“Tra la la, tweedlydeedy, it gave us a thrill
To walk up in the morning onto Mockingbird Hill
Tra la la, tweedlydeedy, there’s peace and good will
You’re welcome with the Ramblers on Mockingbird Hill”
(with apologies to the Ames Brothers!)

It was another warm spring day. The gophers were scampering about (many paying the ultimate price on the road) and the butterflies were fluttering around. We saw 18 deer, a grouse and a bald eagle.

Devil's Head

And the view! The Mockingbird Hill lookout sits atop a green hill at 6,240 feet, the highest point east of the mountains in this area, and being well removed from the mountains, offers an expansive view of the forest below. We could see everything between Limestone Mountain in the north and Moose Mountain in the south, and east to Canada Olympic Park and the highest office towers of downtown Calgary. Here we see Devil’s Head, that prominent landmark visible everywhere from Calgary to Innisfail. Note the two ridges which can be reached from Johnson Canyon, with its vertical limestone walls visible here.

Phantom Crag, Black Rock Mt.

Here Phantom Crag pokes above the mass of Black Rock Mountain, a favourite haunt of Ramblers.

Castle Rock

Here we see Castle Rock, obviously appropriately named.

Lunch with a view

This was a luxurious day. We started with coffee and donuts at Tim Horton’s in Cochrane, enjoyed the picnic table at the “Mockingbird Café”

First ice cream stop of the year

and had our afternoon basking in the 15-degree sun break with ice cream at McKay’s.

Mockingbird Hill

This is the view of the hill from the Forestry Trunk Road. The well-graded access road goes up the gentle skyline.

We were back to the cars at 2. Participants: Heidi, Ghulam, Alastair, Bernard, Joyce, Carolyn, Del and Carl, coordinator and scribe.