Barrier Lake Lookout - August 17, 2008

Barrier Lake Lookout - Kananaskis: Take Highway 40 to Barrier Dam Day Use Area. Park in lot, and hike across dam to Stoney Trail/Prairie View Trail Junction. Take Prairie View trail.

I've long said Barrier Lake is one of my favorite places in the world, but amazingly, I'd never hiked much in the area. With all the amazing lookout hikes Nat and I had tried in the previous few weeks, this short hike (7.8 km total) was a no-brainer for David and I.

Every hike in this area starts out with a 1.1 km trek across the Barrier Lake Dam. It can be long and sometimes tiring, but the view is stunning.... and that water colour!



Only a half hour or so up the trail there are opportunities for great views:



The colours of the lake never cease to stun me:



The name if the trail leading to the lookout is actually called Prairie View Trail. Here you can see why. I'm always partial to the mountain shots, but looking out over the prairie from the height of the Rockies is a reminder of how varied the area is:

Moose Mountain - August 10, 2008

I mentioned before the summer of 2008 was the "Summer of Peaks". Moose Mountain was another notch in that belt. Nat and I had attempted it before, but waited a little too late in the season and opted to stop just short of the active fire lookout on top. This time there was no chance of snow stopping us.

Thunderstorms on the other hand are a real risk in the summer. Moose Mountain seems to be a bit of a lightning rod, and its location on the edge of the Rockies means storms can develop in a matter of minutes. There's even a sign posted at the trailhead warning hikers of the high lightning strike risk, and the fact the mountain itself is struck by lightning throughout the season. Yeah, that's what I want to read when starting a hike up a mountain!

The approach to Moose Mountain is a pretty yet nondescript trail through forest and meadow. It's not terribly strenuous, and it's usually used by cyclists. However, there's no mistaking once you begin your ascent up the actual mountain, as you lose the trees and have only barren landscape around you:



As you start the switchbacks up this side of Moose Mountain, you realize you are right on the edge of the Rocky Mountains, and there is lots to see:







After the switchbacks, the trail turns into a bit of a false ridge walk; you walk along the top of one peak, only to dip down and start ascent of another. It's the second ascent along a narrow trail of scale that is not for the faint of heart. That faint line along the ridge and side of mountain? Yeah, that's the trail. You can also see the fire lookout at the peak. We're looking west, but the trail actually winds around to the other sided of the peak to approach the lookout:





Looking down the valley between the mountains makes for a fabulous look at the rock formations:



The Moose Mountain fire lookout is still an active lookout. Someone works here from May until October, and lives in the tiny structure that doubles as the lookout. On top of that, that person will have a few thousand people hiking to his doorstep every summer:



All food and supplies are brought in by helicopter. The landing pad is located beside the lookout:



There is a guestbook to sign, as well as a couple of signs to greet visitors, one official, and one a little more "unofficial":





Nat and I were the first up this particular day, and to our surprise the fire lookout guy came out the greet us (he actually said he could hear us coming from quite a distance... Nat and I are not exactly silent hikers). He was extremely friendly and informative, telling us about bringing his family up for part of the summer (imagine 2 adults and 2 kids under 10 living in that tiny house!), busting illegal campfires, the training required for such a job, past fire lookouts (Nat's father met a lookout at Moose Mountain who played the cello for the hikers who arrived) and more. He also assured us (me) that those dark clouds on the horizon were "unlikely" to contain lightning (but did say he'd had to chase more than one hiking group off the mountain due to incoming lightning storms).

I think a book could be written purely about the people who man the fire lookouts around the globe.

That said - you can't beat the working conditions. This is his view to the west:



We bid the fire lookout goodbye as a number of other hikers were making their way up the trail. This was definitely one of the most interesting hikes yet!

As my closer, here's a panorama shot from the summit of Moose Mountain, stitched together by amazing hubby Dave. Imagine having this as your private view 5 months out of the year! (please click on photo for full-size):

Season's Greetings!

It's been bitterly cold in my part of the world -- probably much like many others (except those lucky people in New Zealand ;-)), and getting out to the mountains has been next to impossible.

Our deep frost broke today, and we're actually going to be hovering above freezing on the weekend, so there's a chance for one last hike of 2008!

It was the end of 2006 that Dave and I hiked an impromptu loop called Alder Trail, close to Bragg Creek. That was the hike that made me realize I wanted -- needed -- to spend more of my time outdoors. Something about this time of year makes the forest magical.

