You’re never too old to play in the snow!

 

 

Porcupine Ridge, Kananaskis Country, May 10 2009

Last summer, as a fairly inexperienced backpacker, Mike went out to try a loop in Porcupine Creek.  What was supposed to have been a fun overnight trip turned into a 12 hour day as he followed the wrong creek bed, was forced to scramble up a slippery, steep scree slope, only to discover he was on the wrong ridge and had to slide/fall/throw himself down another equally harrowing scree slope; he then found out that the creek bed he descended into was dry and had to stumble another kilometer in the dark to find water so he could set up camp. 

So was I surprised when he suggested we do Porcupine Ridge this weekend? you betcha.

Porcupine Creek trail starts at Highway 40 and runs east.  About a kilometer up the trail, the creek splits into a north and south fork, and the ridge rises up in between the two.  There is no official trail up the ridge, so you have to kind of pick your way over rock slabs and through thin pine forests for the first few kilometers.  The ridge opens up then, but apparently that means more snow, so progress was pretty slow.  After scramling over fun rocky slabs (the rock is super grippy and excellent for climbing), the trail followed the ridge slightly north and over a few steeper slopes.  The snow got progressively deeper, so we did eventually have to don our snowshoes.  While Mike marched stoically ahead, Mark and I had fun rolling snowballs down the slopes and watching them turn into giant wheels spinning down the hill.

The view from the top was beautiful- Wasootch ridge to the south, Tiara Peak dead east, Lorette and Mary Barclay to the west, and several beautiful peaks to the north.  We lunched atop a large snowdrift at the ridge crest, and contemplated our descent.  Since the snow was in good condition, we decided to glissade down a steep gully to the North fork far below. (NOTE: this was probably pretty stupid, so please don’t try it unless you know what you’re doing).  The top was pretty steep, so we were a little hesitant, but gradually we got more comfortable and it was a BLAST!  Except that I, in infinite wisdom, failed to bring waterproof pants or pants with any substance to them, so  the glissade pretty much felt like someone took ice-cold sandpaper to my bum.  Ouch.  But it was so worth it. 

At the bottom we had to bushwack a bit to reach the creek, and then just had a long, easy hike out along the wide bed of gravel and rock deposits, following the same route that a lone moose had evidently taken a day or two before.   At the bottom of the trail we encountered several groups of climbers taking advantage of the warm weather in the canyon.  Several creek crossings kept us on our toes- well, Mark did his best to stay on his toes anyway     It was a great hike, but after my run in Weaselhead Flats in Calgary the day before, my legs felt like jelly, and I was nodding off as we drove back into Calgary.

Looking east from Porcupine Creek trailhead

Nice view from partway up the ridge

 

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