A blue sky Ramblers “first ascent” of John Ware Ridge from the west side—this ridge, named for the famous Alberta rancher, was a favourite haunt of the Ramblers a few decades ago, when trespassing on private property was not much of an issue in the foothills, and the ridge could be approached through private land. Today, however, we approached the ridge from the west, staying on public land along the boundary of Kananaskis Country.

Trail along Carey Ridge

The approach is along the very scenic, open ridge, called Carey Ridge by local ranchers. (called Entrance Ridge in a hiking guide book) There is a good horse trail all along this ridge, with fine views of the Rockies to the west and John Ware Ridge to the east.

View from Carey Ridge

Moose Mountain stands sharp and white on the northwestern horizon from Carey Ridge.

Grizzly track

It was a great day for wildlife. On the hike we saw four deer disappearing over the ridge, a fat vole disappearing into its hole under some snow, a downy woodpecker pecking happily on an aspen tree, a grouse, and some fair-sized grizzly tracks, made just before the last dusting of snow.

View from John Ware Ridge

From Carey Ridge we lucked out by finding an old roadbed leading gently to the valley to the east and then gently up John Ware Ridge, where we had lunch on a grassy knoll, basking in calm and sunny conditions at minus 3. Our lunch view was spectacular, with the mountains very sharp. While we enjoyed the weather we could see tremendous plumes of snow being blown off the peaks of the Rockies by a localized westerly wind.

John Ware Ridge

Our route by grassed over old road is entirely within this view of John Ware Ridge. It turned out the high point was outside Kananaskis Country, but we were able to enjoy a couple of lower summits. If the winter day had been a little longer we might have visited a little higher summit to the immediate north of us.

Our trip started in one era, with us driving for the last time over the old one-lane bridge over Fish Creek, and ended in another, with the new high 37th St. freeway bridge open for use. To add local colour we sampled the cappuccino at the Coyote Moon in Turner Valley. We were back to the cars by 4 p.m.

Participants: Cornelis, Jeannine, Maria, Ken, Francisco, Tom, Wally and Carl, coordinator and scribe.