Our loop hike through the High Noon Hills and the Grand Canyon of the Sheep River was spectacular, and surely to become a classic foothills hike, especially in the spring and fall, when the aspens would be stunning. The weather was fabulous, and despite the calendar indicating it should be the dead of winter, mice were scurrying, a few insects were flying, and little green blades of grass were bravely sprouting out of sunny hillsides! After a coffee stop at Coyote Moon in Turner Valley, we left Highway 546 near Macabee Creek, where a nice single-track horse trail starts at a gate and leads through ever more breathtaking vistas.

The group lines up for a photo op on what we shall call Long Prairie Hill, the first viewpoint of the day, with the Sheep River, foothills and Rockies to the west. This hike offers the finest views of all the trips in the eastern Sheep River valley.

At our lunch spot on what we shall call the High Noon Hill, right on the boundary between the Kananaskis Country and the High Noon Ranch, we basked in the sun and enjoyed the view of the Long Prairie Hill, showing our route along the crest. For a very modest 200 feet of climb we were rewarded with spectacular views.

After lunch we dropped 700 feet down the boundary line to the Grand Canyon of the Sheep River, following a well-graded switchback trail right to the river, just below the confluence with Long Prairie Creek.

From the bench above the canyon we crossed a steep ravine to the ridge on the north side of Long Prairie Creek canyon, which rises to become Long Prairie Hill (on the right in this view).

As we lingered over the view back down the Sheep, a pack made a sudden bid for freedom and rolled down the precipice, but fortunately it was snagged by a small tree, which kept it from plunging into the icy depths of the gorge, and allowed a relatively easy capture of the runaway.

Happy that the pack didn’t try to make its escape attempt on the spectacular scree slope just ahead on Long Prairie Creek, we soon completed the loop and got back to the cars by 3:15. The trip was about 6km with altitude gain of 500m.

Participants: June,Valerie, Peter, Joyce, Del, Linda, Robert, Barbara, Ron, Margaret, Dorothy-Ann, Colleen, S.L., David, Gregory, Shirley, Lupita, Dave, Jeanne, Gerald, Sandy, Joanne, Dave and Carl, coordinator and scribe.