Fri. 27 December: Mesa (Square) Butte
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| Spectacular sunrise driving south to Millarville |
Square Butte
This might have
been about the easiest trip of the year, but I would recommend Square Butte to
anyone for a short half-day trip - especially if you have been doing a lot of sitting
recently!
Wintry weather
was forecast to sweep in from the north later in the day, but there was no sign
of this. The temperatures were a few
degrees above zero and a warm westerly Chinook breeze was creating interesting
cloud formations above.
There’s a very
good road which runs west from Millarville, servicing the gas plant. Beyond that point, it’s hard packed gravel
with a slippery snow cover. There are
several routes available to reach the flat top of Mesa Butte. The two closest starting points to the summit
can be combined into an easy circuit. I
started at the lower gas well access road which led directly up onto the ridge,
returning to the upper gas well and back down the road.
It took me only
forty seven minutes to reach the top. Despite
its low elevation, this ridge has lots of character, and widespread views east
to prairie and city, and west to the mountains. The top is flat, and partly tree covered. Apparently it is a popular destination. There was a place for people to sit around a
fire, and signs of recent footprints in the snow.
On the open
ridge top was a pile of small stones, which people might have used to create a
small cairn or form into letters – which I did!
It was a quick
trip back down the ridge and through the trees to the road. At this point I realized that I had left my
MICROspikes up on the ridge. I was not
inclined to go back up there right away, but hoped they would still be there
when I came back in a couple of days. In
the meantime I left a note on the Kananaskis Blog.
Statistics:
Total
Distance: 3.8 km (0.3 hike + 3.5 ‘shoe)
Height
Gain: 790 ft.
Max.
Elev.: 5,520
ft.
Time
on Trail: 1hr. 47 mins.
Dep.
car: 9.00 am
Top: 9.47 am
Ret.
to car: 10.47 am
Temp: Around +5 C
Weather: Chinook
cloudiness, almost no breeze.
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| A shy moose trying to hide in the undergrowth |
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| Mesa Butte ridge top |
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| Great views of the Front Ranges from the top |
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| And equally good views across the prairie to Calgary |
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| Chinook clouds: this one looked like a smoking cigar |
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| The flat summit is a popular overnight destination |
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| High up in the foothills looking west to the Rockies |
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| My new Christmas present gets its first workout (not very successfully!) |
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| A handy pile of stones allows you to leave messages (pre-GPS style!) |
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| An easy short-half day destination with great views |
2 comments:
Hi P.H.
I have been thinking about this area and wondering if there is a way to make for a bigger day hiking here, maybe combining a bunch of routes, that is if there are a bunch of routes around there.
I have the Garmin 62S (new in October) and it works great. I wonder what issues you may be having with the 62st.
Andra
Hi Andra and Happy New Year! I think there are several good longer trips in that area. Of course, you can make longer circuits of the ridges around Square Butte as described in the map on page 200 of the Kananaskis Country Trail Guide 4th edition Volume 4. Start and end at the Mesa Butte Equestrian campsite and do the entire circuit. Another good trip starts also at Mesa Butte campsite (or actually a kilometre further west on the road which crosses the creek right at the campsite and ends at a gas well. Follow the trails to the Hogs Back and into the meadows west of there beside Volcano Creek gorge and then come back along the road which comes up from Quirk Creek over the hill and eventually returns to the starting point. And then just a little further north along the road from Mesa Butte campsite to McLean Creek is the series of interesting trails around McLean Hill, shown on p.19 of the Kananaskis Country Trail Guide 4th Ed Vol 2 (have to share with off-roaders!!??). There is also a nice winter walk starting at the Ware Creek road winter gate, up the road to the summit, then north along the "other" Mesa Butte ridge, better known as Deaths Head, and down into Threepoint Creek and turn east back to the start. These would be good full day trips. In summer one of my favourite places is the old Ware Creek road (by bike) and then all sorts of trips open up north of the Sheep.My problems with my new GPS are all to do with my total inability to read instructions! I hope to start mastering it very soon!!! I would really love to do what you do with your route maps as they are really excellent. Please let me know if you'd like more details re any of these trips. Best of luck.
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