Junction Hill 661864 horseshoe Off-Trail hike on 23-Aug-2026

A few sprinkles late in the day didn't spoil a fine hike.
All ten met at Red Deer Lake and set out in only two vehicles thanks to new Rambler Sarita's Yukon (six of us plus her dog Marlo!).
We set out at 9:30. I did not find the optimal route up to the east ridge, but we've also done worse in the past.

Almost up to the east ridge of Junction Hill (Armstrong and Bolton in the bkg)

We had a short break once we were up on the ridge and then had the pleasure of the long ascending ridge walk with great views in all directions.

Part way along the east ridge of Junction Hill (Burke and Raspberry in bkg)

We generally tried to stay right on top of the ridge, forsaking trails the seemed to bypass it on the right side, but never seemed to regain the ridge. We got to the summit just in time for our noon reservation.

At the summit of Junction Hill (Mt Head and Holy Cross in bkg)

We stopped there for about 1/2 hour and then started down the west ridge watching for some ominous clouds in the distance. It did sprinkle several times, and would then let up. So we had quite a number of short "wardrobe adjustment" breaks. Most of the time we were able to follow a cairned route more or less along the ridge top.

Descending the west ridge of Junction Hill

While it seemed longer to me, we were actually down in little more than 1 1/2 hours.
Roughly 8.5 km, 750 m ascent, 4 1/2 hours.
Many thanks to participants: Teresa, Sue, Lenard, Deborah, Kate, Jean, Jenny, Michele and new Rambler Sarita with her lovely dog Marlo, for joining me, Carl (C/S).

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