Prairie Mountain
Location: Alberta, CanadaParticipants: Jeremy Stroman, Cory van der Linden, Tony, Patrick Latter Time: 5 Hours Elevation Gain: 726m Weather: -5 °C
Directions
22 km west of Bragg Creek, you can turn off highway 66 at the Elbow Falls Parking lot. Park on the North side of the road on the shoulder at the winter closure gates. The trail is well-defined and heads straight up (North) from the highway.
Gear
- Hiking Boots
- Food
- Water
- Warm ski jacket
- Warm fleece
- Warm socks (or 2 layers of socks)
- Toque
- Snow-pants or gaiters
- Gloves
Camera Gear Used:
Story
The trail starts off in trees and with the fresh snow it made for a slippery climb on the steeper sections. Cleats or crampons would have helped here.
Looking back down at the valley below you could see the Elbow River which leads to falls that are close by.
We choose this particular hike partly due to the accessibility in the Spring and the large number of geocaches on the trail.
As we neared the tree line, we spotted a paraglider that had jumped from the summit.
The snow was quite a bit deeper for the last 150m, but not too much to be trouble.
The final push to the summit was gradual hike through an area with few trees.
We stopped at the top for lunch and took a few pictures on the large cairn.
The Eagle migration takes place in both the Fall and Spring and we were lucky enough to have one pass over head while at the summit. Wish I had brought my telephoto!
With the sun heading behind the clouds we headed back down the trail.
With all the trouble we had on the slippery sections of the trail we were surprised to come across someone with a unicycle on their back! They said they were planning on riding it down from the summit, hard to believe considering the conditions.
