Triumphant Trio

Mon. 21 May:  Triumphant Trio

Our adventures continue towards their fourth decade!  Sporadically, since 1983, my two hiking colleagues, J and R, and I, have explored the Canadian Rockies together.  Some of these outings now seem legendary (or possibly foolhardy!).  Today we added another grand trip to our outdoor resumes.

The previous night, after my long bike ride up the Kananaskis Highway towards the Highwood Pass, I camped at Cataract Creek.  Since this was the Victoria Day long weekend, I had expected a lively campsite.  It was almost deserted.  I fell asleep to the sounds of the rushing creek, instead of the shouts of late night party-goers.

This morning I was on the road early, traveling the twisting, gravel forestry road as it climbed Wilkinson Pass, the snow still drifted beside the stream.  High above me to the left were the snow-rimmed cliffs of Plateau Mountain.  Turning east on Hwy 532 I rattled up the rocky road to the summit of the highway, known as “The Hump”, and parked beside the tiny lake.

From here I had a bird’s eye view eastwards, where the narrow road winds its way down to the valley far below.  Soon I could see a car approaching up the Pass.  My hiking buddies had arrived.

Today’s target for this famous hiking trio was the area south of Hwy 532 called the Windy Peak Hills.  This series of ridges rises and dips southwards to Windy Peak itself, a distant snow-covered hilltop.  The scenery is immediately spectacular, not least because one reaches a superb ridge-top viewpoint with the minimum of effort.  All the work is done in the ups and downs between the four high points.  Some of these dips looked a little disconcerting today, but we made good progress along the route.

The third (and most spectacular) summit gave this author a chance to try and fall off a thin protruding arm of rock – in the interests of a perfect photo.  By the time we had sweated up to the fourth summit, a nicely shaped “top”, we had done enough.  Windy Peak, plastered with deep snow, lay above us, but separated from us by forested slopes clogged with snow drifts.

What views!  The Livingstone Range to the south, lines of snowy peaks along the BC border to the west, Hailstone Butte and its lonely lookout building directly to the north, and the spectacular shapes of Sentinel Peak and Mt. Burke behind.  Far off to the northeast, across the foothills and prairies, lay the skyscrapers of Calgary.  Directly below us to the east, shining in the sun, were green valleys and a hidden lake.

Earlier in our hike, we had been aware of the constant buzzing of off-road vehicles far below in the valley.  Then suddenly there was silence, except for the sound of the wind in the sturdy trees gripping the ridge-tops.

These trees also harbored that tiny menace, the tick.  J found one on his toque and then he spotted another one on the back of my trouser leg.  So we all stopped and did a good inspection of our clothing!


On the positive side, the early Spring wild-flowers were just appearing.  The delicate blue/purple prairie crocuses were starting to sprout up out of the grass, and were opening up as the sun rose in the sky, to reveal their bright yellow centres.

The wind started to pick up, and the clouds were building to the west.  As we dropped rapidly down to The Hump, we congratulated ourselves on yet another successful – if not famous – outing.  Here’s hoping that the triumphant trio has more adventures ahead of us.

Statistics
Windy Peak Hills
Mon. 21 May
Total Dist.	8.5 km (hike)
Height Gain	1,850 ft.
Max. Elev.	7,149 ft.
Time	5 hrs. 32 mins.

Other Stats.
Start hike:     8.50 am Peak 4:         11.50 am Ret. to car:     2.22 pm	Start Temp:    + 2 C Finish Temp:  + 11 C Mix of sun and lots of cloud.  Wind picks up towards end.