Deer Ridge Discoveries

Sat. 26 October:  Deer Ridge Discoveries

Early signs of weather change - snow tomorrow

The last time I came here it was on snowshoes.  Within twenty four hours I would have needed snowshoes again, but today was a warm, sunny day, ideal for a stroll through the woods and along the ridges of Sibbald Creek.

This might have been the easiest trip that my two trusty hiking colleagues J and R and I had ever done together in thirty years.  Between the three of us we have conquered Mt. Temple, Mist Mountain, the Great Divide above Three Isle Lake, and many other grand adventures.  Today we settled for a stroll along Deer Ridge.

Gusts of wind were whipping through the car park at Sibbald Lake.  J and I recalled our previous attempt at a winter hike here, when we just escaped being drifted in by wild winds.  It was not so wild today.  Our route took us clockwise past Moose Pond, and up onto the ridge, then back down and around the lower section of Eagle Hill trail, over the hill to Sibbald Lake in an enjoyable circuit.  The trail was good, especially over Deer Ridge.

From the trail up the ridge we had spectacular views southeast to Moose Mountain and south to Cox Hill.  Our views west were obstructed by the high forested Hunchback Hills.  From the eastern summit of the ridge, on a rocky outcrop, we could see northwest to Yamnuska and the Front Ranges, with the Sibbald Creek road threading its way through the hills into the Kananaskis Valley.

While this was a pleasant stroll through the woods, our minds were largely focused on GPS coordinates as we sought out the many geocache sites along the way.  J happily told us that there were five hundred of them in the general area of Sibbald Creek.  In the end, we found ten sites on our particular route.  Some of these little treasure boxes were hidden under fallen trees, others hidden inside the branches of fir trees, or in tree stumps.  One was even hidden up a tree tied to a branch, disguised as a tiny fake rock!  We found them all.  They all had names, such as:  “A hike up a hill”, “Backside of the loop”, and “Halfway out of the dark”.  One day I will write a story of my geocaching exploits.  In the meantime, I will just say that, for those not in a hurry to get anywhere particular, geocache hikes are a very good way of achieving your goal!

I should perhaps win an award for the most pointless escapade of my hiking year for my efforts in the Windy Hills the previous day.  Up on the high ridges I went in search of geocache sites without a GPS.  It seemed to me that the ridge top, with its gnarly trees clinging to the rocks, was an ideal place to have a cache site, and so I went looking for one.  I soon found that there’s a reason it’s called geocaching.  After an enjoyable half hour of searching the ridge, I came up with about a hundred ideal sites and no treasure.

Our stroll today took us over the hill above Sibbald Lake and back to the lakeside, where we relaxed in the warm sunshine at a picnic table.  There were a few people out on the trails and beside the lake enjoying the last of the Indian Summer. 

Earlier, as I was half way up a tree replacing the cache, a family of mom, dad, two young kids and a dog stopped to ask if there was something to see up the tree.  We replied that we were just geocaching.  Both parents looked blank, but the little daughter, perhaps six or seven, brightly replied: “Yes, geocaching, you do that with a GPS!”.  Their parents looked a little surprised as they moved off up the trail.  I have no idea whether this game will ever catch on with hikers, but perhaps it should.

Statistics:

Total Distance:     8.5 km (hike)

Height Gain:          1,300 ft.

Max. Elev.:            5,570 ft.

Time on Trail:       4 hrs. 00 mins.

Dep. car:              9.14 am

E. Summit:          10.22 am

Eagle Ridge Jn:   11.31 am

Sibbald L:            12.48 pm

Ret. to car:            1.14 pm

Temp:               +4 to + 16 deg.C

Weather:           Sunny, cloud bands blowing in on the NW wind

Setting out from Sibbald Lake.   Cox Hill in background

Notice the deer at the right, by the woods

Moose Pond and Eagle Ridge behind

Moose Mountain from lower slopes of Deer Ridge

On Deer Ridge east summit

Descending from east summit.  Front Ranges in distance.

Aspen grove

Sibbald Lake

Most colorful geocache of the day!

Over the Hump - by Bike!

Fri. 25 October:  Over the Hump - by Bike!

Moon dropping below Hailstone Butte

The valley of Johnson Creek, running west from Indian Graves campsite up to the Pass known as “The Hump”, must be one of the prettiest corners of Alberta.  It had been closed off since June due to the floods.  This crazy mild late October day gave me the opportunity to bike up the road and do some hiking from the Pass.

