CR2015: King Creek Ridge

Today (August 7th) we decided to tackle King Creek Ridge, a "strenuous climb on trail to a fantastic viewpoint," as Gillean Daffern describes it. It gains 731 meters (2400') in 3.5 km (2.2 miles), and the high point is at 2423 meters (7950'). Perhaps, it being late in our visit, Joan and I would be in good enough shape to conquer it. With the relevant pages from Gillean's Kananaskis Trail Guide in hand, we set out.

This image is taken from the on-line version of the maps in her books, zoomed in to the King Creek Ridge.

The parking area is on the south side of King Creek, but the trail begins on the north side. The brief trot along Highway 40 gave us a view of the gravel and rock swept down King Creek in the June 2013 floods.

This photo looks back to the parking area from the north side.

The trail passed through woods, and bore left where an older, steeper initial trail segment joined in. After climbing gently to the north for a brief while,

the route began to switchback up the ridge with, to borrow again from Gillean, "steep little zigs with stones underfoot." Game trails crossed our path now and then, but the correct choice was always the uphill one. Also, water runoffs and "shortcuts" created by adventurous hikers caused us to pause several times, pondering which way to choose. And catch our breath. This photo is of one of the less scrabbly stretches. Although foot placement is important going up, it's more treacherous going down. Joan and I were glad for our trekking poles in both directions.

We reached the ridgeline, drenched in sweat, and turned north. The trail was still rising, but less abruptly, and began to pass through thicker and thinner sections of forest. The air up here must be very clean; there were gorgeous rafts of lichen.

A closeup of one bunch.

A stone arrow to avoid confusion.

This is about the time Joan and I decided that Ben needed a sit-down and a snack. The trail ahead looked dauntingly exposed, but it was no worse than many others we've countered in the Canadian Rockies, so I knew that my energy level was the problem, not the route.

The top of the ridge grew narrower and narrower as we proceeded.

There was one short section where there the best route was a narrow stone ledge. I didn't stop to get out my camera!

Then we reached the top. In this photo, I'm standing at the summit cairn while Joan has walked over to a promontory overlooking the valley.

Here's the panoramic view, to the west and up and down the Kananaskis Valley.

A closer look at the Kananaskis Lakes and Elk Pass, yesterday's hike.

A wide view to the north and east, with our trail in the lower right corner. The ongoing trail mid-left plummets down to King Creek, with a spur to a second top.

I went over to the viewpoint, overcoming a mild sense of discomfort. This picture looks back to Joan at the summit cairn.

I can see the parking area from here ... the small road heading left to the base of the ridge.

Here's the view to the south, with Highway 40 on the right and King Creek on the left. This "hidden valley" of King Creek is favored by deer and grizzly bears.

There's an abundance of folded geological strata in these mountains. This photo looks north.

After drinking in the views, it was time for us to gingerly head back down. The map at the beginning of this post shows a loop, but the loop drops precipitously off the ridge into the King Creek Valley, the trail occasionally disappears, and finishes with a slot canyon followed by multiple crossings of the creek. It's not recommended except for the bold. Joan and I backtracked instead. As usual, the steep downhill was much dicier than the steep uphill, especially with small loose stones underfoot.

At one point a group of mountain sheep dashed right to left in front of us along one of the game trails. They were too fast for me to whip out my camera and turn it on.

This photo shows a brief gentle bench before the plunge continued. Note the flag on the tree; it's useful especially if the ground is covered with snow.

Some of the flowers were still out, including these purple asters.

Twenty minutes later I started hearing an occasional odd noise. I stopped to look about, and just a few feet away from me, above the trail almost at eye level, was a very young blue grouse.

The peeping sound was the mother, largely hidden by the bushes, giving the baby reassurance and admonishing it to stay still.

I called softly to Joan, who was ahead of me. She gladly came uphill again to visit the grouse.

And then mountain sheep rumbled by, higher up. Was it the same group we saw earlier? I don't know.

Soon after we heard a gunshot. Was it some crazy American down in the campground? Then there was another shot. After a few moments there was an oscillating whistle, a fireworks sound. Joan and I guessed that we were hearing bear deterrence; a grizzly or perhaps a black bear had come too close to the Kananaskis Lakes campground or other human-occupied area. The wardens were driving it off.

We emerged at the trailhead without having taken a tumble. Who did we see in front of us, along Highway 40?

They trotted off to the north, but not before I captured this mother and child image.

Joan and I returned to the parking lot on the south side of the creek, pleased with our accomplishments, both climbing and descending, and our sightings today.

After a well-deserved dinner back at the Delta Kananaskis Lodge, we took a stroll on their perimeter trail. The evening light was superb.

We had done OK today. It gave us confidence to tackle Wasootch Ridge tomorrow, our last strenuous hike of this visit.