We set out on a mild day, with quite a bit of sun and some wind in the foothills (trailhead at 1,393m). We were pleased to welcome Andrew, a young colleague of Cornelis, as our guest. Unfortunately, the grand view of the Front Ranges was mostly obscured by low clouds and a snowstorm over the mountains that day. From the Kananaskis boundary sign, we headed up the hill, crossed over to the “No-Name-Ridge” west of John Carey Ridge. We followed that Ridge up to its summit (1,590m) and descended its Eastern Flank to cross over a saddle to John Ware Ridge. This descent had some dense shrub patches and snow, but was generally easy. On that descent we saw cougar pug marks and wolf tracks. From the saddle (1,470m) it was an easy ascent onto Carey Ridge’s summit (1,550m). The sun became quite pleasant and we had lunch not far North of the summit with a nice view, although it was a bit windy. After lunch, we continued North along Carey Ridge, which gradually starts to descend. About 0.5km after a landmark pine tree along the trail, we descended along an old snowy logging road to the valley below. The sheltered valley (1,345m) was quite warm, the sun reflecting on the snow. We needed snowshoes in this valley, but did not see the usual bear tracks. We continued East, ascending John Ware Ridge to a nice viewpoint at 1,530m altitude. The viewpoint was too windy, therefore we had lunch #2 a little lower on a grassy patch in the sun. After Lunch #2, we headed back across the valley, up Carey Ridge, beyond its summit, following it back South towards the trailhead.

By the end of the day, we lost the sun behind the clouds, but fortunately it did not start to snow. The last 1.5km we detoured a bit to the East of the fence, to avoid disturbing a Mom Moose and her calf grazing willow shrub on the lower trail section. On that last section we had to use our snow shoes again. All-in-all a wonderful day, the only mishap being a broken hiking pole, which MEC replaced for free the following day!

Participants: Andrew, Kim, Carolyn, Ricardo, Francisco and Cornelis (coordinator, GPS Mapper & Photos & Scribe).

Hike-Map, please click on map for detailed view.

Trip Statistics: Distance 18.5km. Effective elevation gain 200m. Total Ascent 800m. (Cornelis had the opportunity to test his new, more accurate GPS toy.)