I don’t know if I can really claim the first half of this trip as a bike ride.  For at least seven of the nine kilometres from Indian Graves to The Hump required me to push the bike up the steep hills!  Of course, my reward was in the return journey.

The road was closed at the entrance to Indian Oils campsite, where a section of the highway had been washed away by the swollen creek.  I could have driven round the barrier on a temporary track, but chose to start my bike ride from there.  It turned out that there was a fair amount of construction traffic on the road west of the barrier.  There was construction work up ahead, below the hairpin bend, and trucks laden with earth were coming down the narrow gravel highway.  I was safer on my bike as I could hear them coming and get off the road.  The trucks kicked up dust as they passed by. 

Below the first hairpin bend, crews were busy rebuilding the road and the culverts.  One small creek had caused all the damage.  It was a spectacular place to work, beneath the snow-rimmed mountainsides.  I pushed my bike up the steep road, past the roadworks, exchanging friendly greetings with the back-hoe operator, who was waiting with his feet up for the truck to return from the valley below.  Old culverts, twisted and squashed, lay in a heap beside the road. 

I finally reached the Pass, having pushed my bike pretty well the whole way up.  The tiny lake at the summit was more than half frozen, but there was enough clear water to get some photos of the reflections of the cliffs above.

I hid my bike behind a bush and set out on a short hike up the Windy Peak hills.  There was a truck parked at the Pass, and as I approached the first ridge top, I saw a lone hiker above me.  He carried a rifle and was out hunting deer.  He magically disappeared and I don’t know where he was headed.  

It was an enjoyable stroll along the high ridge, with birds eye views east down into Johnson Creek to the hazy prairie beyond.  There was snow on the eastern side of the ridge line, and a few patches along the trail.  Up here it was a warm, cloudless day, and no wind.  I wondered how many days of the year the wind didn’t blow up here in the Windy Hills.  Very few probably.  A light plane buzzed the summit of Hailstone Butte, above the fire lookout, before turning east and dropping low over The Hump and into the valley below.

Back at the bike, I tightened the straps of my backpack, tucked my laces into my boots, and pointed my bike down the hill.  I was glad I had checked and adjusted my brakes the other week, as it was a steep, fast descent.  Just past the roadworks, I turned left into the empty car park for Bear Pond.  It was a short stroll through the woods to this peaceful fishing lake under the mountain wall.  Fish were jumping.

It didn’t take me long to race down the road back to the start of my trip at Indian Oils.  Down here in the valley it felt more like an August afternoon than a week away from November. But the forecast was calling for snow by Sunday, so I had grabbed probably the last opportunity this year to enter this magical world.  By Sunday it might turn into a winter wonderland. 

Statistics:

Total Distance:     18.0 km (bike) + 5.0 km (hike)

                            = 23.0 km

Height Gain:          2,450 ft.

Max. Elev.:            7,149 ft.

Time on Trail:       4 hrs. 51 mins.

Dep. car:              9.15 am

The Hump:         11.13 am

Windy Hill #1:     12.04 pm

The Hump:           1.02 pm

Bear Pond:           1.31 pm

Ret. to car:           2.06 pm

Temp:               Around Zero to Plus 15 deg.C

Weather:           Cloudless, no wind

Hwy 532 road sign at junction with Hwy 22

Horse and cattle on Hwy 532

Repairs are well advanced along this road

Truck heading up to the worst area of damage below the hairpin bend

One swollen creek did all the damage

On the summit of "The Hump" Pass

Summit lake almost frozen over

Hailstone Butte fire lookout:  I could see it catching
the sunlight from far off across the prairie

Hailstone Butte from the Windy Hills

My route today:  Hwy 532 running east to Indian Graves

Foothills and prairie from the Windy Hills

Dropping back down to The Hump

Bear Pond - no bears!

Speedy return back down the gravel highway

Spectacular views from Hwy 22 south of Longview

The famous Bar U Ranch

Nihahi Ridge

Fri. 18 October:  Nihahi Ridge and Six Hidden Treasures

Full moon setting in the west

Nihahi:  familiar to anyone who has visited the western end of the Elbow Valley – which is practically the entire population of Calgary.  This magnificent ridge, long and straight, stretching northwest from the Elbow Valley,  looks a tempting  hike from some angles.  But it is in fact a challenging scramble.