Merry Christmas everyone.


Alder Trail, December 2006

Sulphur Mountain -- July 20, 2008

Sulphur Mountain -- Banff. Trail details: Take Banff Ave through town to Mountain Ave. Park in the Hot Springs parking lot, trailhead is NW part of parking lot.

If you've been to Banff, Alberta -- heck, if you've seen a photo of Banff, Alberta -- you've probably seen a photo of Sulphur Mountain. While not as photogenic as my personal favorite, Mount Rundle, Sulphur Mountain is where all the action is -- the Banff Springs Hotel, the Hot Springs, the Sulphur Mountain Gondola. The Cave and Basin is located on the west side of the mountain -- a historic spot for the National Park system of Canada.

Dave and I had to hike it. What better way to spend a 6 year wedding anniversary?

Sulphur Mountain intimidated us for a long time. It is a long way up from the parking lot, and when thousands of people a year will fork over about $16 a pop to take the gondola up instead of hiking, it makes you wonder if they know something we don't.

One thing I didn't know was that the old ski lift machinery still stands on the mountain. As we encountered what I thought was a fire break, we instead saw relics from a bygone era...(look for the wires among the tree... can you imagine riding a chairlift up this narrow channel?)





Only a few steps later, we hiked under the gondola lift. The trail is largely switchbacks up the east side of the mountain, and crosses under the gondola run many times:



I call this my tourism shot... the gondola backed by Mt. Rundle:



Looking down the Mount Rundle range. Sulphur is a steady climb of switchbacks, but an excellent one for views:



Sulphur is also a very popular hike, so the odds are the only wildlife you're going to see are the little guys who are used to being fed.... like this critter:




The trail has plenty of wildflowers as well. First up the Yellow Columbine (aquilegia flavescens). A little blurrier than I would like, but still a nice shot:



We also saw lots of what appears to be a Dwarf Mountain Groundsel (senecio fremontii):



About halfway up the mountain, the gondola starts to hover awfully close to the trail:



Neat little illusion where it looks like the gondola is coming right at you as you hike by:



One switchback went around the north side of the mountain, and we got a beautiful view of the town of Banff, with a very tiny looking Cascade Mountain in the background:



The top platform of Sulphur Mountain is where the trail ends, as well as where the gondola lift terminates. There's an observation deck complete with gift shop and restaurant. As you can imagine, it's quite busy during the summer. It's a bit of a shock going from mountain hike to tourist crowds in the space of a minute, and it diminishes the payoff just a little.



But the view can't be beat. That "bump" beside the river, in the middle-left of the shot... that's Tunnel Mountain... a short but decent hike in its own right:



The top of Sulphur Mountain used to be a ridgewalk, but the area is extremely sensitive and the trail was destroying the unique vegetation. This boardwalk was built to connect the two peaks of the mountain (the old lookout still stands at the other peak):



Looking back at the Visitor's Centre from the lookout. Mount Rundle in the background:



Again, in the midst of the most popular tourist spot in Alberta, yet there's nothing but pristine wilderness everywhere you look:



It's a beautiful area, and maybe too well loved. Much of Sulphur Mountain Trail suffers from overuse due to its popularity. Also, because so much of the trail is simply switchbacks up the mountain, many people take "shortcuts" which only lead to more trail degradation and erosion. There are signs throughout the trail asking hikers to please not cause more damage, but throughout the hike we saw numerous people cutting through the trail and "shortcutting".

This is what the terrain starts to look like when its eroding:



Despite the crowds, and the popularity and sometimes dismaying disregard for the area.... it's a beautiful hike, and should be done at least once. Especially since the Hot Springs reside right at the trail head!

Nihahi Ridge -- July 13, 2008

Nihahi Ridge has been mentioned quite a few times on this blog, but it's simply one of best hikes in the area -- especially if you have a group of people with mixed hiking ability. It's generally a moderate climb that will get you to some pretty amazing views. The hike is reasonably close to the city, sits at the edge of the Rockies, and gets you to places no road can take you. The last kilometer of the hike is a tough grind, but even if hiking isn't your thing, and you choose not to knock yourself out, the rest stop right before that 1k climb will reward you well.

What draws the more experienced hiker back to Nihahi is the ridge walk beyond the official end of the trail. Nat and I have many times wanted to continue up the ridge, but never felt it was the time to do so.

