Second Time Lucky

Fri. 15 July:  Indian Oils-Bluerock Circuit

 

Second time lucky!  It was in September last year that I set out on this same route but was turned back by a mother bear and her cubs.  But this circuit is too good to miss, so today I had another go.  It was a fascinating and slightly strenuous trip, with one or two minor route-finding challenges along the way – and no bears this time!

My plan was to make a 21.5 kilometre anti-clockwise circuit of the foothills north of the Sheep River.  By combining the Indian Oils and Bluerock trails, one can climb to a high point over 7,000 ft., on the steep sides of Bluerock Ridge, before dropping back down to the Sheep Valley.  Most of this is on well-used trails, but there is a section in the middle which looked a little uncertain on the map.

The journey started with a short bike ride down the Sheep River road from the Bluerock equestrian area to the start of the hiking trail opposite Sheep Falls.  I hid the bike in the trees and set off up the trail.  On the first trail sign, my scratched “BEAR” warning was still plain to see. 

This first hiking leg of the trip, up Indian Oils Trail, was surprisingly steep as I climbed in a northerly direction to a high point between the Sheep and South Gorge Creek valleys.  The reward for this roughly 900 vertical feet of climbing was a stunning view west to the rugged Front Ranges, across a sea of forested foothills.  Junction Creek, the Highwood Range, and the Dogtooth Mountains were prominent across the Sheep Valley to the south, with my planned route laid out for me to the north and west.  At this high point was a bench and horse-rail, where horseback riders would take a break and admire the view.  

From this high point, the trail drops a little then reaches another col before dropping down into the trees.  An unsigned junction marks the point where I turned westwards, and in a few hundred yards I reached the junction with South Gorge Creek trail, coming up the valley from the East.  This next long section of trail, over six kilometers, heads for the eastern flanks of the long ridgeline of Bluerock Ridge.  To get there the trail drops steeply into a valley, then bypasses a couple of rounded, forested hills to my right.  

It was at the second of these hills that I left the main trail behind and continued westwards on a lesser used route.  I negotiated a boggy meadow, crossed a creek, then made some guesses about the right course, which were proven right when the trail reappeared.  Back into the woods, I followed a random course of braided trails.  The good thing about a braided trail is that, whichever route you take, they all meet up again, although some of the routes were better designed for animals or tiny people less than three feet tall.  

These trails brought me to the edge of a wide meadow, with wonderful views of Mt. Ware to the right, and the long line of Bluerock Ridge ahead.  I turned to my left for a few hundred yards to avoid a boggy section, before heading out into the meadows.  Here there was no sign of a trail, but I walked right through the middle of the wide open landscape, through waving grass and wildflowers.  Eventually the trees closed in again, and there was the trail, still heading westwards.

I climbed gently up the lower slopes of Bluerock Ridge, on a now clear trail, passing another rest area for horses.  Climbing up the hill beside a dry creek, I finally reached a welcome orange diamond sign nailed to a tree.  This marked the important junction with Bluerock trail.  This trail runs north to Gorge Creek, and south up the sides of the ridge to a high point.  I turned south.  At first it was a pleasant stroll through the woods, but suddenly the trail started to head upwards, and steeply.  A series of steep, tight hairpin bends finally led to the open meadows high up on the southeastern end of Bluerock Ridge.  I had climbed over 1,600 feet from the valley floor below.

What a spectacular place to stand.  Finally I had risen above the tree line.  Directly above me was the bare mountainside, while below was the remote Bluerock Creek, leading into the folds of Mt. Burns (9,633 ft.).

I could not resist climbing up above the last straggling trees onto the open mountainside for better views.  Here I must have reached the jet stream, as the gale force westerly winds were doing their best to throw me off the mountainside.  There were some interesting rock formations up here.  There is apparently no route for scramblers up to the ridge top, and this wasn’t a good day to find out.  Down in the meadows I found a warm, sheltered spot for lunch.  Up here I could also see the downtown skyscrapers of Calgary, 65 kilometres away as the crow flies.  The meadows were a sea of colorful wildflowers.

Leaving the high point, I immediately plunged back into the trees, following the steep ridgeline down to a lower forested ridge.  It was a pleasant high-level stroll along the ridge, with occasional views across the Bluerock Valley to the mountains opposite.  It was a long ridge, but finally I found myself back at the point where I had stopped on my journey last year, on an open hillside above the valley.  A couple of guys were standing there looking at their map, trying to figure out where they were.  If they were heading up to the meadows, they had a stiff climb ahead of them.

