Snag No More, Sugar Momma

Sat. 22 October:  Snag No More, Sugar Momma

No, I haven’t gone crazy.  While hiking trails generally reflect the landscape, for example, Mist Ridge, Elbow Lake Trail, the mountain bikers have no such limitations.  So here I was exploring some new trails built for (and probably named by) those daredevils on wheels who these days can be found on almost every trail in K Country.  Snag No More is a gentle trail winding up to the top of Snagmore Hill, while Sugar Momma twists its way upwards towards Ranger Hill, both in the Elbow Valley.  The two can be connected, along with the Fullerton Loop hiking trail, to make an interesting circuit.

Here we were, deep into October, and yet another beautiful sunny weekend in the forecast.  How long could this last?  In the meantime I was keen to take advantage of the short time I had today and so was out on the trail early, as the sun was rising in an orange sky. These trails have just been carved out of the hillsides this Fall by a local group (the Greater Bragg Creek Trails Association), and they are accessed from the popular Allen Bill Pond picnic area in the Elbow Valley. 

Even a narrow trail takes a lot of hacking out of a forested hillside, and I could see the amount of trees which had to be cleared away, and ground cover removed.  Snag No More takes a gentle line along an escarpment above the Elbow River, before rising to the top of the forested hill.  There were a couple of good viewpoints down to the river below.  Now that most of the trees had lost their leaves, there were better glimpses across the valley.  At one point, I had a good view across to the opposite bank of the river where there was a hidden village which I had never seen before.  There was a “Pike River Bar and Grill”, a church, and a few houses.  Surrounding them were several ugly portable cabins.  This was, I suspect, a film set for one of the many Hollywood movies or TV series which are shot in Alberta. 

At the first bend in the trail, a coyote ran off ahead of me.  Several white tailed deer leapt off into the trees as I strolled through the woods.  I did not expect to see any bears here, and did not – although I was prepared just in case!  The top of Snagmore Hill is a short forested ridge, but it did give some spectacular glimpses of the mountains to the west, and of the city of Calgary on the eastern horizon.  The path continued down the other side of the ridge, connecting lower down with the wide, grassy Iron Springs trail.  It made an enjoyable circuit of about 6.4 kilometres.

Directly across from the Snag No More trailhead is the start of the Sugar Momma trail.  This narrow trail winds through the woods and then corkscrews up a sloping hillside towards the top of Ranger Hill.  I did not have enough time today to go all the way to the top but I took an unmarked branch which dropped gradually down into the valley to my left where I picked up the wide, hard-packed Fullerton Loop Trail.  Turning up the valley I soon came out at the high point on this trail, which follows the forested ridgeline for a while before coming out of the trees an giving grand views west to the Elbow Valley and the mountains beyond. 

The breeze had picked up and a line of thin cloud was pushing across the Front Ranges, blotting out the mountains as it moved eastwards.  It was warm and sunny overhead.  Although most of the deciduous trees had already lost their leaves there were a few splashes of colour in the wide valley below.  Allen Bill Pond sparkled in the sunshine.  Now I passed several people coming up the trail, including a small group of middle-aged women enjoying a stroll up the hill.  We exchanged cheery greetings.  It took me no time at all to stride back to the car, enjoying the cool breeze under a sunny sky.  I made a point of saying a bright "Hello!" to every person who passed by – and the trail was starting to get busy as the afternoon trippers arrived, many with their dogs.

I had seen no bikes, and this was not a complete surprise.  Both Snag No More and Sugar Momma are not yet widely known, and I had started quite early today.  They make a more peaceful alternative to the busy, popular Fullerton Loop, and have their own unique views of the Elbow Valley.  And they must have given someone a lot of fun coming up with crazy names to call them!

Statistics
Snag No More, Sugar Momma
Sat. 22 October
Total Dist.	14.1 km (hike)
Height Gain	1,220 ft.
Max. Elev.	5,250 ft.
Time	3 hrs. 26 mins.

Other Stats.
Start hike:       8.32 am Snagmore top: 9.39 am Start SugrM: 10.21 am Top:              11.15 am Ret. to car:    11.58 am	Temp: Starts cold, rises from 0 to +11 C Hazy sun, then brighter sunshine and W breeze increasing.  Clouds to W.