To access the ridge, you follow a good trail from the Little Elbow campsite, and then you head upwards for as far as you feel comfortable to go. Most people stop short of the south summit.

For the second week in a row, JM was able to join me for this hike.  We started early, on a cloudless, cold morning, from the trailhead below the campsite. There was ice in the puddles and a thin layer of snow in shady areas.  Most of the leaves had now fallen, stripping the colour from the hillsides and creating a yellow carpet along the trail.  Soon the sun rose from behind Forgetmenot Ridge, providing some much needed warmth.

There’s no danger of getting lost on this trail.  It is well-used.  Winding up the forested hillside it then traverses in a westerly direction through meadows and up onto the lower end of Nihahi Ridge.  If you only got to this point, you would be rewarded with spectacular views west up the Elbow Valley, with superb peaks all around:  Mt. Glasgow (9,629 ft.) to your left, Mts. Romulus (9,291 ft.) and Remus (8,819 ft.) in front of you, and the south summit of Nihahi (7,750 ft.) up the ridge to your right.

It’s a grand route up the ridge, and I puzzled as to why it had taken me over thirty years to get round to doing this hike.  I could find no good excuse.  There were footprints in the snow indicating there might be someone ahead of us, but then the footprints would disappear, only to reappear a little further up.  This suggested someone might have come up here the night before, and the snow had then drifted across the tracks.  There had been a full moon overnight, and I had heard that people sometimes do a night-time hike up mountains to see the setting moon.  Higher up, we did glimpse three guys coming down off the ridge on a route which did not intersect ours.

As we continued to climb the ridge, we followed a path which contoured up the steep eastern slopes, into the trees.  Here we were glad of our MICROspikes (and for J it was Yaktraks) on the slippery snow-covered path.  Reaching an open section of ridge, directly below the south summit, we decided to stop here.  We could see the trail continuing up along the east side of the ridge.  The untouched snow told us that nobody was ahead of us.

This was about as far as the average day hiker might be comfortable to go, especially in slippery conditions.  Soon a young guy caught up with us, as we were relaxing on the ridge, and after a brief greeting, he strode off up the ridge as if it were flat!

It was actually quite tricky getting back down this upper section, and without our spikes we would almost certainly have slipped our way down, probably out of control.  

Somewhere on this high forested slope was a geocache – and we found it, hidden behind an ancient pine growing beside the cliff.  The clue given to us was that it was “knee-high on Ni-ha-hi Ridge” (pun intended).  

Dropping back down, we could clearly see the lines of the Little Elbow and Elbow Rivers, now wide gravel floodpaths where trees had been ripped up by the incredible wall of water that must have surged down the valley last June.

On our way down the ridge we passed one lone bearded hiker, not exactly a crowd.  At the trailhead we turned west to the Elbow Trail.  The floods had taken out an entire section of trail and forest, leaving gravel flats and piles of trees beside the river.

Turning east back along the trail, we started our search for several geocaches.  One was hidden under a pile of logs, another behind a pine tree.  Crossing the undamaged suspension bridge, we located three more sites, randomly located in the thick forest.  J signed the “guestbook” at each site, and we added a trinket to each cache.  It was quite fun heading off across the forest in search of a hidden box of treasures, as if we were kids again, playing hide and seek.  Today we found all six of the geocache sites in the area.

On our way back down the Elbow Valley, we stopped to check out Forgetmenot Pond (no visible damage) and Elbow Falls (interpretive trail repaired and picnic table rescued from the river).  There were plenty of people enjoying the perfect weather. 

Unlike last week, we saw no moose or grizzlies, which was just as well, as we were more focused on following GPS coordinates through the forest than being on the lookout for wild animals! 

Statistics:

Total Distance:     14.1 km (hike)

Height Gain:          2,273 ft.

Max. Elev.:            7,257 ft.

Time on Trail:     6 hrs. 33 mins.

