Ranger Ridge

Sat. 8 December:  Ranger Ridge from Fullerton Loop

It was a late start today. Most sensible people had decided to stay inside on this cold day, or perhaps they were all in the malls, shopping for Christmas.  As a result, I had one of the most popular local hiking trails almost to myself.

There had been a light snowfall overnight, and temperatures were close to minus fifteen C, so I was not surprised to find the car park at Allen Bill Pond in the Elbow Valley empty except for one car.  As I prepared to set out along the trail, a man and his dog passed by, then a couple of women.  They turned out to be the only people I saw until I was coming back down the trail three hours later at sunset.

The pathway crosses under the Elbow Valley road, beside the Elbow River, which was starting to freeze over.  It was a cold, sunny afternoon with the low sun already past its highest point in the sky.  I soon stopped to put on my snowshoes.  There were two to three inches of snow with ice underneath, so the ‘shoes gave me better stability and traction.  I chose to tackle the Fullerton Loop in an anti-clockwise direction.  The path climbs up into a forested valley, to the ridgeline, then swings left before dropping back down along the open ridge, where there are fine views of the mountains.

At the top of the ridge, I found the Ranger Ridge trail sign too tempting to resist, so I continued up the hillsides, away from the Fullerton Loop.  Almost immediately this fairly new trail breaks out of the trees along the edge of a ridge, with great views westwards to the Front Ranges.  The trail winds uphill through the trees, eventually reaching Ranger Ridge summit.  I took a short cut near the top, from above the upper end of the snow-covered Sugar Momma bike trail.  By good fortune I hit the summit dead on.  Here in the trees are four seats made out of slabs of rock, where one can sit out in the sun and enjoy the view.  Today, they were snow covered and would have made a cold seat!

I turned left and followed the ridgeline trail for a short while, before returning to the official trail junction and returning back down the hillsides all the way to Fullerton Loop.  There are not many weekend days when you can have this lovely trail to yourself.  Apart from a young couple coming up the steep path, I was alone.  The sun was sinking quickly towards the mountains on the western horizon.  It was starting to feel cold and I was glad of my extra sweater and ski gloves.  I strode at a fast pace down the ridge in my snowshoes, and back along the valley floor to the car.

By now the sun had set, and it was not yet four thirty in the afternoon.  Ranger Ridge makes a great snowshoe trail, and it would have been easy enough to have continued down to West Bragg Creek to the north, if you had a car at both ends.  It was dark by the time I arrived back in the busy city.  I had made the right decision.  Give me a snowy mountain trail over a crowded shopping mall every time. 

Statistics
Ranger Ridge
Sat. 8 December
Total Dist.	9.6 km (‘shoe) +   0.5 km (hike)  = 10.1 km
Height Gain	1,050 ft.
Max. Elev.	5,530 ft.
Time	3 hrs. 20 mins.

Other Stats.
Dep. car:      12.54 pm Ranger Jn:     1.52 pm Summit:         2.26 pm F Loop:            3.18 pm Ret. to car:     4.14 pm	Temp: around minus 15 C Sunny, no wind, some thin cloud clearing. Cold.