Picture of the Week

Sat. 28 May:  Head-waters: 

Perhaps I have been spending too long in the outdoors, but here's another rock face.  This scary looking rock person with a long nose and prominent mouth is guarding the Elbow Falls, and seems to be taking a sip of the water as it thunders past him.

Soggy Elbow and Frozen Highwood

Sat./Sun. 28/29 May:  Soggy Elbow and Frozen Highwood

Two short trips in two days – but what a contrast.  On the first day I hiked through the snow up a ridge, on an overcast day threatening rain showers, while the very next day I was biking along a road under cloudless skies – but with temperatures only just above freezing.

The forecast for Saturday was not promising.  I was curious to see how much snow had fallen in the mountains over the past week, so decided to drive up the Elbow Valley road – opened two weeks ago.  There was some snow at the Rainy summit, and lots of new snow on Forgetmenot Ridge, hiding a little gloomily in the cloud.  

My first stop was at Elbow Falls.  I guessed that the water might be quite high, and I was right.  It was racing over the Falls with a thunderous roar.  M had told me she had kayaked over these falls recently, but today it would have been impossible.  It was a grand sight.  There was water everywhere, even running down the viewing trail which runs beside the river.  I noticed a very human rock face which looked to be guarding the falls.  It seems that the mountains are full of rocks and cliffs which have a human profile – unless it’s just a sign that I am spending too much time in the outdoors.

At the far end of the road, by the pedestrian footbridge, there was just one car from Saskatchewan which had been parked overnight.  The campsite looked to be deserted – not surprising given the rain and snow and cold temperatures.  Just as I was returning across the suspension bridge, three cars carrying a Japanese family party pulled into the parking area, one guy clutching a brand new map, and several of them wearing shorts.  Good luck, I thought.

Returning back down the valley, I decided to stop at Allen Bill Pond and hike up Fullerton Ridge – a route which C and I last did in 1993.  A large picnic party had assembled by the small lake, the families braving the threat of rain (it stayed dry).  

Passing under the road bridge by the rushing Elbow River, I soon came to a very soggy part of the trail.  In fact it looked very much like a stream-bed, and I only just managed to stay dry crossing the muddy and wet sections.  On Fullerton Loop I soon encountered snow on the trail.  A friendly hiking party of bikers (or quad drivers) came striding down the trail.  

The path climbs up a valley at a gentle angle, before crossing over the stream and climbing a little more steeply to the ridge top.  There are good views across the Elbow Valley to the Front Ranges – except that today the visibility was poor. But I did get a few sunny breaks.  The trail completes the loop by following a pretty tree-lined ridge as it drops back down to the valley floor.  Somewhere along that section I met the only other person on the trail, a girl with her two black Labradors.  This ridge gives a good bird’s eye view back down to the Elbow River and Allen Bill Pond.  There seems to be a small village hidden in the trees, where the park maintenance people probably live.

Safely back across the quagmire, I returned to the car, having remained dry – apart from my boots.  This was a soggy, snowy walk.

Statistics
Fullerton Loop
Sat. 28 May
Total Dist.	6.7 km (hike)
Height Gain	700 ft.
Max. Elev.	5,249 ft.
Time	1 hr. 51 mins.

Other Stats.
Start hike:     10.25 am Top:              11.34 am Ret. to car:    12.16 pm	Temp:  +8 to +11 deg.C Overcast, sunny spells.  Poor visibility.  Some snow on trail.

The next morning, Sunday, I was up very early, and was able to enjoy the 5.30 a.m. sunrise over the prairies as I drove south out of town.  I always enjoy the drive down to Longview, taking the short-cut through Turner Valley to bypass the road through Black Diamond.  It was a cloudless morning and there was a lot of new snow on the mountains and the foothills.  Entering Kananaskis Country, I could see that the Bull Creek Hills had a fresh snow cover right down to the road.  They had been almost snow-free a couple of weeks earlier.  The grass was bright green after all the recent rain.

Not surprisingly there were no other cars at the winter gate, it not being 7 a.m. yet.  There was, however, a large oil or gas truck parked by the road, for some reason or other.  Perhaps the driver had spent the night there before heading down the forestry road.

It was freezing cold, and I wore gloves and my wooly hat as I biked up the road beyond the winter gate.  The valley was full of elk and white tailed deer, very sensitive to my presence and disappearing rapidly over the hillsides as I approached.  One huge herd stood above me on the mountainside.  It must have been close to freezing here, as the sunlight had not found its way down onto the road until I had biked further up the valley.