Dep. car:             8.39 am

Ridge:                10.04 am

High point:         11.12 am

Trail Jn:               1.26 pm

Suspension Br:   2.17 pm

Ret. to car:          3.12 pm

Temp:               Minus 4 to Plus 14 deg.C

Weather:           Cloudless, light breeze

A welcome sunrise warms up the frigid air

On the Elbow Trail

Colorful lower section of Nihahi Ridge Trail

Trail reaches lower end of Nihahi Ridge

Nihahi Ridge South Summit ahead

Views west to Mts. Romulus and Remus

Middle section of trail on open scree

Elbow Valley looking west - Mt. Glasgow (9,629 ft.) on left

This is where we stopped, below the South Summit

My footsteps along the ridge

Trail continues up the ridge - view north to Moose Mtn.

Geo-cache high up on ridge (I added the elephant)

Forgetmenot Pond and flood-path of Elbow River

Here the Elbow River appears to have completely changed its path in the floods

Lots of hidden geo-caches across the bridge

Cold Feet

Sun./Mon. 13/14 October:  Cold Feet:  The Sheep River Valley (again)

Large Grizzly beside the Sheep River road

The title of this latest trip has nothing to do with fear!  This tale is filled with bold adventures, including crossing rivers, clambering up rocky outcrops, avoiding the rifle shots of hunters, meeting moose and grizzly.  It’s all to do with two chilly crossings of the dramatically altered Sheep River – its course changed by the incredible floods of June.

Sunday night would be the final night for camping in all but a small handful of year-round campsites in the mountains and foothills.  Given a perfect weather forecast, I just couldn’t miss the opportunity.  In the Sheep Valley, the Sandy McNabb campsite was still open, so I headed out there hoping it would not be full.  It wasn’t. In fact I found a whole empty corner of the large campsite and had soon set up my small tent.  It was the only tent in the campsite, everyone else having sensibly brought their large heated trailers and RVs!

It was only early afternoon on a cool, overcast day.  The forecast showed it would clear later, and there were some glimmers of sunlight.  A magical transformation in the weather would happen overnight.  Nevertheless it was a nice afternoon for a stroll.  I chose to explore the Gorge Creek Road, which had been closed to traffic at the Sheep Valley junction due to the floods.  I was curious to see how much damage the floods had caused to this narrow gravel road which runs north, above a deep gorge, to a locked gate.  It is the access road for some wonderful hikes to Volcano Mountain, Surveyor’s Ridge, and Mt. Ware.

Within half a kilometre I came to a missing section of road, where the swollen creek had broken through.  I detoured upstream around the destruction.  Some very old wooden pipes had been exposed by the floods.  There was one other section of road, high above the gorge, which had been damaged, but apart from that, the road was still in good shape.   I had not expected to meet anyone up here but a young couple strolled by, followed a little later by a family on horseback.  We exchanged cheery greetings.  

The trees had lost most of their leaves and it was a cool, cloudy afternoon.  A thin layer of snow lay beside the road in shady areas.  The mountain peaks to the west were snow-covered.  To the right of the road were the cliffs of Missinglink Mountain, tempting me to climb up and explore.  I added them to my list of future adventures.

At the road barrier, I turned around and made good time back down the road to the Sheep Valley.  Back at the campsite a roaring fire was soon established, which kept me warm as the light quickly faded and the temperatures dropped below freezing.  At last, my sleeping bag, rated for minus ten degrees C, didn’t feel too hot.  I slept well.  Overnight, the skies magically cleared.

A bowl of porridge and some hot chocolate were the answer to a cold, clear morning.  My hiking buddy JM arrived from the city as I was striking camp, and we were quickly off up the Sheep River road, in two cars.  We left my car at Indian Oils parking area, then drove back down the valley to Gorge Creek.  Here our hike would start.

Crossing the Sheep River is always an adventure, even when the waters are low.  The river had suffered major changes during the floods, and so we weren’t sure how easy it would be today.  We were in luck, finding a good route across, having first waded the smaller Gorge Creek.  But the water was really cold, and we did not linger for photos!  Climbing the opposite bank was a little tricky as the river had cut a new path.  Once on the other side of the river, it was plain sailing up the Teskey Road, above the Sheep River gorge and through the meadows to Dyson Creek.  The sun had started to warm things up, although there was a frost on the shady areas of the green meadows.

