Snowy Snagmore

Sun. 26 February:  Snowy Snagmore

Not the greatest of forecasts, combined with snow-covered roads, might have deterred me from going out today.  But somehow I found myself getting up early and preparing for an adventure.  It is now over a month since my operation and some of my former drive to be outdoors has suddenly reappeared.

So I headed south out of town on slippery roads, then turned west onto Highway 22X.  I had originally planned to go only as far as the Cross Conservation Area, but as I approached the turn-off, I just kept on going.  Today I wanted a greater challenge.  And I had my brand new winter tires on, so the snow-covered highway was no obstacle this morning.  Beyond the Bragg Creek turnoff, the road had not yet been ploughed, but I was soon pulling off the road at Allen Bill Pond, having decided to tackle Snagmore Hill today.  It was still early and there were no other vehicles around.  Nobody had hiked up this trail since the latest snowfalls.  Perhaps more surprisingly, there were generally very few animal hoof/paw prints on my route today.  Perhaps the weather has been miserable enough this weekend to deter even the predators and their prey from venturing out.

The Elbow River looked extremely cold, with small pieces of ice flowing past between snow banks.  My route took me up the wide and popular trail to the Fullerton Loop turnoff.  Here I swung to the right up a hill onto the very southern end of the West Bragg Creek ski trails, on Iron Springs trail.  A couple of hundred yards up the trail I reached the new sign which indicated the start of the Snagmore Hill trail – better known to mountain bikers as “Snag-no-more”.

This is a pretty trail, especially early on, as it runs through the trees on the top of an escarpment dropping down to the Elbow River.  Although snow-covered, I could see that several new bridges had been built since my last trip up here in October 2011.  And it was now well signed with little red diamonds nailed to the trees.  The grade is gentle, until you reach the upper parts of the hill, where it is a bit steeper.  I would recommend this trail to anyone wanting a pleasant and not too onerous hike.  Higher up, there is one very good vantage point of the Elbow River, with the film-set town-site below, on a flat piece of land across the river.  Reaching to top of the ridge, I was soon at the flat summit, where, on a clear day, one has fine views both to west and to east.  Today the lightest of snowfall was drifting down out of a thinly clouded sky, with the sun making a hazy appearance low to the southeast.

This is actually a fine little tree-covered ridge.  If you could imagine it without all the trees, it would be a grand mountain setting, the ridge falling steeply to the east and not quite so steeply to the west.

I followed the meandering snow-covered path as it dropped down off the summit.  This trail continued to keep to the ridge as it dropped to the valley below.  Here I picked up Iron Springs trail, not travelled by any skiers since the recent snowfall, but some tracks faintly visible under the snow.  I stopped to put on my snow shoes and found them to be ideal for a fast descent of this gentle hillside.  Right at the southern end of the trail, as I came out at the junction with Elbow trail, a lone cross-country skier overtook me.  He had started his journey a long way to the north at West Bragg Creek, and was making good progress along the trail.  He swung north as I turned south to complete my Snagmore circuit. 

Just past the Fullerton Ridge trailhead I passed two guys well bundled up for the cold.  I had found it very chilly on the hands at the start, and had to put on my heaviest gloves.  It remained cold, around minus fifteen degrees C.

Soon I was back at the car, which had received a light dusting of snow during my absence.  I was glad of the heater to warm me up a bit.  The return journey was uneventful, as the ploughs had been hard at work during the morning.  It had been a good test of my post-op progress and now I feel up to greater challenges!

Statistics
Snagmore Hill
Sun. 26 February
Total Dist.	5.6 km (hike)   + 3.0 km (‘shoe)  = 8.6 km
Height Gain	520 ft.
Max. Elev.	5120 ft.
Time	2 hrs. 19 mins.

Other Stats.
Start hike:      8.25 am Summit:         9.42 am Ret. to car:   10.44 am	Temp: Minus 15 deg.C Light snow, hazy sun, cold.

First Steps

Sun. 19 February:  Oakridge and Braeside

A tentative amble around the neighborhoods of southwest Calgary showed me that I might be ready for more challenging trips ahead – although it has only been just over three weeks since my operation.

This sunny morning was ideal for a walk, although at this relatively early hour, not many people were out yet, apart from a few dog walkers.  Even on this city walk, there were two fine glimpses of the snow-clad mountains to the west. 

My route took me westwards on a line with 98th Avenue all the way to the Indian Reserve fence – from where I could look over the trees to the tops of the Front Ranges.  Now swinging back eastwards I followed a fairly straight line through Braeside all the way to the “Berlin Wall” of the fence along 14th Street.
 

From there I turned north, crossed Southland Drive, and climbed up through the expensive neighborhood of Pump Hill to the secret open hillside where once a windmill stood half a century ago.  Here were the best views of the day, across to the mountains – a spectacular setting.  And finally back westwards along 98th Avenue to home.

This trip of just over eight kilometers proved that I was capable of something more challenging next time out.

Statistics
Oakridge & Braeside
Sun. 19 February
Total Dist.	8.5 km (hike)
Height Gain	50 ft.
Max. Elev.	3,642 ft.
Time	1 hr. 33 mins.

Other Stats.
Start hike:     9.08 am Return:        10.41 am	Start Temp:    0 deg.C Finish Temp:+3 deg.C Sunny, light cloud, cool W. breeze