The Highwood Hills

Sun. 16 December:  The Highwood Hills

The days don’t get any shorter than this. Today the sun rose at 8.35 a.m. and well before 4.30 it had disappeared behind the mountains.   In between, it stayed low in the southern sky, bright but not warm.

Once again I was drawn to the Highwood Valley, where there is often good hiking well into December.  So it was today.  On my journey up Grass Pass and onto the ridges to the west and the east of the pass, there were plenty of bare patches on the grassy hillsides.

The lower sections of Grass Pass, from the Highwood road, are quite steep, and it only eases off a little as you break free of the forest.  Someone had navigated this rocky, narrow trail on an off-road vehicle.  There were long bare patches along the trail, and then small snowdrifts in the open areas.  Even at the pass itself, the snow was thin and crusty.

I decided to head left at the pass, to reach the open ridge above Gunnery Creek.  I had never been that way before, but it was easy enough.  For the final steep section in the trees, the snow was over a foot deep, so I exchanged my MICROspikes for my snowshoes.   The ridge top was bare, with several small cairns along the summit.  Views all round were very fine.  The mountains rose up directly to the west.  To the east I had a different perspective of Grass Pass and the Bull Creek Hills.  A biting gale was sweeping the ridge.  Although the temperature was only a few degrees below freezing, the wind made it feel like the arctic up there.

Back down at Grass Pass, I then resumed the traditional route up towards the Bull Creek Hills.  The open hillsides lead to a ridge, running south to north, which connects to the Bull Creek Hills themselves, a snowy plateau guarded by forested slopes.  This connecting ridge is always a fine place to linger.  Today, the wind made it unsuitable for a picnic stop, so I didn’t stay long up there.

I had disturbed a group of bighorn sheep which somehow had detected my scent, despite the strong westerly winds.  From the ridge, I strode down the open grassy hillsides towards Fir Creek Point.  This is one of my favourite places.  The views are outstanding, and the hiking is exhilarating as one drops down the wide, open slopes.  It’s a great place for a photographer, with mountain shots framed by ancient limber pines.  Today the westerly wind shrieked across the hillsides, into my right ear.  I needed a couple of wooly hats to stay warm.  I had also put on my wind jacket early in the day and needed it. 

Dropping down off the ridge, I noticed a mule deer stag.  He started to come up the hill towards me before realizing his mistake, and then rapidly bounding away into the trees.  He must have almost run into two hikers who had chosen a strange route up the eastern slopes of Grass Pass.  We waved to each other, and they continued up the ridge.

It is a very pleasant route back down to the road.  The path contours down some steep slopes into a pine-filled valley.  Here the temperatures are always several degrees warmer in the shelter of the ridge to the west.  I found a handy old pine tree to shelter behind for my picnic.  From here it was a simple, steep descent to the road, and west for a few hundred metres back to the car.  The Highwood River was starting to ice up, and the low sun reflected across the water and the ice.

It had been an exhilarating trip up into those high hills.  While people are skiing in deep snow just a couple of mountain ranges west from here, in the Highwood it’s often hiking season any time of year.

Statistics
Grass Pass, ridges to W & E
Sun. 16 December
Total Dist.	1.0 km (‘shoe) + 8.0 km (hike)  =            9.0 km
Height Gain	2,005 ft.
Max. Elev.	6,465 ft.
Time	4 hrs. 18 mins.

Other Stats.
Dep. car:        8.44 am Pass:              9.55 am W peak:        10.22 am E ridge:        11.14 am Ret. to car:     1.02 pm	Temp: around minus 5 C to minus 2 C Sunny, biting wind, strong on summits, clouds over mtns.