Quite a few Ramblers were interested in giving the Castle a try, and assembled at the Victoria Ridge trailhead. The weather was not great, low clouds and a steady drizzle were the order at the start. After clambering over the fence we commenced the 3.6 km walk up the access road in our rain gear:
Hi ho, it's up the road we go
That took about 50 minutes and we took a short break. The drizzle had backed off to a fine mist. The trail commences from here and it was quite lush along the route. It became apparent to the coordinator why the participants feigned ignorance of the route to encourage him to take the lead:
drizzledrop flower ( Albertaeus wetii)
In quite a few places the trail is overgrown (more later) which made for much brushing against very soggy trees and plants- a real test of the waterproofness of your gear. Things improved as we gained altitude and the vegetation thinned out, but views were very limited:
through the mist higher up the ridge
As we neared the saddle on Victoria Ridge there were some impressive floral displays including a whole hillside of larkspur:
Aldis walking past a sea of larkspur
At the saddle (about 9.7 km into the hike) the precipitation had ceased but there were only a few short-lived tantalizing partial unveilings of the surrounding peaks. We decided to have lunch and wait awhile as some were interested in going to the summit of the ridge 3.5 km further south, but there wasn't much point while it remained socked in:
Jane & John enjoy the lunchtime view (?) just above Victoria Ridge saddle
As it wasn't showing much change after lunch everyone decided to head back, with some stopping for flower identification of the numerous species on display:
Dawson's angelica (Angelica dawsonii)
closeup of flowerhead of Dawson's angelica (Angelica dawsonii)
Mariposa lily (Calichortus apiculatus) with water droplets
bear grass
lupins
As we descended the weather finally started to show signs of the forecast clearing trend:
The clouds start to lift. Looking down Pincher Creek valley, distant canola fields can be seen on the prairie.
This continued and the sun came out to dry the vegetation and improve the views:
Enjoying the view we missed on the way up.
The drying was especially welcome on the overgrown lower parts of the trail where we had pushed our way through sodden vegetation on the way up:
Donna & Carl leading the way through the undergrowth
Carolyn thrashing through some willows
By the time we were back on the road walk it had almost completely cleared off:
Just a few wisps of cloud on Victoria Peak by the end of the day
Too bad it hadn't been that way three hours earlier. Many in the group would like to try the hike again in better weather as the views would be excellent.
Participants: Barbara, Carl, Nancy, Manfred, Brenda (photo), Aldis, David, Ginger, Margo, George, Kathy, Nardi, John, Barb, Bruce, Jane, Joanne, Lenard, Carolyn, Steve & Donna, plus outriders Bill & Arnold. Thanks for joining me on this exploration that was new to almost everybody; Ron C/S/P.