But I wasn’t finished with steep hillsides myself.  The trail dropped down to the creek, then back up the other side in a series of switchbacks.  The bridge was still a ruin, and according to Gillean Daffern there are no plans to repair it.  Luckily the water level had dropped and I was able to hop across the creek keeping my boots dry.

The final leg of my journey was down a muddy horse trail.  I passed a family of four, and these were the only other people I saw all day.  There were several large horse trailers in the car park, and lots of activity, with people setting out on horses and a group of kids returning from a horseback ride.

On my way back down the Sheep Valley, I could not resist checking out Sandy McNabb campsite, which had been closed all last year.  They have rebuilt all the access roads and improved the campsites.  It looks very nice, and there were only a few empty camping spots left. 

I had been out in the hills for over seven hours, and in some remote country.  And I was relieved not to have been forced to turn around halfway along this rugged route to make way for a determined bear!

Statistics
Indian Oils-Bluerock
Fri. 15 July
Total Dist.	2.5 km (bike) + 19.0 km (hike) = 21.5 km
Height Gain	2,500 ft.
Max. Elev.	7,090 ft.
Time	7 hrs. 08 mins.

Other Stats.
Start bike:       7.50 am Start hike:       8.03 am Jn S Gorge:     9.28 am Jn Bluerock: 11.20 am Top:              12.33 pm Creek:             2.10 pm Ret. to car:      2.58 pm	Temp:+13 to +19 deg.C Almost cloudless, very strong W wind on Bluerock Mtn.

Picture of the Week

Fri. 8 July:  A Better Bear

After my poor attempt three weeks ago (see June 17 "Picture of the Week"), here is a "better bear", or at least a better picture, and also a happier looking bear.  This large grizzly has her three cubs with her, and is busy eating grass or berries by the side of the road to Sunshine ski resort.  The cubs kept sticking their heads up out of the grass.

Banff

Fri.-Sun. 8-10 July:  Banff

I like Banff!

Not a very profound statement, but it’s a simple fact.  The more I visit the town-site and the National Park, the more I appreciate all they have to offer.  This weekend, I saw a few new sides to Banff that I had not seen before over the thirty years I have been coming here.  Some of these new angles on an old theme included finding a peaceful corner of Banff’s largest campsite, discovering the Banff Centre, and exploring the path of the Bow River as it runs below Tunnel Mountain.  Then there was the grizzly and her cubs up the Sunshine ski road, and the stupendous cliffs of Saddle Mountain, rising straight up from Paradise Valley.  It seems that each time I come to Banff, its magic seems to grow a little stronger.

The day started early, as by 4.30 am I had staked my place along the route of the Stampede Parade in downtown Calgary.  L surprised me by saying this was her first Stampede Parade.   By noon the parade was over, and I returned home to hook up M’s Boler.  I was soon heading west along a busy Trans-Canada Highway.

My plan was to set up base at Tunnel Mountain campsite in Banff.  I had reserved a site on-line, since this was the height of the summer camping season.  This is a huge campsite, with numerous loops spread out in the trees above the town.  Loop “J” was far back in the woods, and apart from a strong wind on the first day, was as peaceful as you could imagine – and a lot more peaceful than you should expect.  No loud partygoers ruining it for everyone else.  No screaming kids running through your campsite.  Not at all what one might expect in one of Canada’s busiest vacation areas in the middle of summer.  The line-up of vehicles at the front gate did grow during the early evening, but I had set up camp by then.

That afternoon I biked down through the campsite and explored some of the biking trails on the hillsides above the Bow River.  Later I drove out onto the Trans-Canada Highway and up the Sunshine ski road, to see if the gondola was operating in the summer.  It was not, but on the way back down the road, I joined a couple of other vehicles which had stopped to admire a large grizzly and her three cubs, grazing by the side of the road.  The bear seemed oblivious to our presence, but then this was no random animal, it was grizzly bear # 11, according to the yellow tag in her ear.  The cubs would peep up out of the grass now and then, but they too were not concerned by this human invasion.

M’s Boler makes a perfect, and amazingly spacious, home for the passionate camper.

