Dist: 8.5km Elev: 650m Summit: 7257' Time: 3h Difficulty: 3/5
Faced with nearly 4 hours of audio lectures for school, I decided to relocate my classroom to the Elbow Valley. Admittedly, I had to replay a few sections after becoming distracted by taking pictures of the beautiful scenery, but it was definitely a refreshing change from the library.
Trail Description:
This trail begins at the end of Highway 66, 9.5 km beyond Elbow Falls. I parked on the shoulder of the highway, just before the pavement ends, and followed the gravel path leading uphill on the north side of the road. The trail starts with a moderate ascent for the first few kms, and then levels off a bit as the forest opens to reveal a grassy slope of a small hill to the east. The views were great from the top of this outlier, and I imagine many hikers climb to this point (about 50m above the regular trail) and then happily call it a day. Intent on reaching the true ridge crest, however, I followed the undulating trail back into the forest for another couple kms as it approached the final short climb to Powderface Ridge's high point. From the here, I was rewarded with great views of surrounding peaks and ridges.
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| The trail starts up a rooty trail, directly from the highway. |
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| After about an hour, the views open up significantly. Forgetmenot mountain to the left. |
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| A patriotic hiker installed this on the eastern outlier along the way. |
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| Final short climb to Powderface Ridge |
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| Nihahi Ridge to the west |
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| Elbow River valley to the east |
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| Powderface Ridge panorama (looking east) |
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| From left to right: Mount Cornwall, Mount Glasgow, Nihahi Ridge |
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| Looking south at the meandering Elbow River during the last half of the descent |
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| Beautiful views of these lower mountain peaks |
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