Snowshoe Paradise

Sun. 15 April:  Deer Ridge

A snowshoe paradise – but only after an early struggle.  The observant reader may wonder why it took me four hours to cover about eight kilometres.  I would normally expect to average at least three km/hour.  The reason is that I spent the first hour trying to battle my way up a steep cutline covered with a deep layer of soft snow and a tangle of fallen trees.  I finally gave up and had to back-track up the “official” trail.  Despite this, my trip today turned out to be a great success.  My snowshoe journey took me up a tree-covered ridge, on trails covered by several inches of new snow.  It was a Narnia landscape of evergreens laden with heavy snow.  At the surprise viewpoint on the summit, the sun magically appeared out of a dull sky.  I had these hills to myself.

My original plan was to tackle the Eagle Ridge trail, starting from the Sibbald Lake campground.  J and I had planned a similar trip last year but were beaten back by high winds and swirling snow, which threatened to maroon us in the parking lot before we even had a chance to get out of the car.  Today there was not a breath of wind.

It had snowed the previous day, leaving a good four inches of new snow cover.  I broke trail the whole way round, although there was a faintest sign of a previous show-shoer’s tracks under the new snow cover.

Sibbald Lake is a pretty corner of the foothills.  There is a boys and girls camp called “Camp Adventure” across the other side of the lake.   Various trails start at the picnic area on the near side of the lake.  The latest Kananaskis Country Trail Guide (Vol. 2) has an accurate sketch of these trails as they wander up into the hills.  I decided to explore a lesser used trail which skirted the hillside lower down, then turned up the steep cutline. I soon ran into fallen trees and deep snow which did not hold my weight.  It became simply impossible to make progress, so I turned around and back to the main trail. 

This trail was easy to follow as I climbed to a high point then dropped back down to the cutline before swinging south to pick up the Eagle Hill trail.  The trees were covered by a heavy coating of new snow, and it was an enjoyable stroll through this wintery landscape.  Perhaps because the latest snowfall was so recent, there were few animal tracks on the path.  I followed the Eagle Hill trail until I reached the snow fence.  Here I decided not to continue up to Eagle Hill, but instead to explore the trail up onto Deer Ridge, making a handy circuit of about seven kilometres.

To reach the tree-covered ridge-top it was a simple matter of heading directly up an arrow-straight cutline (the same cutline I had been following all day).  The narrow path ran between rows of snow-plastered Christmas trees.  At the high point of the cutline, the trail turned left up onto the ridge.  From hereon, my route was easy to follow, and increasingly exciting as I followed the path as it climbed the ridgeline in the trees.  I stopped for a snack at the first summit, where I had slight glimpses of the surrounding hillsides.  The cloud hid the horizon. 

Continuing in an easterly direction along the undulating tree-covered ridge, I came to a junction where a horse-rail lay broken beneath a fallen tree.  The side path led up onto a magical rocky outcrop above a steep cliff, with spectacular views down to Sibbald Creek to the hidden mountains.  The snow was untouched on the rocks and the trees.  It felt like an act of vandalism to be tromping through this natural paradise in my large snowshoes.  And now the sun came out, bathing the scene in its bright light.   After enjoying the views I turned around and headed back down to the junction, before continuing eastwards down the ridgeline to the valley below.

In the valley was another pretty lake and a meadow with a First Nations prayer circle made of tree branches festooned with colorful pieces of cloth.  From here it was a short contour of the final hillside and back to the car.

This had been the perfect trail for snow shoeing.  To have this pretty ridge all to myself was a special delight – and then to have the sun miraculously come out from behind the cloud, shining on the newly-fallen snow, made this an adventure into an unexpected paradise.

Statistics
Deer Ridge
Sun. 15 April
Total Dist.	8.0 km (‘shoe)
Height Gain	850 ft.
Max. Elev.	5,570 ft.
Time	4 hrs. 5 mins.

Other Stats.
Start hike:      7.56 am Gate:            10.00 am 1st Top:        11.02 am 2nd Top:      11.21 am Ret. to car:   12.13 pm	Start Temp:   - 6 deg.C Finish Temp: -1 deg.C Thin cloud, sunny breaks at summit, no wind