Late Season River Crossings

Sun. 13 November:  Late Season River Crossings:  Sheep Valley

There are few better trails for a late season hike than the Sheep Trail.  This long hiking route keeps to the remoter south side of the Sheep River all the way from Sandy McNabb campsite west to Bluerock Creek.  The trail continues into the mountains, through the steep-sided valley leading to Tombstone campsite and the Elbow Trail.  The eastern section of the Sheep Trail is often snow-free through November, and the advantage is that the often dangerous Sheep River can be safely crossed at this time of year.

My plan today was to start at Gorge Creek, where I would ford the Sheep River before heading up the forgotten Teskey Road to Dyson Falls.  From there I would turn west and follow the Sheep Trail all the way to Bluerock Creek, where I would recross the river before returning by bike along the road.  It all worked out as planned.

Despite this being mid-November, the Sheep River had not yet frozen over, although the ice was quickly forming along the edges of the river.  And I found the water levels surprisingly high.  My crossing technique consisted of wearing two dry sacks on each leg, which was a good idea as the water reached to my knees.  The trails were either still snow-free, or had up to three inches of snow, easily manageable, and with very few icy sections.  The Front Ranges were half-hidden in the cloud, but they already had plenty of snow cover, and an icy wind was blowing an occasional snow flurry across the sky.  In the shade, though, it was not a bad day, with a few sunny breaks and temperatures around freezing.

This was a familiar trail to me.  I had brought my godson J this way almost exactly a year ago, and I had traveled this route several times before that.  It is clearly a favorite with the horseback riders, and so luckily the muddy path was frozen.

Dyson Falls is a little gem, a mini-waterfall, and it had already started to freeze up.  I could see that many people had hiked along the trail between Indian Oils and Dyson Falls, earlier in the day, but the only people I saw today were a guy dressed in camouflage with his two young sons.

There is a forested hillside on the north (right) side of the trail as it passes through the meadows west of Dyson Falls.  I had been meaning to explore this hill for several years, and so today I branched off the trail and up the gentle slopes.  It was an easy stroll through the trees gradually up the long, gentle ridge.  At the western edge of the ridge I came out of the trees to a very nice viewpoint.  On a clear day this would be worth a special trip, but even today I had glimpses of snowy peaks hiding in the cloud, and the Sheep Valley spread out below me.  It was an easy descent through the trees back to the Sheep Trail below.  This unnamed hill was well worth a detour.

The trail sloped down and down through the trees, until it finally arrived at the Indian Oils bridge.  There is always a big patch of ice on this final corner leading to the bridge over the Sheep River, and today was no exception.  Tiger Jaw Falls were also in the process of freezing up, but there was still a good volume of water racing round the corner under the bridge.

After a short break for a welcome snack and some hot chocolate, I crossed back over the bridge and continued westwards on Sheep Trail, quickly leaving any sign of footprints behind me.  Here the snow was two to three inches deep on the path.  This section of trail does have some occasional views of the Sheep River, but it also passes through long sections of closed forest, pretty enough but out of sight of the river.  Finally it dropped back down to the river’s edge, and right opposite was the Bluerock Creek road bridge, under which I had earlier hidden my bike.  Another tricky river crossing was safely completed, with my feet just about staying dry.  A summer crossing of the river would be foolhardy.

The seven and a half kilometres of bike riding down the road took no time at all.  The surface was starting to freeze over, but still bikeable.  In two weeks time the road would close for the winter, and the snow would start piling up, making it a good skiing trip for long-distance enthusiasts.  There were very few other vehicles, in fact I don’t remember being passed by any cars at all while biking back down the road.

Racing headlong down the final steep hill, I was soon back at Gorge Creek and my car.   It had been a pleasant outing.  After a couple of weeks of eating my way around Europe, it was good to be back in the Alberta Foothills, enjoying the last few days of pre-winter hiking.  Now it’s time to check out my skiing gear.

Statistics
Sheep Trail
Sun. 13 November
Total Dist.	11.6 km (hike) +   7.5 km (bike) =
Height Gain	19.1 km     980 ft.
Max. Elev.	5,770 ft.
Time	4 hrs. 3 mins.

Other Stats.
Start hike:      9.02 am Dyson Falls:  10.06 am Ind. Oils Br:  11.24 am Bluerock Ck: 12.20 pm Start bike:     12.38 pm Ret. to car:      1.05 pm	Temp: Cool, around freezing (-2 to +3 C) Mostly cloudy, some sunny intervals and light flurries on cold west breeze.