Powderface Creek and Ridge
On July 3, Peaches and I hiked up Powderface Ridge.
There are numerous ways to access this ridge. We decided to make a loop from Powderface Creek. We've been down the Powderface Creek Trail on a previous hike. It's well defined and easy to follow - shown here.
This trail shows up on the AllTrails app but it's marked on FATMAP as a route, not a trail. That should have been my first clue.
We turned off the main route onto a faint trail.
This trail was supposed to lead us up onto the ridge. At first, it was a pretty good trail.
It led into a forest.
We made good time, moving up this trail but it seemed to stay low in the valley and traverse the side of the ridge rather than going up on top of the ridge.
Lots of deadfall made me realize this trail doesn't get much use and zero maintenance.
But hey, that's ok, we've done a bit of route finding on past hikes. Three Little Summits was all route finding.
We found this big pink ribbon and I assumed it had to mean something.
Was this where we were supposed to turn off the traversing trail and start up hill? I decided to go for it.
Heading up the hillside, I didn't see an obvious trail.
I took out my phone and began to follow the route shown on FATMAP. Unlike Three Little Summits, where the bushwacking was fairly easy, this forest was more dense and progress was more difficult.
I was also a bit alarmed to see that my phone was low on power. No matter if I found the trail on the ridge quickly, I could put the phone away.
At times, I would find a trail.
But most of the time, I was navigating using the map on my phone. Power was dwindling.
It is not a nice feeling to be off trail and your only navigational tool is a phone that is about to die.
I occasionally called out "Hey Bear!" which I like to do when I'm by myself in bear country. After one of these calls, I got the strangest, creepiest response. An animal down in the valley made a loud, aggressive noise that I can only describe as a deer or elk either giving birth or dying painfully. Peaches and I looked at each other, her eyes were big and scared as mine probably were too. We moved quickly away from the noise and kept a bit quieter until I was sure we were well past.
Things opened up a bit when we got to the top of the ridge.
This was actually a lower section or ramp leading up to the true ridge which starts at the back of the photo.
Finally on top of the ridge but still no defined trail.
I looked around before my phone died and tried to spot the route down to Powderface Creek where I knew there was a trail.
This last shot I was able to take just before my phone died.
I was very relieved to see a trail in the distance. I knew I could hike this down to the creek and then out to the highway.
Because my phone died, there is no FATMAP recording to show you. I'm not sure how far we went that day. AllTrails shows the "trail" as 15.1 km. It sure felt like more.
This map is from AllTrails.
There is no actual trail on the right and bottom sides of the loop shown here.
It wasn't a bad hike, I just wasn't up for a bushwhack that day. I wanted an easier stroll along a well defined trail. Had I known it was going to be so much route finding, I certainly would have made sure my phone was fully powered.
Prairie Creek to Powderface Creek
On June 18, Peaches and I hiked up Prairie Creek, across the Prairie Link trail and down Powderface Creek. It's a nice loop from Highway 66.
The trail up Prairie Creek starts through a lovely forest. It then climbs above the creek, traverses the hillside and drops back down.
Near the creek, a smaller trail leads to the Prairie Creek rock climbing area. The hiking trail goes right.
The trail follows the creek quite closely at times.
It passes pretty meadows.
Climbs above the creek. Dark clouds foreshadow the downpour we got later in the hike.
A smaller trail takes off to the right. This is an alternate route up Praire Mountain but the ascent trails are closed this year for rebuilding.
A sign marks the junction with the Prairie Link trail. We turn left here to cross the creek on a nice bridge.
The Prairie Link trail is a long climb up and over the ridge that separates Prairie Creek and Powderface Creek.
We arrive at the junction with the Powderface Creek Trail. Here we turn left and head down the valley, back towards the highway.
The trail starts through meadows.
Then back into forest before finally reaching the parking lot and the highway.
My route recorded on the FATMAP app on my phone.
I hiked from our campsite at Beaver Flats and ended up going a total of 14.6 km. My total elevation gain was 421 meters.
Three Little Summits
On June 13, Peaches and I set out to hike the Three Little Summits Route. The route is on both All Trails and FATMAP apps and it looked interesting on the maps.
We couldn't find a trail leading up from the highway so we bushwacked up a steep bank hoping to cross the trail higher up, following the FATMAP. We never did find a real trail but once we were up on the ridge, we found occasional yellow ribbons tied to trees that seemed to mark the route. It became a bit of a treasure hunt, looking for the next ribbon.
Game trail or human trail? Not sure. I followed these trails when they lined up with the FATMAP route.
There in the distance! Another yellow ribbon. Fun treasure hunting. Not a bad bushwack when I had to go cross country which was most of the time.
Along the ridge top, the views opened up a bit.
A definite sign that another human has been here before. After this, the yellow ribbons no longer appeared along the route. We seemed to start descending.
