I became intrigued by this trip a few years ago after Christine had such high praise for it, and indeed it did not disappoint! The parts through deep canyon are reminiscent of Utah, and the hike offers lots of fun opportunities for scrambling along with far-reaching views from Boundary Ridge and Peak.
We were hoping that we would escape the smoky city and we did! There was a brief moment of despair driving over Scott Lake Hill when visibility dropped significantly, but we were smart enough to figure out that it was fog, not smoke. We started under some haze but had fresh-smelling air and blue sky which just got more brilliant as the day progressed.

The only downside of this trip is that most of it is walking on rock, but we all found it quite meditative as we carefully chose secure footsteps. Some scrambling is unavoidable as you pass through the narrower parts of the deep spectacular canyons. Upon reaching the end, I had forgotten Daffern's advice to ascend "the last forested rib", so we attacked the steep slope head-on which worked fine but seemed to last far longer than it should have. The ridgewalk to the peak was also steep but the views from the top were well worth the effort, and we were so happy to not be in the low murk that was blocking Calgary from view.

We descended a mix of nice and nasty scree, each picking our own route until we were back at the head of the canyon in clear sunshine. Then it was a relaxed journey back, admiring the canyons and streams and enjoying interesting conversations. Estimates were 19 km and 1050m in 8 hours. Apologies for so many pictures but I wanted to show the variety of terrain. Many thanks to Gary and Pam for sharing the adventure, from coordinator Ingrid.