Entranced

Fri. 10 June:  Entrance Ridges, Sheep River Valley

Since these ridges are on the very eastern border of Kananaskis Country, Mike Potter, in his book “Ridgewalks in the Canadian Rockies”, has called them the “Entrance Ridges”.  They are certainly entrancing.

The Entrance Ridges are ideal for early season hikes.  They run in a SE to NW direction, from the Sheep River road, where it crosses over into Kananaskis Country.  In an 8 kilometre circuit, one can enjoy much of what makes K Country so perfect for hikers.  This was also a good route for J to check whether his ankle had healed or not – and it passed the test.

Our route took us up one ridge and then back along another one, running parallel and to the east.  They are quite different.  The first, higher ridge, after an initial open grassy hillside, is mostly forested, but with some superb views west to the Front Ranges.  The eastern ridge, however, was mostly open grassy hillside.  The two are joined at the northern end by a col, reached by a steep, muddy path down through the trees.

Once on the second ridge, we first walked a few yards northwards, for a great view of the snowy line of Banded Peak, Mt. Cornwall, and Mt. Glasgow to the west.

About three-quarters of the way back along the second ridge, we reached the fence which marks the boundary between K Country and the Anchor D Ranch.  Here we followed the fence down off the ridge into a pretty valley – at least, until we reached the boggy section.  Here we detoured back into the trees and found a drier trail, leading back to the start.  

Lower down the fence-line we came upon a cowboy from Anchor D with his horse and two dogs, working his way up the fence, making sure it was secure.  A true Western scene. 

The day had started cloudless, but later, clouds started to form out of the blue sky.  For the first time it felt warm.  Spring had finally arrived, and the hillsides were full of colorful wildflowers.

Back at the car, we decided to drive up to the end of the Sheep Valley road.  We stopped at Tiger Jaw Falls, where the river was in full spate.  After rounding the tight corner at Indian Oils bridge, the river continued down a chute and round another tight bend into a wider pool.  

A family was enjoying a picnic by the falls, and a couple of horse riders ambled down to the river and across the bridge – giving lots of good opportunities for the amateur photographer.

Statistics
Entrance Ridges
Fri. 10 June
Total Dist.	8.5 km (hike)
Height Gain	640 ft.
Max. Elev.	5,180 ft.
Time	3 hrs. 24 mins.

Other Stats.
Start hike:       7.56 am Top 1st ridge:  9.21 am 2nd ridge:       9.44 am Ret. to car:    11.20 am	Temp:+10 to +18 deg.C Warm and sunny, clouds starting to form

Head above the Clouds

Sat. 4 June:  Wasootch Ridge:  My head above the clouds

Today I stuck my head above the clouds – to find a nice sunny day up there.  Back in Calgary it had been a foggy, drizzly morning, and although it stopped raining further west, the clouds were still low as I parked in the Wasootch parking area off the Kananaskis Highway.  Yet somehow I knew the good weather wasn’t far away.  In fact it was about a thousand vertical feet above my head.

It didn’t take long to gain that height.  The trail immediately rose at a steep angle up the forested slopes to the lowest part of the long ridge.  Wasootch Ridge heads fairly straight for several kilometers in a southeasterly direction, rising and falling along a switchback ridge to the far end where a dramatic peak, over three thousand feet above the valley floor,  needs scrambling skills to ascend. I wasn’t planning to go that far, but I hoped to travel along the ridge until I was stopped by snow or by fatigue!

I climbed to the lower part of the ridge top, still in the mist.  A very steep section now followed – which was thankfully hidden from view in the cloud.  I plodded up the trail through the trees, blissfully unaware of the steep drop-off to my right.  Suddenly, above me a hazy sun shone through the cloud, and almost immediately the clouds parted to reveal a world of snow-clad mountain peaks sticking out of the mist.

A little higher up, as I came up to the higher part of the ridge, I was treated to spectacular views up and down the Kananaskis Valley, with the clouds filling the valley to about a thousand feet, above which the mountains rose into a mostly clear sky.  The most spectacular view was north up the Kananaskis Valley to an island in the mist.  This was the Barrier Lake fire lookout hill, which revealed itself as the perfect choice for a fire lookout, the mist accentuating its isolation from the peaks all round it.

Having reached the main ridge top, I followed the ridge for two or three kilometers as it rose then dropped several times.  The ridge was tree covered, but with plenty of good vantage points.  Higher up I had to negotiate some large snow drifts.  Luckily they held my weight. 

