GDT

Distance to Lost Creek from Cataract access trail: 12km.  Elevation gain: 595m.  Elevation loss: 455m.  The Trail is marked with orange paint blazes and cairns.  Two blazes indicate change of direction.

At the "Y" junction where the access trail meets the GDT, turn left downhill.  Shortly after, cross Cataract Creek on a small log bridge.  The Trail is quite obvious as it climbs up the open north toe of the plateau, crossing a gully on another bridge before it enters the forest.  Occasional views are had of Mt Etherington to the north.  The Trail winds its way uphill and finally breaks clear of the trees, emerging on a rock outcropping overlooking the head waters of Cataract Creek.  Push up the slope to the left to gain the crest of the ridge proper.  Along the crest, the bootprint of the Trail is minimal or non-existent, but the way is clear and the views just keep getting better.

Follow the ridge to the high point (2270m/ 7450').  The view is spectacular, from  Mt Farquhar (2900m/ 9512') at the SW end of the ridge, and joined directly to the plateau, to the sheer faces of Scrimger (2755m/ 9036') and Holcroft (2687m/ 8815') directly west, to Mt Etherington (2877m/ 9437') directly north, back the way you came.   Further north, Mount Head dominates the range of peaks beyond the Highwood River.  To the east, an abandoned fire lookout is barely visible atop Mount Burke.

If time allows, it's possible to walk the plateau up to the cliffs of Mt Farquhar.  But the actual Trail bends left as it drops away from the high point and re-enters trees alongside a coulee.  Keep left and look for blazes to find where the Trail loops down into the coulee.  The Trail's path up the far side is visible. (If water is needed, a ten-minute side trip down the coulee will bring you to a good spring.) Once you've ascended the other side of the coulee,  enter an open forest of larch and fir.  The wildflowers through here are spectacular in mid-summer.  A short walk off the Trail to the right will reward you with a stunning view of Beehive Mountain to the south.  The Trail heads east for another hundred metres or so, before turning south and dropping steadily down through heavier forest, finally reaching an old logging road about 11km from the Cataract Creek footbridge.

The Trail now turns left on the logging road and follows it about 1 km to a T-junction with the Lost Creek snowmobile trail (really, just another old logging road).  Turn left to follow this road back to the Cataract Creek sawmill site.  Turn right to continue south on the GDT.