Given the late snow cover, it was not practical to be trying to hike the mountain trails. This road was one way of getting into the magic wilderness without very much effort.  Two weeks previously, I had biked along this road and had been able to make it about 15 km up the Pass.  So I had hoped to go further today.  I was disappointed.  The recent snow and cold temperatures soon put a stop to my plans after only about nine km.  There was ice and snow on the road and further progress was simply impossible. 

I was in no hurry to leave this mountain wilderness and enjoyed snapping away with my camera at all the snowy mountain peaks which lined this magnificent valley.  The Highwood River was running high, and I would not have wanted to try a crossing today.  Returning to the winter gate I saw just one other vehicle, and its occupant readying for a bike ride up the valley.  He did not stop to ask me how far he might get, so he would have found out for himself soon enough. 

It was still a cold, but sunny morning, not yet 9 a.m.  How funny it might seem to many people that anyone would get up so early on a Sunday morning to bike in the freezing cold up a lonely valley, and 18 kilometres later, be completed so early in the day.  But why not?  The sun rises early at this time of year, and the morning is the best time to enjoy the wildlife, and you are guaranteed tranquility even on a cloudless weekend day.  I simply felt very fortunate to be there.

Statistics
Highway 40 from winter gate
Sun. 29 May
Total Dist.	18 km (bike)
Height Gain	600 ft.
Max. Elev.	5,560 ft.
Time	1 hr. 39 mins.

Other Stats.
Start bike:       6.52 am To snow:         7.47 am Ret. to car:      8.31 am	Temp:  +1 to +4 deg.C Cloudless, cold

Picture of the Week

Sat. 21 May:  Spring has Sprung! Here's proof that, after a long snowy winter, Spring has finally arrived, in the high country of the Cariboo mountains of British Columbia.

The Passionate Farmhand!

Fri. - Sun. 20-22 May:  Spring, Spring, Spring!!

Across the Rockies and back in three days.  And, in the middle, a full day of laboring down on the farm! 

We had been looking for the right opportunity to drive across to central BC to pick up our beef and lamb from our close friend A, but since our last serious attempt last November was foiled by the winter weather, there had seemed little opportunity.  It’s an 830 km drive in each direction, so you need to be fairly sure that the Passes are open and drivable – which was often not the case during the recent long winter.

This time we chose the long weekend in May, and apart from a few heavy rain showers, we had picked a good time for this trip.  Leaving the city very early on the Friday, we made steady progress across the Mountains, enjoying breakfast in Canmore, lunch in Revelstoke, tea in Kamloops and finally supper with A. in Lone Butte!  A gastronomic journey across the Rockies! 

As we sped down the western side of the Rogers Pass, below mountains still covered in snow, we stopped at the Giant Cedars.  Although the access road was still closed, we walked past the gate and enjoyed a leisurely stroll around the boardwalk, through a forest of towering trees, many of which were over 500 years old.  One smaller tree had fallen across the trail some time during the past winter but had been cut up and removed.  Snow still lay on the lower part of the boardwalk. 

Our other “major” stop was at the British sweet shop in Sorrento, called “Conkers”, where we stocked up on essential supplies such as English fudge and fruit drops.

Although the traffic was generally free-flowing, we witnessed a mini-rush-hour in the tiny village of Cache Creek while filling up with gas.  Camping trailers and large semis, racing northwards, all came together for about two minutes to make the village centre seem like downtown Calgary.  Then just as quickly it all evaporated.  Climbing up onto the high Cariboo plateau, we stopped for a wander around the huge junk store in the village of Clinton (called the “Clinton Emporium”).  Here you can buy just about anything from tins to tractors and wrenches to wine glasses.

We arrived at our destination in time to enjoy a nice supper with A. at her local restaurant in the village, a few miles from the Ranch.  The modest exterior hides a superb restaurant inside.

Saturday at the ranch is no different from any other day.  Things start early, with feeding of sheep and goats and chickens and dogs.  After a hearty breakfast, a team gathered, consisting of A. plus two knowledgeable local colleagues and the hired hands for the day (L and myself).  Jumping into tractors and trucks we headed down the road and along a muddy track into the fields beyond the lake.  Here a herd of about fifty Angus cattle and their calves were grazing. 

Soon, by clever tactics, including erection of temporary fencing, we had corralled these animals into a smaller corner of the fields, where they could be more easily handled.  Now the real work could start.

