Misty Range August 4

Around the Misty Range, August 14,2004

Andy, Roy ,Marg and myself enjoyed perfect weather and trail conditions on our 32 km loop around the Misty Range, a route taking in three passes between the Kananaskis, Elbow, Sheep and Highwood river drainages.These are my three companions, in the Elbow Pass area, looking north into the Piper Creek valley. Here's a slideshow of Piper Creek, one of the most beautiful spots in the Rockies.

No, we're not lost! After an initial short, but steep, grunt out of the Elbow Lake trailhead, we left the crowds behind at Elbow Lake, and continued east through Elbow Pass. Some bumpy riding on backcountry cobblestones brought us to the junction of the Elbow and Sheep trails. Here's the gang looking at the map, with Tombstone backcountry campground and the far corner of the Elbow Loop (one of the most well known MTB routes in the Alberta Rockies) in the background.

Typical riding and views in the subalpine meadows of the upper Elbow River area

Some moderate climbing took us to Sheep Pass below Mt. Rae, the highest peak of the Misty Range. A fast, fun descent of the Sheep River fireroad lay ahead.

It was a 10 km cruise down the Sheep River to the old minesite and the next junction. Many river crossings kept us entertained and cool.

Andy and Roy splash through a double crossing near the old Burns mine, with the sheer face of Mt. Gibraltar in the background.

This is one the best rides in Alberta, but it's not really that popular. Maybe this is the reason why: After leaving the minesite in the Sheep River valley far below, the trail climbs 545 vertical meters in 2.5km to gain Rickerts Pass! Short (very short!) rideable sections would sucker us back onto the bikes, but inevitably the trail would head skywards around the next corner, and it was back to pushing.

An hour and change of grunt work got us to Rickerts Pass at 2330m. This is the view south, down Mist Creek, our descent route.

After a well deserved rest, it was time to claim the reward for all that hard work: a 10 km long singletrack descent of the Mist Creek valley. Here's Roy charging down off the pass. More pix here.

The smooth track through meadows sporting plenty of fresh grizzly diggings, soon turned into a moderately technical, and sometimes rooty trail in the trees. It was a quick and fun filled descent, with only one short uphill of any significance, on the way back to cold brews waiting in the van dropped at Mist Creek trailhead 5 hours earlier. Yes, we didn't close the loop in "pure" style by finishing with a 22 km highway slog on knobbies over Highwood Pass, to return to our starting point, but who cares? Thanks to Roy, Andy and Marg for a perfect day!