We followed the class 2 slopes all the way down to Blowdown pass.
For the final part of the return we took the normal trail back along an old FSR below the main Blowdown pass connector. Then we took a short trail down the lake and reunited with Andrea’s family. A very easy, but fun outing and much different views than Gott Peak despite the proximity. Well worth the short hike.