Making an early start the next morning, I traveled west along the main highway to Lake Louise.  The final bridge along the new section of road west of Castle Junction had been completed, and so one can now travel from Calgary to Lake Louise on a good divided highway.  I drove up the steep hill to the empty upper parking lot for Lake Louise.  My hike started right here.  The trail up to Saddleback is one of the most popular in the National Parks, and for a good reason, I soon discovered.  It’s steep, as it climbs the forested mountainsides above Lake Louise, up onto the saddle between Mt. Fairview on my right and Saddle Peak on my left.  I had to negotiate a few snowy sections as the trail zig-zagged up onto the saddle.  Now ahead of me was a breathtaking array of mountain peaks.  Directly in front of me were Sheol Mountain (9,114 ft.) and Haddo Peak (10,073 ft.), while just behind and to the left was the spectacular North face of Mt. Temple (11, 624 ft), with the summit hidden in the clouds.  On the top of this flat saddle, the wildflowers were starting to appear.  I had climbed up through large snow patches, and it was cold enough up here that some light snowflakes were drifting down.  This is the alpine zone.

Mt. Fairview’s bare, rocky slopes towered above me to the right.  I had climbed that peak way back in 1982, so today I settled for the easier ascent to the summit of Saddle Peak.  It was a pleasant scramble up through the rocks.  A trail of sorts has been forged up this slope, by the thousands of people who have clambered over the rocks during the last century or so.  It was worth the effort.  The summit of Saddle Peak is a grand ridge, perhaps a hundred metres along the highest part, with spectacular cliffs falling away to Paradise Valley below.  I would not have wanted to stand there in any sort of gale, as it was very exposed.  Northwards I looked down into the wide Bow Valley, with Lake Louise village and the Chateau clearly visible.  To the south, across Paradise Valley, was Temple, and below its wall, a tiny slip of duck-egg blue water, surrounded by snow, marked Lake Annette.  It was much colder up here on this high ridge, just short of 8,000 ft., and the clouds were starting to appear below me in the valley.  I returned down to the saddle, snapping away with the camera at this classic Canadian Rockies scenery.

As I made my way back down to Lake Louise, it was not too long before I met my first hiker.  By the end of the trail I had passed thirty people and two dogs.  This included one noisy group of eleven Japanese hikers wearing all the latest gear.

By now the Lake Louise car park was filling up, and it was time to escape this busiest of tourist spots.  Making a slow return to Banff along the quiet Highway 1A, I arrived back at the campsite where I relaxed for a while.

That evening L and I visited the Banff Centre for a concert featuring three local bands, including M’s band.  We were early for the show, and so after a meal in town, we enjoyed an hour relaxing in the bistro at the Banff Centre, with large windows which faced the mountains to the west.  The show was in “The Club”, an intimate cabaret-style venue.  We enjoyed being a part of this local celebration. 

The next morning I headed out on my bike to explore the section of Bow River as it cut its way between Mt. Rundle and Tunnel Mountain.  This was a much more rugged trail than I had expected.  There were a couple of steep sections at the narrowest part of the gap, and the surface was in places rough and rocky.  But the mix of river and mountainsides was magical.  Some deer ran away through the trees.  Nobody else was on the trail at this early hour.  Suddenly I found myself back in civilization at a car park right across the river from the Banff Springs Hotel.  Here the river drops down the Bow Falls.  Over all the years I have been visiting Banff I had never discovered this part of Banff.  Today I biked along one side of the river, on the cliffs above the falls, then beside the river.  I then crossed over the bridge and biked back along the other side of the river, before walking a short way to the falls.  They were spectacular today.  It was not their height, it was the sheer volume of water which suddenly drops perhaps thirty feet and then swings to the left around Tunnel Mountain.  They have made a beautiful pathway with wooden railings alongside the river here.  It is a perfect tourist spot.  Soon it would be a crowded viewpoint, but right now I was almost alone here.

Packing up the campsite I reluctantly turned east for the journey home.  I like Banff – and each time I discover something new about this so popular corner of the Canadian Rockies, I like it even more!

Statistics
Saddle Mountain
Sat. 9 July
Total Dist.	9.4 km (hike)
Height Gain	2,215 ft.
Max. Elev.	7,993 ft.
Time	3 hrs. 28 mins.

