Mystic Peak is a mountain

summit A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. The topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous. The term (mountain top) is generally used only for ...

in the

Canadian Rockies The Canadian Rockies () or Canadian Rocky Mountains, comprising both the Alberta Rockies and the British Columbian Rockies, is the Canadian segment of the North American Rocky Mountains. It is the easternmost part of the Canadian Cordillera, w ...

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

, Canada. The name is not officially recognized by the

Geographical Names Board of Canada The Geographical Names Board of Canada (GNBC) is a national committee with a secretariat in Natural Resources Canada, part of the Government of Canada, which authorizes the names used and name changes on official federal government maps of Canad ...

Description

Mystic Peak, , is located in the

Sawback Range The Sawback Range is a mountain range of the Canadian Rockies that stretches from the Bow Valley in Alberta into southeastern Banff National Park. List of Mountains This range includes the following mountains and peaks: See also * Ranges of ...

northeast of the

Bow Valley Parkway Highway 1A is the designation of two alternate routes off the Alberta Highway 1, Alberta portion of Trans-Canada Highway 1. However, it is not the only name used for spurs off Highway 1 - Alberta Highway 1X, Highway 1X is another such designation. ...

Banff National Park Banff National Park is Canada, Canada's first National Parks of Canada, national park, established in 1885 as Rocky Mountains Park. Located in Alberta's Rockies, Alberta's Rocky Mountains, west of Calgary, Banff encompasses of mountainous ter ...

. The prominent peak is situated 10 kilometers east of

Castle Junction Castle Junction is a locality where the northern extent of the Banff–Windermere Highway ( Highway 93) intersects with the Trans-Canada Highway ( Highway 1), the Bow River, and Bow Valley Parkway (Highway 1A) in Banff National Park, Alberta ...

, two kilometers southwest of Mystic Pass, two km northwest of Mystic Lake, and three km north of Mount Ishbel. The peak and pass are named in association with Mystic Lake which is a popular destination for fishing cutthroat trout. Precipitation runoff from the mountain drains west into Johnston Creek which is a tributary of the

Bow River The headwaters of the Bow River in Alberta, Canada, start at the Bow Glacier and Bow Lake (Alberta), Bow Lake in Banff National Park in the Canadian Rockies, Canadian Rocky Mountains. The glacial stream that feeds Bow Lake (Alberta), Bow Lake ...

, and east to the Cascade River via Forty Mile Creek.

Topographic relief Terrain (), alternatively relief or topographical relief, is the dimension and shape of a given surface of land. In physical geography, terrain is the lay of the land. This is usually expressed in terms of the elevation, slope, and orientati ...

is significant as the summit rises above Johnston Creek in three kilometres (1.9 mile).

Climate

Based on the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

, Mystic Peak is located in a

subarctic climate The subarctic climate (also called subpolar climate, or boreal climate) is a continental climate with long, cold (often very cold) winters, and short, warm to cool summers. It is found on large landmasses, often away from the moderating effects of ...

zone with cold, snowy winters, and mild summers. Winter temperatures can drop below −20 °C with wind chill factors below −30 °C.

Geology

Like other mountains in Banff Park, the mountain is composed of

sedimentary rock Sedimentary rocks are types of rock (geology), rock formed by the cementation (geology), cementation of sediments—i.e. particles made of minerals (geological detritus) or organic matter (biological detritus)—that have been accumulated or de ...

laid down from the

Precambrian The Precambrian ( ; or pre-Cambrian, sometimes abbreviated pC, or Cryptozoic) is the earliest part of Earth's history, set before the current Phanerozoic Eon. The Precambrian is so named because it preceded the Cambrian, the first period of t ...

Jurassic The Jurassic ( ) is a Geological period, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately 143.1 Mya. ...

periods. Formed in shallow seas, this sedimentary rock was pushed east and over the top of younger rock during the

Laramide orogeny The Laramide orogeny was a time period of mountain building in western North America, which started in the Late Cretaceous, 80 to 70 million years ago, and ended 55 to 35 million years ago. The exact duration and ages of beginning and end of the o ...

References

;Notes

External links

* Weather
Mystic Pass
* Parks Canada web site
Banff National Park
* Mystic Peak (photo)
Flickr
{{Geographic Location 2 , Center = Mystic Peak , North = Block Mountain , Northeast = Mystic Pass , East = Vermilion Range , Southeast = Mystic Lake , South = Mount Ishbel , Southwest =

, West = Johnston Creek , Northwest =

Castle Mountain Castle Mountain () is a mountain located within Banff National Park in the Canadian Rockies, approximately halfway between Banff and Lake Louise. It is the easternmost mountain of the Main Ranges in the Bow Valley and sits astride the Castl ...

Two-thousanders of Alberta Mountains of Banff National Park Sawback Range