Until this day.

The first nice touch was a more up close and personal view of one of the area's more picturesque peaks, Mount Romulus. To me it looks like the top of submarine. And no matter what time of year it is, there is always that layer of snow along the top. Part of Mount Remus is in the foreground. The mountains were named for the brothers from Roman mythology:



Another shot of Mount Romulus and Mount Remus. The tall pointed peak in the background is Fisher Peak:



We were also given a different perspective of the view to the south/southeast of us, and the unspoiled terrain that makes up part of Don Getty Provincial Park. These are the slopes of Mount Glasgow, with a rocky portion of Mount Cromwell in the distance. I love that amidst a popular campground and backcountry rec area, there are such huge swaths of land still untouched, with only a river running through:



View from high up Nihahi... with Little Elbow River running through. A popular backcountry trail runs along that river, and everytime I'm on Nihahi, I promise myself I will eventually hike that trail.....



Since the trail at this point is "unofficial" and unmarked, Nat and I actually wound up walking along the ridge as opposed to summiting the actual mountain. This gave us a unique view of the terrain along Powderface Road, and the little "bumps" that take up the space between Nihahi Ridge and Powderface Ridge. One of those bumps is Ford Knoll:



We ran into one other hiker along our "unofficial" trail. This is a pretty nice shot of the trail and the type of hike it is:



Looking down at Little Elbow River from higher up Nihahi. This is always a wow shot for me:



As we began heading down from the ridge, we spied a caravan at ground level along Little Elbow Trail. This hike was during the Calgary Stampede, and even from our high vantage point, we could see the caravan was made of chuckwagons, likely in the area for the rodeo. It was quite the distance to shot from, but I managed these blurry shots (nicely salvaged by my extremely talented graphic design guru hubby):



It took us a while to brave the "unofficial" section of Nihahi's ridge walk, but I think we picked the perfect day to do it!

Troll Falls -- July 6, 2008

After the Hummingbird Plume Lookout hike, Nat and I decided to take advantage of the maze of trails to take a different way back to the car. We passed close to Troll Falls, the short hike Dave and I had checked the week prior, and we stopped by for a look. A lot less bugs, a few more people, and some more nice photos...

Hummingbird Plume Fire Lookout -- July 6, 2008

Hummingbird-Plume Fire Lookout. Trail details: Take Highway 40 south to the Kananaskis Lodge/Nakiska turnoff. Drive straight toward the Nakiska Ski Lodge and park at the gates. Trail is behind the lodge, heading north. Take Skogan Pass Trail to Hummingbird Plume Lookout.

So, it took Nat and I some time to clue into the best way to find good solid trails with amazing vantage points, but once we tuned into the fire lookout hikes, we were off to the races.

There are literally dozens of fire lookout trails throughout Alberta and BC. They make great hikes because they're usually accessible by a trail that requires little climbing or scrambling, and since the locations were originally selected due to the expansive view of the area, the payoff for the trail is usually pretty sweet.

Most of the fire lookout hikes in the Kananaskis area are for defunct lookouts. The lookouts have been decommissioned and more often than not, the buildings themselves torn down or taken away.

Hummingbird Plume was a nice exception -- the long abandoned lookout is still standing, and contains a lot of history within.

On the way, we encountered more wildflowers, and I got to attempt to improve on my wildflower knowledge. My not-so-extensive wildflower books didn't have this one, but it very closely resembles the Prickly Rose (rosa acicularis), which tends to cross-breed with other roses:



Once we started heading up hill, the trail was green and lush and utterly deserted:



The hike to the actual structure was a steady climb, but far from strenuous. We came to a small clearing where this small building stood (that's Nat taking a look inside):



Clearly, this particular structure has been around some time. How long? Well, one reference book (Mike Potter's excellent "Fire Lookout Hikes in the Canadian Rockies") mentioned some of the lumber used to build this lookout was stamped from 1915. After some searching, we found that stamp, near the roof:



Inside, more history etched into the walls:



The lookout itself is off to the side, through a small clearing, then suddenly we came to a cliff edge, and the valley was spread out before us:




Hubby kindly stitched together this panorama shot from all my shots from the viewpoint. No photo could possibly do this view justice, but this comes close (please click the photo for a better look):



Beautiful hike without a strenuous workout... we couldn't have asked for more!