The plan for today was to figure out which calf belonged to which cow, and then to tag the ears of the calf and give it three injections.  Luckily A and her colleagues did all the smart work, including figuring out who belonged to whom.  I have no idea how they did it, but it was done very efficiently.  The job of the passionate farmhand was to open and close various gates and contraptions which allowed animals to either pass through into an enclosure, or to be pinned into a sort of clamp where the tagging and injecting could be safely done.

For a while it seemed that we might get soaked by a heavy shower, but we stayed dry, and the cloudy skies kept us from getting sun-burnt as the hours passed quickly by.  This is a methodical job, and not one which can be rushed.  By about 5 pm we had completed about half the stock, and it would be another day’s hard work for the relief crew – since today’s hired hands had to leave for their comfy city home across the mountains.   If you really want to enjoy a picnic lunch, try working for hours outside in the open air, wrestling with ornery cattle.

Returning to the ranch, it was a joy to wander around the farmyard and to see that Spring had really arrived here in the high Cariboo.  It was not just the noisy sheep and lambs, it was also the clucking of the hens, and the call of the many varieties of wild birds, including the Canada geese, and several colorful smaller birds nesting by the lake.  It was the swallows circling the flagpole, and the buzzing of the wings of the hummingbirds as they sipped from the feeder on the deck.  Spring was in full flight here on the farm. 

That evening the three of us swapped our muddy boots for some clean clothes and headed into the cosmopolitan town of 100 Mile House for a superb meal in elegant surroundings. 

Early the next morning, with the ice boxes full of our meat, we sadly said goodbye and turned east across the lonely lake country and down the steep, long hill, through the clouds and into the magnificent Thompson River valley.  Traffic was still quite light, despite this being the long weekend. 

For old times sake, we stopped briefly to take a photo at The Enchanted Forest, much loved by the girls on summer holidays in the Okanagan.

Just beyond the BC-Alberta border, on the Great Divide, we saw one unfortunate young man, who had been stopped by the police, and was busily emptying out his beer cans onto the ground!  Here we ran into heavy rain showers, and heavier traffic heading east from Banff.  But we made good time, and were home much earlier than we had expected – having packed a lot of driving and a lot of cattle tagging into three days!

BC Stats.
Outward: Dep. Home:     6.15 am Arr. CH:          8.15 pm Time:   14 hrs. 0 mins. Distance:         845 km via Cache Creek	Return: Dep. CH:         9.10 am Arr. Home:      7.30 pm Time:  10 hrs. 20 mins. Distance:         821 km via Little Fort (all times = Mtn. Time)

Picture of the Week

Sat. 14 May:  Flying High

This happy little cloud, flying across the sky on a strong southerly wind, blowing over the Cat Creek Hills, looks as if he's in a hurry, and he even has his suitcase with him - wonder where's he's going?

The Highwood Valley

Sat. 14 May:  The Highwood Valley

Imagine having, on a sunny Spring Saturday, to yourself, an entire valley, complete with a modern highway closed to traffic, a swiftly flowing river running through the valley, snow-free foothills rising enticingly above it, and framed all around by jagged snowy mountain peaks – to say nothing of the wildlife running about all over the place.  Too good to be true?  Not if you come to the Highwood Valley in the Eastern Slopes of Alberta in May.  Today was such a day for me - yet another in a long line of memorable experiences.

Thursday May 12th marked the opening of the camping season in Alberta, with a couple of campsites opening up.  One of these was Etherington Creek, on the forestry road south of the Highwood Junction.  I was surprised it was open so early, given all the snow still lying around.  But I took a chance, and after work on the Friday I drove south to Longview, where I turned west into the Highwood Valley.  The road was almost empty.  The mix of fields full of cattle, with a backdrop of dramatic snowy mountains, was spectacular.  

Arriving at Etherington Creek I found the campsite was indeed open, although empty apart from a couple of other campers.  When I met the custodian later, a friendly middle aged Quebecer, he told me that they had a bob-cat in there a few days ago, to clear all the sites.  As a result, each campsite, although useable, was ringed by snow drifts.

I set up the tent and settled for an early night.  As the light faded, the temperatures dropped quickly under clearing skies, and I was glad of my warm sleeping bag and extra blanket.

Up early the next morning, I drove the short distance back down the forestry road and parked at the winter gate on the Highwood Road.  All the snow had melted on the road, and on the lower slopes of Junction Hill – quite a contrast from only three weeks ago when I tackled the wintry Bull Creek Hills just down the road from here.  

