| No entry found! |
Trip Log
| Notes | Actions |
|---|---|
|
This evening, we decided to try the unofficial Scramble and Bush-Whack Big Hill Springs Hike. We started off innocently enough, obediently following the official trail up through the very pleasant, albeit artificial and "enhanced" landscape. Arriving shortly at a barbed wire fence, with a small trail leading straight up into the trees, Philip and Jennifer forged on up ahead, with the rest of us following behind with a small amount of trepidation. Sure enough, once we reached the top, the trail continued merrily along, but then all-too-soon started leading us back toward the cars. Surely we missed something... Back down at the parking lot, we decided to follow in behind a couple of folks that we saw squeeze under a different barbed wire fence, along a little-used trail that followed along in the valley, with some side trips up the hill. We all "limbo'ed" under the fence, making sure to take a photo or two of the minor law breakage. Down into the valley, at a very enticing rocky outcrop, Karen S and Jennifer had to scramble up to the top to do the "Towanda" thing, while Philip and Ryan headed up the hill and announced they'd found a "trail" up there. After a few minutes, the rest of us made our way up the hill to said "trail", where most of the group decided to "scramble" up to the top of the... um... pointy hill thing. John, Jane and I chose to bushwhack (ok, weed-whack) our way around the hill to rendezvous with the others, only to find a thick forest with no rendezvous-opportunities in sight. So, more bushwhacking and weed-whacking, until we finally reached one of the "side trip" trails up. We headed up to try to find the rest of the group, which we did eventually, naturally because of our superior route finding and orienteering skills. Together again, we twelve headed across a meadow and back into the forest in search of the trails. Jennifer was dismayed to learn the reality of running gleefully through a lovely meadow... it really just involves getting eaten alive by swarms of rabid mosquitoes. We didn't find an official trail again, but we found a great unofficial one that had lots of hidden logs waiting to bite unsuspecting hikers' legs, a neat little campfire ring, some cool rocky outcrops, and a big old owl that swooped down in front of us and then posed up in a tree for us to take her photo. Our unofficial trail spit us out near our barbed wire fence, where most of us again opted for limbo, while a couple opted for the pole vault (over the metal gate). We must go back and actually do the trails sometime! On the way back to town, John, Philip and I discovered that MacKay's (ice cream shop in Cochrane) is open past 9:30 on Wednesday evenings. Mmmmmmmm.... ice cream... -- Rhonda |
Photos
-
COC Details
-
COC List
-
Big Hill Springs
-
Big Hill Springs
-
Big Hill Springs
-
Shhh... in those days we had to violate a fence...