Even higher up, the ridge suddenly narrowed down to a knife edge, but one covered by wiry trees.  These hardy pines cannot be brushed aside as you walk past them.  They catch your clothing and tear your jacket if you aren’t careful.  Up here were great views down to the deep valleys which parallel the ridge on each side:  Porcupine Creek to the north and Wasootch Creek to the south, both leading to an impressive array of snowy peaks to the east.  The summit of Wasootch Ridge looked impossibly distant and inaccessible, even from halfway along the ridge.

Finally I came to the end of the main forested section of the ridge, at a point where it dropped steeply down to a snowy col.  I decided that here was a good place to stop.  I was on top of a cliff with a bird’s eye view down into Wasootch Creek and the avalanche slopes across the valley.

This is a strenuous trip, and I would not be surprised if many people only get this far, especially this early in the season.

I could see that the mist had risen out of the Kananaskis Valley, revealing the road and Barrier Lake below.  To the south and west were the snowy slopes of the Nakiska ski hill.  I was most of the way back along the high section of ridge before I met my first hikers.  It was two groups of about six people in total, one woman carrying her baby in a backpack.  The guy told me he had been up here two weeks ago when the snow was much more plentiful.  They hoped to reach the summit – good for them.

My MICROspikes were very handy in descending the very steep slopes all the way back down off the ridge.  A young couple was toiling up the hill.  Back at the car park a large organized hiking group of about ten people was getting its final instructions in readiness for an assault of the ridge.  As usual I had the solitude simply by getting up early.

Driving the short distance south along the Kananaskis Valley, I dropped into the bookstore at the Kananaskis Village to buy the second volume of Gillean Dafferns’ Kananaskis hiking bible – this one with a bright red cover.  Back in Calgary I found that it had only just stopped raining!

       View across to the Trans-Canada Highway corridor and Yamnuska behind

Statistics
Wasootch Ridge
Sat. 4 June
Total Dist.	9 km (hike)
Height Gain	2,000 ft.
Max. Elev.	6,450 ft.
Time	4 hrs. 20 mins.

Other Stats.
Start hike:      7.33 am Far point:      10.01 am Ret. to car:    11.53 am	Temp:  +4 to +9 deg.C Misty then sunny.  Dry under foot with a few isolated snow drifts

Soggy Elbow and Frozen Highwood

Sat./Sun. 28/29 May:  Soggy Elbow and Frozen Highwood

Two short trips in two days – but what a contrast.  On the first day I hiked through the snow up a ridge, on an overcast day threatening rain showers, while the very next day I was biking along a road under cloudless skies – but with temperatures only just above freezing.

The forecast for Saturday was not promising.  I was curious to see how much snow had fallen in the mountains over the past week, so decided to drive up the Elbow Valley road – opened two weeks ago.  There was some snow at the Rainy summit, and lots of new snow on Forgetmenot Ridge, hiding a little gloomily in the cloud.  

My first stop was at Elbow Falls.  I guessed that the water might be quite high, and I was right.  It was racing over the Falls with a thunderous roar.  M had told me she had kayaked over these falls recently, but today it would have been impossible.  It was a grand sight.  There was water everywhere, even running down the viewing trail which runs beside the river.  I noticed a very human rock face which looked to be guarding the falls.  It seems that the mountains are full of rocks and cliffs which have a human profile – unless it’s just a sign that I am spending too much time in the outdoors.

At the far end of the road, by the pedestrian footbridge, there was just one car from Saskatchewan which had been parked overnight.  The campsite looked to be deserted – not surprising given the rain and snow and cold temperatures.  Just as I was returning across the suspension bridge, three cars carrying a Japanese family party pulled into the parking area, one guy clutching a brand new map, and several of them wearing shorts.  Good luck, I thought.

Returning back down the valley, I decided to stop at Allen Bill Pond and hike up Fullerton Ridge – a route which C and I last did in 1993.  A large picnic party had assembled by the small lake, the families braving the threat of rain (it stayed dry).  

Passing under the road bridge by the rushing Elbow River, I soon came to a very soggy part of the trail.  In fact it looked very much like a stream-bed, and I only just managed to stay dry crossing the muddy and wet sections.  On Fullerton Loop I soon encountered snow on the trail.  A friendly hiking party of bikers (or quad drivers) came striding down the trail.  