I had chosen my hybrid road bike for this trip, which proved to be a good choice.  My plan was to bike northwards up the road towards the distant Highwood Pass – highest point on a paved road in Canada – and then perhaps to go hiking in the Cat Creek Hills.  I knew that snow would still be lying on the road higher up the Pass, and I was curious to see how far I could get today.

As it turned out, I was able to bike just over fifteen kilometers up the valley until, at a high point between Lineham and Lantern Creeks, I was faced by total snow cover.  It was a pleasant ride, with plenty of deer grazing by, or on, the road, and early morning clouds clearing away from the mountain peaks.  It was a photographer’s paradise.  And I had it to myself.  The silence was broken only by the distant sound of the woodpecker and the wind in the treetops.

Turning around at the point where the snow still lay on the road, I whizzed back as far as Cat Creek, where I parked my bike in the picnic shelter, changed from biking to hiking gear, and set out onto one of my favourite trails in Alberta.  Crossing over Cat Creek, I headed east along the old roadway, now a grassy trail, into the Cat Creek Hills.  At the point where the road used to cross Cat Creek, I turned up onto the hillside, onto a long disused mine/logging trail.  

From here the views were more and more spectacular, as I rose up above the forests, onto the open hillsides.  The bare trees still allowed the ideal views.  The main feature was the Elk Range of jagged peaks to the west, and the Highwood Range to the east.  After negotiating a snowy section in the forest, the snow now soft and melting rapidly, I turned directly up onto the open slopes of the Cat Creek Hills. 

These are the perfect hiking hills, not only for the views they give, but for the interesting outcrops and ridges, as well as all the deer which winter here – and leave their droppings all over the hillsides.  I did not try to reach the highest point in the range, but was happy to make the high viewpoint which is visible from the road below.  From here the views were fabulous, down into the valley, across to the Elk Range, and north to the spectacular jagged outline of Mist Mountain (10,302 ft.) – which I climbed many years ago!

The return down the steep slopes and back through the forests was a pure delight.  This would be the perfect trip for a newcomer to the Rockies.

Back at Cat Creek, I saw the occasional bikers speed by, as I relaxed by the edge of the Highwood River, already racing past, and probably too dangerous to try and cross.

By now a strong southeasterly wind was blowing.  It had tried to catch my baseball cap on the ridge top, but I had it anchored to a length of string so instead it just flew behind me like a kite!

It didn’t take me long to bike back down the road to the car, where it surprised me to learn that I had been out in this magical countryside for almost seven hours.  I could have stayed much longer.  After packing up my campsite, and relaxing in the warm sunshine, I returned on peaceful roads to the city.  Finally the fields are showing some green, and the country is coming alive as if someone has suddenly switched the land from black and white to colour.  And I didn’t need either my long underwear or my snow shoes today!

 

Statistics
The Highwood Valley
Sat. 14 May
Total Dist.	31 km (bike)   +   6 km (hike)   = 37 km
Height Gain	1,630 ft.
Max. Elev.	6,230 ft.
Time	6 hrs. 54 mins.

Other Stats.
Start bike:       7.32 am Cat Creek:       8.06 am Turn around:  9.18 am Cat Creek:     10.16 am Start hike:     10.30 am Top:              12.12 pm Cat Creek:      1.29 pm Ret. to car:      2.26 pm	Temp.+5 to + 16 deg. C Cloudless all day, with a south-easterly wind Ht. gain (bike):  600 ft. Ht. gain (hike):1030 ft.

Picture of the Week

Fri. 6 May:  Pecking Order

This brightly colored woodpecker was hammering away at the metal sign, making such a noise that he could hardly fail to impress some female woodpecker somewhere out there along the Sheep River valley, beyond the still-closed winter gate.

Signs of Spring?

Fri. 6 May:  The Sheep Valley Road

Winter was still alive at the far end of the Sheep Valley road.   Luckily, further east down the valley, there were some early signs of Spring.  The most obvious sign was that the road was now bikeable beyond the winter gate.  This was good news, since the gate, closed since last December, is due to open in just over a week from today, and I really enjoy having the valley to myself before it is invaded by vehicles.

I set out up the road on my mountain bike, but carrying my snow-shoes, as I knew there would very likely be a lot more snow further west.  It was a leisurely journey up the Sheep Valley, on a cool morning.  The forecast was for showers in the afternoon, but some sunshine and cloud in the morning. 

