When the four from Canmore arrived at the Stoney trail head just before 8am, our cars were the only ones there. The six kilometers of road along the power line is ideal for mountain bikes - not a lot of up and down and not too rough and only takes about half an hour each way. We stashed the bikes in the bush where we could see the entire ascent ridge. Luckily for us the temperature was ideal for biking and hiking and there was no significant wind.

Bikes on powerline with Mary Barclays Mountain in back

There is a fairly well-worn and easy to follow trail up the ridge - some steep sections but still a trail.

Gary on approach ridge with summit block in background

Then the final summit block ridge is quite steep and somewhat exposed in a couple of places - kind of fun really.

Gary on final summit ridge

Ulli scrambling up exposed final ridge

The views in all directions are fabulous - Barrier Lake to the northeast and all the ridges between Lorette and Heart Mountain to the west.

Great views from the summit

Bill with the multitude of ridges in background

We were on the summit for about 30 minutes when a bunch of other Ramblers came up the ridge, so we enjoyed a leisurely lunch together.


Ramblers on Summit - both groups

We elected to descend the ridge to the west down to the brown scree. Descending the scree was fast, but we went too far east and got into a drainage that got progressively steeper, trickier and more slimy. Finally we ran into a cliff and had to go back up a bit to get into a forested slope leading down to the main drainage.


Descending on the brown shaley scree

Upper end of the drainage

Drainage lower down

The creek bed was the usual boulder hop with the occasional fallen tree to get around - a bit tedious actually.
On the way up the ridge Gary had taken a photo of a very unique flower.


Unique flower

We were back at the cars shortly after 4pm - by then the parking lot was full and cars were parked up and down the access road. We got going in time to get to the annual Rambler picnic gathering at Opal day use. Thank you Ealaine for organizing a great gathering and for arranging all the wonderful food. And thank you Gary and Ulli for the photos.

Participants: Clifton, Ulrike, Bill, Gary