Originally I thought we might just go to the summit of Pasque mountain and back the same way. Determined veteran Rambler Rita motivated us, however, to extend the trip to do the horseshoe which ended in a bushwhack which made it more like a real Rambler trip. A better trip!

I remembered getting a bit lost at the start of this trip many years ago and nearly succeeded in doing that again. Fortunately David had a new Gem Trek map which shows the route and helped us find the exploration road that gives easy access to the ridge. The road takes a route up to a spur ridge at one time switch backing directly away from the summit.

Spur ridge approach to Pasque mountain

We were two hours to the ridge after leaving the cars around 9:30 am. When we first got to the ridge views were pretty extensive to mountains on the divide that I suspect people do n't seem to get to as much: Beehive, Lyall and Gass.


Pasque mountain ridge

The weather did worsen around us during the day with the bigger peaks on the divide, Holy Cross and Mount Head at various times disappearing in cloud. No snow on the ridge and not much wind made for pleasant hiking, although any time we stopped for a break you quickly cooled off. We did have a couple of very light flurries but the weather looked worse elsewhere at times.


Summit Pasque mountain looking South

Cool Ramblers on Pasque mountain ridge.

All of us agreed with Rita it would be worthwhile to continue on to do the horseshoe which I had never done before. Looking at the horseshoe route from Pasque mountain the amount of ascent and descent is not readily obvious but we negotiated the ups and downs.


Heading north on the eastern side of the Pasque mountain horseshoe.

I mentioned that this trip, of all the trips I have done in the Rockies was, I thought, most like country in the Lake District of England near where I grew up. The exceptions were - you had to ignore the widespread coniferous forest, clear cuts, Rocky mountains of the divide to the west, no one else on the mountain all day (which would not happen in the Lakes these days) and we saw no sheep (neither Bighorn or domestic!) which also would not happen - so not really like the English Lakes at all!

We agreed to bushwhack down to Wilkinson creek at the end of the horseshoe. We did hit a trail that had been recently cleared. Dave's Gem Trek map showed and mentioned this trail but it came out on the road 2-3 Kms further away from our cars than if we bushwhacked down the creek. It looks like this trail runs up the valley and might be a way to do the trip in reverse. Doing our route in reverse, sticking to the ridge all the way,would be very steep on ascent. The valley route would be easier but in the trees mostly I think.

We had a few crossings of a mostly flowing Wilkinson creek - ice and slippery rocks provided a little extra challenge. After getting out to the road around 4:30 pm within a couple of minutes Jeannine had used her charm to get our two drivers into the back of a hunter's truck to get us to the cars and avoid the tedium of the road walk.

Thanks to hardcore Rita for making it a real Rambler's trip, Adrian for the photos, David for the Gem Trek map, Yolande for the compliments on my sandwiches and Jeannine for charming the hunters. Thanks all from coordinator and scribe John.