Dyson Creek had seen major floods and there were stones scattered across the grass where the floodwaters had poured down the mountainsides.  Dyson Falls are just a small waterfall, but they have a special beauty worth a trip on its own.  Today we were heading south to Green Mountain, which looked quite intimidating from Dyson Creek.  We marched up the flood damaged fire-road, turning left onto the Green Mountain trail.  At the high point of the muddy trail we turned left into the trees and climbed steadily up the southwest ridge.  Now onto open slopes, we enjoyed the mountain views as we climbed up towards the summit.  Along the way we played around on the fascinating rock outcrops just below the summit cliffs.  

The top of Green Mountain is an anti-climax.  A survey marker, hidden in the trees, marks the highest point.  Here we met four camouflage-clad rifle-carrying hunters who had climbed from another route.  I was glad I had my orange toque on.  We let them stride north along the ridge and decided to return the same way we had come.  A few minutes later, shots rang out and we were glad we had not followed the hunters.  The loud reports echoed for several seconds off distant mountain walls.

Before leaving the summit, we searched for a geo-cache and found it, well hidden in a rock outcrop.  This was our first geo-cache search since J had bought his GPS device.  I suspect our hiking trips will now have an added challenge!

Returning down to Dyson Creek, we then turned west to follow the Sheep Trail up into the meadows below Mt. Hoffmann and down to the Sheep River at Tiger Jaw Falls.  The easy stroll across the bridge had now become another exciting river crossing.  We walked upstream a couple of hundred metres to a fast-flowing but manageable crossing point.  Since our feet were quite warm from our day’s exertions, the icy cold water was refreshing as long as we didn’t hang around in the river.  From the opposite bank, we strolled down the wide area of boulders created by the colossal floods, back to the car at Indian Oils.  Several family groups were enjoying the perfect weather, sitting on the bare rocks where the bridge once crossed over the falls.

We drove the short distance west to the end of the road.  Here we walked a few hundred metres up the Sheep Trail to a good vantage point for Gibraltar Mountain, where J found his second geo-cache of the day.

On our way back down the valley we stopped to admire a large grizzly bear, which was foraging for food right beside the road.  He looked directly at us as if to warn us to stay where we were.  We had no intention of getting any closer.  His presence was a reminder that one can meet a bear anywhere up this valley at any time.  

Today it didn’t need two icy crossings of the Sheep River to encounter both bear and moose – but they were probably also out there across the river, on the remoter trails.  This powerful grizzly was a reminder to stay alert out there.

Statistics (Gorge Creek Road):

Total Distance:   9.0 km (hike)

Height Gain:           330 ft.

Max. Elev.:         5,250 ft.

Time on Trail:     2 hrs. 03 mins.

Dep. car:              2.18 pm

Barrier:                3.21 pm

Ret. to car:           4.21 pm

Temp:               +4 deg.C

Weather:           Overcast, slowly clearing, cool

Fall colours at entrance to Sheep Valley

Moose grabbing a tasty snack

Gorge Creek Road flood damage

Hazy sun today: magical clearing overnight

More flood damage on Gorge Creek Road

Family outing

End of road, and trailhead for the back-country

A lonely road 

Looking down into the gorge

Green Mountain: tomorrow's destination

Very old pipe-making technique exposed by the floods

Statistics (Green Mountain):

Total Distance: 15.5 km (hike)

Height Gain:       1,490 ft.

Max. Elev.:        6,050 ft.

Time on Trail:    6 hrs. 11 mins.

Dep. Gorge Ck:    9.35 am

Dyson Falls:       10.54 am

Green Mtn:         12.29 pm

Dyson Falls:          1.57 pm

Sheep River:          3.13 pm

Arr. Indian Oils:    3.46 pm *

Temp:               Minus 4 to Plus 12 deg.C

Weather:           Cloudless; temps. vary from nippy breeze to warm and windless

* after driving W. to end of Sheep Valley road, we drove back E. to Gorge Creek, arriving at car #1 at 4.28 pm, completing the circuit.

A spectacular morning

Cold feet - first crossing of the Sheep River

Beside Teskey Trail

Dyson Falls

Lower slopes of Green Mountain

Views west to Front Ranges

Our first geo-cache!  We added some moleskin.

Putting the geo-cache box back in its hidden hole

Heading back down the mountain

Another great example of a rock face

At treeline.  Banded Peak in background.

Green Mountain from Dyson Creek

On Sheep Trail heading west

Tiger Jaw Falls, site of bridge destroyed in the floods

Geocache at west end of Sheep Valley