The path climbs up a valley at a gentle angle, before crossing over the stream and climbing a little more steeply to the ridge top.  There are good views across the Elbow Valley to the Front Ranges – except that today the visibility was poor. But I did get a few sunny breaks.  The trail completes the loop by following a pretty tree-lined ridge as it drops back down to the valley floor.  Somewhere along that section I met the only other person on the trail, a girl with her two black Labradors.  This ridge gives a good bird’s eye view back down to the Elbow River and Allen Bill Pond.  There seems to be a small village hidden in the trees, where the park maintenance people probably live.

Safely back across the quagmire, I returned to the car, having remained dry – apart from my boots.  This was a soggy, snowy walk.

Statistics
Fullerton Loop
Sat. 28 May
Total Dist.	6.7 km (hike)
Height Gain	700 ft.
Max. Elev.	5,249 ft.
Time	1 hr. 51 mins.

Other Stats.
Start hike:     10.25 am Top:              11.34 am Ret. to car:    12.16 pm	Temp:  +8 to +11 deg.C Overcast, sunny spells.  Poor visibility.  Some snow on trail.

The next morning, Sunday, I was up very early, and was able to enjoy the 5.30 a.m. sunrise over the prairies as I drove south out of town.  I always enjoy the drive down to Longview, taking the short-cut through Turner Valley to bypass the road through Black Diamond.  It was a cloudless morning and there was a lot of new snow on the mountains and the foothills.  Entering Kananaskis Country, I could see that the Bull Creek Hills had a fresh snow cover right down to the road.  They had been almost snow-free a couple of weeks earlier.  The grass was bright green after all the recent rain.

Not surprisingly there were no other cars at the winter gate, it not being 7 a.m. yet.  There was, however, a large oil or gas truck parked by the road, for some reason or other.  Perhaps the driver had spent the night there before heading down the forestry road.

It was freezing cold, and I wore gloves and my wooly hat as I biked up the road beyond the winter gate.  The valley was full of elk and white tailed deer, very sensitive to my presence and disappearing rapidly over the hillsides as I approached.  One huge herd stood above me on the mountainside.  It must have been close to freezing here, as the sunlight had not found its way down onto the road until I had biked further up the valley.

Given the late snow cover, it was not practical to be trying to hike the mountain trails. This road was one way of getting into the magic wilderness without very much effort.  Two weeks previously, I had biked along this road and had been able to make it about 15 km up the Pass.  So I had hoped to go further today.  I was disappointed.  The recent snow and cold temperatures soon put a stop to my plans after only about nine km.  There was ice and snow on the road and further progress was simply impossible. 

I was in no hurry to leave this mountain wilderness and enjoyed snapping away with my camera at all the snowy mountain peaks which lined this magnificent valley.  The Highwood River was running high, and I would not have wanted to try a crossing today.  Returning to the winter gate I saw just one other vehicle, and its occupant readying for a bike ride up the valley.  He did not stop to ask me how far he might get, so he would have found out for himself soon enough. 

It was still a cold, but sunny morning, not yet 9 a.m.  How funny it might seem to many people that anyone would get up so early on a Sunday morning to bike in the freezing cold up a lonely valley, and 18 kilometres later, be completed so early in the day.  But why not?  The sun rises early at this time of year, and the morning is the best time to enjoy the wildlife, and you are guaranteed tranquility even on a cloudless weekend day.  I simply felt very fortunate to be there.

Statistics
Highway 40 from winter gate
Sun. 29 May
Total Dist.	18 km (bike)
Height Gain	600 ft.
Max. Elev.	5,560 ft.
Time	1 hr. 39 mins.

Other Stats.
Start bike:       6.52 am To snow:         7.47 am Ret. to car:      8.31 am	Temp:  +1 to +4 deg.C Cloudless, cold

The Highwood Valley

Sat. 14 May:  The Highwood Valley

Imagine having, on a sunny Spring Saturday, to yourself, an entire valley, complete with a modern highway closed to traffic, a swiftly flowing river running through the valley, snow-free foothills rising enticingly above it, and framed all around by jagged snowy mountain peaks – to say nothing of the wildlife running about all over the place.  Too good to be true?  Not if you come to the Highwood Valley in the Eastern Slopes of Alberta in May.  Today was such a day for me - yet another in a long line of memorable experiences.

