Zephyr and Miller Creek Hills Off-Trail hike on 18-Oct-2026

This is a difficult trip to schedule: the river is too wild in spring, there are much more spectacular places to go in the summer, and I'm not keen on wading a river when temperatures are much below zero! So October seemed like a good time to check this place out.

Right from the parking lot, we donned water footwear, rolled up the pants, and endured a COLD! crossing of the Highwood River. Imagine that it's around zero degrees, you're in the shade, the wind chill is at least -10, and the water is deeper than expected and wets your rolled-up pant legs above the knees. Yeah, that was "fun". Fortunately the steep climbing started not long after so that our toes and fingers could come back to life.

We hit at least 5 or 6 major high points during the day, the first of which was North Limestone Ridge where the views were already excellent. From there you connect over to the Miller Creek Hills, which eventually lead to the Zephyr Creek Hills. So much up and down. These all seem more like small mountains rather than mere foothills, with lots of interesting and steep lichen-covered rock bands.
Lunch was on the furthest hill, and then we returned to the road using a more easterly ridge and line of summits. The up and down continued; by this point, each uphill felt noticeably more difficult than the previous. It was surprising to find some excellent trail through many sections, with only one section of nasty bushwhacking. From the last high point, we decided to tackle a steep scree descent head-on instead of picking our way along the rocky ridge. This was a good decision and likely saved a bit of time, especially when we met up with a good trail low down. Fortunately the river crossing at the end of the day was much friendlier in warm sunshine.
17+ km, 1160m, 7.5 hours. Thanks to Bill and Scott for being such excellent company!
Participants: Bill, Scott, Ingrid (coordinator)