Other Stats.
Start hike:       7.15 am Saddleback:    8.41 am Summit:          9.05 am Ret. to car:    10.43 am	Mostly cloudy, spits of snow at top.  Much warmer below.

A Silver Ribbon

Mon. 4 July:  Ribbon Creek

A ribbon of silver water runs the full eleven kilometre length of the valley, starting with the spectacular waterfalls at the far western end.  It’s hard to beat Gillean Daffern’s description of Ribbon Creek as a “disgracefully behaved” stretch of water.  So it was today.  This is what makes Ribbon Creek such an enjoyable trip, and one which I had almost forgotten since my last visit here back in 1992.  On that occasion I was on my way up the chains to Ribbon Lake and back via Guinns Pass and Galatea Creek.  Today was less ambitious, but once again I had some fun climbing up the cliff face before calling it a day just short of Ribbon Lake.

It would be a perfect day today, and the clouds were breaking up over the mountains as I drove west along the Trans-Canada Highway.  Hiking up Ribbon Creek is one of the most popular pastimes in the Kananaskis Valley.  So I did not expect to have the valley to myself today.  However, thanks to my usual early start, I was at least halfway back down the trail before I met my first people.  As a result, I was able to enjoy the magic of this beautiful corner of the Canadian Rockies all to myself – and no bears either.

Thanks to the long winter, the creek was running full, with late snow melt from the high peaks surrounding the valley.  The first four kilometers are a wide trail, and bikes are allowed here.  After that, the trail reverts to a narrower hikers-only route.  It had been nineteen years since I last came this way, and in the meantime I had almost forgotten how pretty this valley was.  It was as if I was discovering it for the first time.  I stopped to explore every little side trail, leading to lively stretches of river – waterfalls, rapids, canyons. 

But the most spectacular viewpoint was saved to the very far end of the valley.  Here the Ribbon Falls were thundering over a high cliff and falling in a deafening roar just below the viewpoint beside the trail.  The photos don’t do justice to this scene.

From the Falls, I continued up the steeper trail which contoured up over the cliffs, and then back at a higher elevation below the bare mountainsides, to a dead end below a cliff.  From here it is an exciting climb up three sections of heavy chains to a safer place higher up the cliffs.  From there it is a short hike up to Ribbon Lake.  I had some fun climbing the chains but decided not to carry on further to the lake.  Coming back down these chains was a little trickier than going up.  I remember that I was full of anticipation on my first trip here in 1992, and this section of trail was the highlight of a long ambitious day’s hike.  It looked even more spectacular today.

Returning down the trail, I met two young women who had the job of clearing the trail –although I didn’t see much that needed to be done.  They were clearly enjoying the whole experience.  I was all the way back to the end of the narrower section of trail at the  bike rack, before I met my next people – two guys out on a day hike.  There were a handful of other hikers along the trail until I was almost back at the car, when a larger group of day-trippers wearing sandals drifted by.  At the second bridge across the creek I chatted to a girl who was anxious to know if there were any other people on the trail.  She was afraid of meeting a bear, and had planned to do a lot of pot-bashing as she made her way up the trail.  I was able to put her mind at rest.

The feature today was the ever-restless creek, and the sound of the racing water, which was always close by along the whole length of this magnificent valley.  A ribbon of silver, albeit disgracefully behaved!

Statistics
Ribbon Creek
Mon. 4 July
Total Dist.	20.8 km (hike)
Height Gain	1,795 ft.
Max. Elev.	6,725 ft.
Time	5 hrs. 52 mins.

Other Stats.
Start hike:       6.55 am Falls:              9.18 am Chains:         10.04 am Falls:             10.35 am Ret. to car:    12.52 pm	Temp:  +7 to +20 deg.C Almost cloudless, cool breeze.  Warms up a lot during the morning.

Picture of the Week

Fri. 1 July:  Calgary from 105 km away

This extraordinary photo was taken from a mountain top lying over 105 km (66 miles) to the northwest of Calgary as the crow flies, or 205 km (128 miles) by road.  The downtown core on the left, and the Olympic ski jump on the right, can be seen across several ranges of foothills.

This remote mountaintop was Burnt Timber Lookout (7,610 ft.), which is SW of Sundre and accessed via the Panther River backroad.