Thursday May 12th marked the opening of the camping season in Alberta, with a couple of campsites opening up.  One of these was Etherington Creek, on the forestry road south of the Highwood Junction.  I was surprised it was open so early, given all the snow still lying around.  But I took a chance, and after work on the Friday I drove south to Longview, where I turned west into the Highwood Valley.  The road was almost empty.  The mix of fields full of cattle, with a backdrop of dramatic snowy mountains, was spectacular.  

Arriving at Etherington Creek I found the campsite was indeed open, although empty apart from a couple of other campers.  When I met the custodian later, a friendly middle aged Quebecer, he told me that they had a bob-cat in there a few days ago, to clear all the sites.  As a result, each campsite, although useable, was ringed by snow drifts.

I set up the tent and settled for an early night.  As the light faded, the temperatures dropped quickly under clearing skies, and I was glad of my warm sleeping bag and extra blanket.

Up early the next morning, I drove the short distance back down the forestry road and parked at the winter gate on the Highwood Road.  All the snow had melted on the road, and on the lower slopes of Junction Hill – quite a contrast from only three weeks ago when I tackled the wintry Bull Creek Hills just down the road from here.  

I had chosen my hybrid road bike for this trip, which proved to be a good choice.  My plan was to bike northwards up the road towards the distant Highwood Pass – highest point on a paved road in Canada – and then perhaps to go hiking in the Cat Creek Hills.  I knew that snow would still be lying on the road higher up the Pass, and I was curious to see how far I could get today.

As it turned out, I was able to bike just over fifteen kilometers up the valley until, at a high point between Lineham and Lantern Creeks, I was faced by total snow cover.  It was a pleasant ride, with plenty of deer grazing by, or on, the road, and early morning clouds clearing away from the mountain peaks.  It was a photographer’s paradise.  And I had it to myself.  The silence was broken only by the distant sound of the woodpecker and the wind in the treetops.

Turning around at the point where the snow still lay on the road, I whizzed back as far as Cat Creek, where I parked my bike in the picnic shelter, changed from biking to hiking gear, and set out onto one of my favourite trails in Alberta.  Crossing over Cat Creek, I headed east along the old roadway, now a grassy trail, into the Cat Creek Hills.  At the point where the road used to cross Cat Creek, I turned up onto the hillside, onto a long disused mine/logging trail.  

From here the views were more and more spectacular, as I rose up above the forests, onto the open hillsides.  The bare trees still allowed the ideal views.  The main feature was the Elk Range of jagged peaks to the west, and the Highwood Range to the east.  After negotiating a snowy section in the forest, the snow now soft and melting rapidly, I turned directly up onto the open slopes of the Cat Creek Hills. 

These are the perfect hiking hills, not only for the views they give, but for the interesting outcrops and ridges, as well as all the deer which winter here – and leave their droppings all over the hillsides.  I did not try to reach the highest point in the range, but was happy to make the high viewpoint which is visible from the road below.  From here the views were fabulous, down into the valley, across to the Elk Range, and north to the spectacular jagged outline of Mist Mountain (10,302 ft.) – which I climbed many years ago!

The return down the steep slopes and back through the forests was a pure delight.  This would be the perfect trip for a newcomer to the Rockies.

Back at Cat Creek, I saw the occasional bikers speed by, as I relaxed by the edge of the Highwood River, already racing past, and probably too dangerous to try and cross.

By now a strong southeasterly wind was blowing.  It had tried to catch my baseball cap on the ridge top, but I had it anchored to a length of string so instead it just flew behind me like a kite!

It didn’t take me long to bike back down the road to the car, where it surprised me to learn that I had been out in this magical countryside for almost seven hours.  I could have stayed much longer.  After packing up my campsite, and relaxing in the warm sunshine, I returned on peaceful roads to the city.  Finally the fields are showing some green, and the country is coming alive as if someone has suddenly switched the land from black and white to colour.  And I didn’t need either my long underwear or my snow shoes today!

 

Statistics
The Highwood Valley
Sat. 14 May
Total Dist.	31 km (bike)   +   6 km (hike)   = 37 km
Height Gain	1,630 ft.
Max. Elev.	6,230 ft.
Time	6 hrs. 54 mins.

Other Stats.
Start bike:       7.32 am Cat Creek:       8.06 am Turn around:  9.18 am Cat Creek:     10.16 am Start hike:     10.30 am Top:              12.12 pm Cat Creek:      1.29 pm Ret. to car:      2.26 pm	Temp.+5 to + 16 deg. C Cloudless all day, with a south-easterly wind Ht. gain (bike):  600 ft. Ht. gain (hike):1030 ft.