As we made the long drive back home Wietse and I agreed that this little outing was much nicer than either of us was expecting. The larch forests near Bennett Pass and along Ashman Ridge were unexpected and in prime condition and the dramatic scenery over North Kintla Creek was a perfect way to spend such a perfect fall day in the hills.
This trip lived up to everything I thought it would be. A fantastic backcountry adventure in pristine landscapes, exploring some of the last remaining untouched and largely untraveled wilderness along massive Cambrian Cliffs of the Alberta Rockies along the source streams of two of Banff National Park’s major drainages – the Red Deer River (McConnell Creek) and the Clearwater River (Roaring Creek). Thanks as usual to Dr. Phil, the trip planning guru and to me the routefinding drill master dragging us up peaks along the way. As long as our bodies and life allows, I’m sure we’ll continue to stumble and bumble our way into new corners (for us) of the Rockies somewhere or another – as rare as those corners seem to be getting.
“Hiking directly into the brilliant morning sun was blinding but the views to our left over the Ya Ha Tinda ranch helped assuage any discomfort from either our planets life-star or the opposing bitterly cold breath caressing exposed skin with biting kisses from distant lands to the west.”
Jap Mountain won’t go down as a major objective in anyone’s books but as a late season objective in a gorgeous area of the front ranges it delivered exactly what I needed this particular Remembrance Day.
As you can hopefully tell by this report, it was a fantastic day in the hills that turned out even better than I’d hoped. Originally when planning this trip I’d been worried about the lowly stature of the peaks involved but I should have realized that it’s a very rare day that Waterton doesn’t serve up enough beauty to fully satisfy. As I close out the peaks in this little corner of paradise I can’t help but think that I will continue to find excuses other than summits to make the 3 hour drive from Calgary.
Baseline Mountain isn’t my favorite peak in the area but should be considered for anyone who finds themselves in bad weather after a long drive – it’s still a (small) mountain and likely has decent views on a reasonable day.
An epic 3-day backpacking, hiking and scrambling trips from Ya Ha Tinda up the Red Deer River and McConnell Creek valleys.
I highly recommend this hike for fit hikers who don’t mind putting in some work for excellent views.
This is a perfect family hike for a Sunday afternoon – just pick a day without too much of the infamous front range winds and you will enjoy it more than you expect.
The views from Mockingbird make it worth your time – they are 100x better than the “view” from Blue Hill. The hike on the approach road is rather “meh”, but with a family this is worth the nice drive.
I can’t really recommend Blue Hill Lookout as a premier hike but it’ll do in a pinch when you have 4-5 hours and want some fresh air with glimpses of mountains through sweet-smelling pine forest.
Since I now live in SW Calgary and am essentially neighbors with Wietse, we can do things like drive 45 minutes west and hike meaningless little bumps such as the Mustang Hills.
An easy ramble along a number of front range foothills with some surprising views and a lot of unsurprising non-views.
I knew I was overdoing it when making plans for Sunday October 6th 2019. I tried to recruit a couple of friends and even their reactions told me so. But I’m stubborn when it comes to these things, especially at the end of the year when I know the odds of completing long hiking and scrambling trips are quickly becoming nil.
Trip Date: Monday, September 23 2019 Round Trip Time (hr): 4.5 Total Elevation Gain (m): 750 Total Trip Distance (km): 19 Quick ‘n Dirty Rating: Class 1 – you fall, you tripped over your own feet Difficulty Notes: No difficulties other than following the myriad of signage along the trail and slogging up and down the Sunshine road. Technical Rating: TL1; YDS (Hiking) Map: Google Maps After a long solo trip up Scarab Peak the day before, I wasn’t too keen […]
If you’ve read my Cockscomb Mountain trip report, you should not be surprised that it’s been weeks since my last summit! I jest. Although my mountain mojo was a bit depleted in June / July, this isn’t the real reason I haven’t summitted a mountain in the last 7 weeks. There are two reasons for the break. The first was a three week holiday in July which saw me and my son do an epic 16 day canoe trip in Woodland Caribou Provincial Park in Ontario, Canada, followed by a week camping with family in Nutimik Lake, Manitoba.
Every fall I try to get away for a solo trip to the mountains before work gets crazy for the fall and winter months. In 2012 I spent time finishing up the Nugara scrambles in the Castle Wilderness in southern Alberta but for 2013 I planned something a bit different than a peak bagging excursion. I’ve wanted to see Mount Robson up close and explore around Robson Provincial Park for years already and 2013 was going to be that year for me.
This is probably the easiest summit I’ve attained on my list so far. I did it early on Saturday morning with my son and didn’t even bother taking photos – besides a few summit shots on my iPhone which I won’t bother posting here.
On Friday, September 25 2010 Hanneke and I did a nice hiking circuit in Lake Louise. Our route took us to Lake Agnes, over The Beehive and down to the Plain of Six Glaciers trail back to the parking lot. The Beehive is not a tough scramble by any means, but it does involve some elevation gain and consequently some very sublime views.