It felt like a cold March day in the Scottish Highlands, with very little hint of Spring.  There were sections of road which were still partly snow covered, and the trees were still entirely bare.  Not far from the start, near the Foran Grade Ridge trail, I spotted a moose, lurking in the trees beside the road.  He was standing still and silent, trying to look invisible I suppose.  My photos came out blurry because of the trees and branches half hiding him.

Passing the foot of Windy Point Ridge, I negotiated several fallen rocks on the road.  Since the snow must have only just melted off the road surface, nobody had had a chance yet to come and clear the road.  Later, as I was biking back down the valley, a grader was making its way westwards most likely to take care of these rocks.  It is at this point where the Sheep River runs through a deep canyon.  There are some very dangerous slopes here which drop away steeply down to the river.

As one travels west along the valley, the views of the Front Ranges dominate the western horizon.  There are several good viewpoints along the road.  After about nine kilometers, I reached the abandoned ranger’s cabin and the two barns across the road.  It is sad that they are letting these buildings fall into disrepair.  In a few years they will be ruins. 

Just past the junction of the Gorge Creek Trail, the road drops steeply down to Gorge Creek, and then just as steeply up the other side.  I was surprised to see a white van parked below the University of Calgary buildings.  Just up the hill I came upon two warmly dressed women sitting in a meadow on two high wooden seats, facing each other, recording the habits of the ground squirrels!    A little further up the road was another van with a man scouting other ground squirrel sites.  The vans were from the University of Sherbrooke, Quebec.  These researchers have keys to the winter gate.

Continuing westwards along the valley, I found more snow on the road, with one set of vehicle tracks through the snow.  Later, around Indian Oils, the tracks stopped and the snow completely covered the surface.  Here I left my bike behind and continued up the road on my snow-shoes.

For the next couple of kilometers I was taking off and then putting on my ’shoes as the surface was alternately snow covered then bare.  Nobody had been along here for several months, I guessed, and I was alert to the presence of bears.  It was here last year, just up the Indian Oils trail, that I came upon a mother black bear with cubs.  But apart from some white-tailed deer I saw no signs of other animals.  

But I enjoyed the antics of a woodpecker with a very bright red plumage.  He was sitting on a post which carried a diamond shaped metal road sign, and was bashing away with his beak on the sign, making quite a racket.  It seemed he was communicating with a distant woodpecker, and given the volume, he deserved to find a good mate this year!

Finally as the spectacular peaks of Gibraltar Mountain (8,743 ft.) and Mt. Burns (9,633 ft.) came into view, just past the Bluerock campsite, I turned around.  The road ended a few hundred metres ahead, but this seemed a good place to stop.  To my left, the waters of the Sheep River were flowing freely between snowy banks.  I stopped at the gate to the campsite.  The snow still lay deep around here, and it would be several weeks yet until anyone could camp up here, even though the camping season officially opens next weekend.

The final three kilometers had been accomplished with a mixture of MICROspikes and snow-shoes, or just hiking boots on the bare sections.  There will need to be a couple more weeks of warm sunshine to allow anyone to drive to the end of the road.

By now, some clouds were starting to build up, and I kept an eye on the weather, knowing that showers were forecast for the afternoon.  The return journey was, not surprisingly, quicker, as I headed back down the valley in an easterly direction.  This road gives one a good workout as there are uphill and downhill stretches in both directions.  By the time that I had returned to the viewpoint below Windy Point Ridge, high above the river, showers were sweeping across the mountains and heading up the valley.  But I stayed dry, whizzing down the final straight stretch to the winter gate.

There is still a lot of construction activity at the Sandy McNabb campsite although it is meant to open next week.  Whatever they have been doing in there must have been spectacular, as they have been working on it for the past year.

As I drove back into the city, the rain showers were rapidly obscuring the mountains.  I had made a good decision to make an early start.  But would this be my very last snow-shoe trip of the long winter?

Statistics
Sheep Valley Road
Fri. 6 May
Total Dist.	30 km (bike)   +   4 km (hike)   +   2 km (‘shoe)  = 36 km
Height Gain	560 ft.
Max. Elev.	5,250 ft.
Time	4 hrs. 55 mins.

Other Stats.
Start bike:       7.14 am Gorge Ck Jn:   8.29 am Park bike:       9.24 am End of road:  10.02 am Back at bike: 10.32 am Gorge Ck Jn: 11.10 am Ret. to car:    12.09 pm Up:       2 hrs. 48 mins. Back:     2 hrs. 7 mins.	Temp. 0 to + 9 deg. C Cloudy, plenty of sunshine => clouds building up (showers looked certain for later in afternoon).  Cool start to trip.