A little cold and windy, cloudy with many sunny breaks, very busy especially at the summit, but still a good day.
When we arrived at the trailhead, there was hardly anywhere to park. It turned out that a group of 20-30 had left just before I arrived. It seems that social media has radically added to the number of people doing the especially scenic hikes. In the end I think that we must have encountered 60-75 people in the course of the day.
We headed out pretty close to 9:00, one "cheating" by cycling the flat forestry road for the first (and last) 3 or 4 km.

New/old Rambler Bob and Audrey at Confederation Creek Falls

After regrouping a few times we stopped at the top of the steep grind on the shelf below the first Smuts pass.


Snack break below the first Smuts Pass

Two decided to not climb to the summit of Smutwood and instead be satisfied with the Smuts Passes. We met up with them lower down along Confederation creek in the afternoon. Meanwhile the rest of us continued to the summit, being passed by a few, passing a few, and playing leapfrog with other parties. We got to the summit a little after 12:30.


Teresa, Dean, Audrey, Kevin, Brian, John and Bob at the summit of Smutwood Peak

And it was crowded! At one point Brian counted 38 persons at the summit or ascending/descending the final 100 m. The crowd and the weather (cool and windy) was not conducive to lingering and so we took our summit shots and headed back down, some donning traction devices. Once we got down to a nice grassy spot, sheltered from the wind with a good view we finally stopped for a proper lunch.


Late lunch break sheltered below the upper Smuts pass

Mt Smuts, the beautiful ridge between the Birdwood Lakes, upper Birdwood Lake

Then it was on down to the lower pass.


Our brightest larch (and Mount Smuts)

And along the creek and forest road.


Young spruce grouse finding snacks right on the worn footpath

We were back at the cars around 4:30.
Distance around 18 km, ascent 800 m, time 7.5 hours.
Many thanks to participants: Rosanne,Philip,Dean,Bob,Kevin,Teresa,Audrey,John, and Brian for joining me, Carl (C/S).