Bull Creek Hills Off-Trail Hike on 26-Oct-2003

A long line of Ramblers starts up the trail above the Highwood picnic area, passing the massive, ancient and photogenic limber pine which graces the first stretch of the trail. We had some trepidation about this trip, given that the wind at Nakiska Ridgetop was reported in the morning at 77 km/h, but the wind turned out to be a fairly strong but mild Chinook. We had to add and subtract clothing many times, as it was very warm in sheltered areas (15C) but chilly on hill tops and ridges in the full wind. I had worked out from the map that the trip was 10 km and 1100m of elevation gain, but some participants’ electronic gadgets told us the trip was considerably more in both dimensions.

We went up the east ridge, seen here from the highest peak, having lunch just below the rim of the grassy summit. The Highwood valley lies directly below. Although I rated the trip at OT4, we found that the eastern hills are more gentle than the western ridges, and there was just one quite short stretch of actual level 4 rock, the remainder being pretty good trail of level 3 and 4 and great OT3 hills.

The group starts up the summit ridge after lunch. At 2179m this is the highest point in the area and offers a 360 degree panorama.

(Photo by Laszlo Jamniczky)

Two thirds of the group heeded the siren call of this pretty hill, which lies to the northeast of the highest peak. We believe this was probably a Ramblers “first ascent,” although some thought it was more of a descent, as the summit is considerably lower. This hill is special as it sticks out to the east like a prow, offering incredible views of the plains stretching far to the east. The city of Calgary and towns of Longview, High River and Cayley were easily visible in the unusually clear air. We could call this "Added Hill" as we added it to the traditional route around the eastern Bull Creek Hills. Descending to this summit felt almost like approaching a landing in a plane.

This is the view toward downtown Calgary from our final destination at the summit of the northeast hill, where we rested in the protection of a sandstone rimrock. This is about as close to Calgary you can come and have such a high view.

Two thirds descended the ridge between the two forks of Marston Creek, enjoying outstanding views of the Livingstone and High Rock Ranges, while the rest returned the way we came up. FRS radios were a great aid in keeping in touch as we descended two ridges at once.