Burnt Timber Lookout

Fri. 1 July:  Burnt Timber Lookout

Imagine hiking up Moose Mountain on a sunny Canada Day and not meeting a single person.  Ridiculous!  Yet here at Burnt Timber Lookout, I found a gentler version of Moose Mountain, and had it all to myself.

The trick was getting there.  From Calgary it’s a 205 km drive, first north to Sundre, then southwest along the Red Deer River road, which becomes a dusty gravel road.  Finally you head out into the Panther River wilderness for the final 22 km to the trailhead.

I had little confidence that I would be able to drive all the way up the access road, but it turned out to be easy.  Turning off the forestry road at Mountain Aire Lodge, I found a good road along the Panther river, with a number of horse ranches hidden in the trees.  Luckily Shell also had a number of active wellsites along the road, and so they had maintained it, as it turned away from the river and climbed over a low pass into the Burnt Creek valley.  In fact, I was able to drive all the way to the old fire access road gate.

Burnt Timber lookout operated until 1986 and was demolished three years later.  But for some reason, the switchback trail up to the top of this mountain was not allowed to become overgrown with deadfall, and is still today in good condition for hikers.  The lower part of the steep trail was becoming washed away gradually, but higher up, it was in good shape.

It is just over 5 km up the mountain – or to be exact, up, down and up the mountain!  For some reason not entirely obvious, having reached the lower part of the ridge, the trail then dropped back down into the forest before climbing once again to the summit.  This might have been the easy way of avoiding a steep hillside, but I don’t think it would have been impossible to avoid the 300 foot descent around the edge of the hillside. 

Not that it mattered.  It was a pleasant stroll with lots of enticing glimpses of the snowy Front Ranges and green open foothills to make it a grand trail for the hiker.

Once up out of the trees onto the open slopes, this became a spectacular trip, with unobstructed views of the mountain wall to the left, and the rounded summit of the lookout mountain ahead.  There was one snowdrift which covered the trail on the open hillside, but the quad tracks simply headed straight up to the flat summit.  Here a strong NW wind was blowing and it was freezing.  I quickly put on wind jacket, wooly hat and gloves, yet it was still cold up there. 

The views were stunning.  There were some impressive mountains in this part of the Front Ranges, including Mt. Oliver (9,745 ft.) with its vertical walls.  Visibility was good, and this lookout hill commanded a view far out across the foothills to the prairie.  The guidebook said that you could see Calgary from here.  It seemed improbable.  Yet with my telephoto lens on the camera, I thought I could see the city on the far southern horizon, and so I took a few pictures.  The result was dramatic.  Although not visible by the naked eye, the camera long shot revealed the city clearly on the horizon, over 105 km away as the crow flies.

There were just a few foundations and bent metal rods on the summit to indicate the location of the fire lookout.  It must have been an amazing experience living up here on this remote mountain top.  Judging by today’s conditions, it was very probably a cold and windy place to live.

I reluctantly dropped back down off the summit, and strolled further along the lower ridge before turning back down the long trail.  There were no bears in sight but I spotted a black bear paw print, not recent I thought.  It was warm in the trees, with that strong smell of pines in the air.  The return journey back down the hillsides was straightforward.

Not only did I have this mountain to myself, I saw no other vehicle along the Panther River road, until I came to the forestry road.  It was a dusty return along the northern side of the Red Deer River, as several large horse trailers and campers passed by.  One rafting company had taken a school bus and blocked out the “S” and the “H” on the front so it read “Cool Bus”, which I thought was very fitting.

Instead of simply driving down the now quite busy Hwy 22, I found a good paved route further west on empty country roads, all the way to Water Valley.  This would be a good place to have a hideaway retreat.  Looking back I could see the flat prairie with the mountain wall behind it.  Somewhere in there was the lookout mountain with its birds eye view of this city of over a million people which I now rejoined for some Canada Day celebrations.

Statistics
Burnt Timber Lookout
Fri. 1 July
Total Dist.	10.6 km (hike)
Height Gain	2,100 ft.
Max. Elev.	7,610 ft.
Time	3 hrs. 52 mins.

Other Stats.
Start hike:       8.01 am Arr. Top:         9.48 am Dep. Top:      10.17 am Ret. to car:    11.53 am 414 km round trip	Temp:  +9 to +13 deg.C Sunny, NW wind was v. cold at top.  Good visibility.