The Big Elbow Trail with Sarah
Date Walked: 7th September 2014
Distance: 7.4 miles (12 km)
Actual Ascent: 482 ft (147m)
Time Taken: 4 hours
It is not often enough that Sarah and I get out to the mountains together, there always seems to be something to be done or the weather doesn't play along (or something else) that prevents us enjoying some time together. Today was different, the sun shone and the sky was blue and cloudless as we made our way to the Elbow Valley once more.
The Big Elbow Trail is a heavily forested trail that runs from the Little Elbow Campground area and (if you feel like a 38 km circuit) makes a loop with the Little Elbow Trail to return you to the campgrounds. I really fancy making the loop on my bike sometime but for today we were going to enjoy time together and a picnic in the beautiful foothills close to home.
The route begins by crossing the Elbow River via the Harold Chapman suspension bridge. Those who read the blog often will know that just two days ago the ridge behind Sarah was covered in snow, today it is clear and tomorrow it is predicted that at least 10 cm of snow will blanket the area.....such is the late summer in this part of Canada.
The Big Elbow Trail is a heavily forested trail that runs from the Little Elbow Campground area and (if you feel like a 38 km circuit) makes a loop with the Little Elbow Trail to return you to the campgrounds. I really fancy making the loop on my bike sometime but for today we were going to enjoy time together and a picnic in the beautiful foothills close to home.
The route begins by crossing the Elbow River via the Harold Chapman suspension bridge. Those who read the blog often will know that just two days ago the ridge behind Sarah was covered in snow, today it is clear and tomorrow it is predicted that at least 10 cm of snow will blanket the area.....such is the late summer in this part of Canada.
The broad trail is a fantastic bike route though we saw very few of them today. The first 3 km is enclosed by forest with few views to speak of but we are having a great time just walking and talking.
The trail is shared by horses, mountain bikes and hikers. I joked with the guy leading this pack that I would make him famous in the UK, he laughed and said "tell everybody you met Roy Rogers"
There was little in the way of wildlife around other than the ever present chipmunks and squirrels but that's not surprising on a weekend when the place is teeming with humans. A sound in the undergrowth beside the trail did draw my attention; can you see the Ptarmigan in this shot?
Fortunately it did wander out into a more open background allowing us to get a decent shot, in the image above it is sitting on top of the root that is pointing forward to the left of the bare patch (The bird is right of centre on top of the root, fantastic camouflage)
Sarah is doing her very best to show off her new boots as we cross a wide area cleared out by the June 2013 floods. Even though there has been a little snow and some wild fluctuations in temperatures the autumn colour has yet to show, though it is getting very close.
We did find one tree that thought it was autumn and spent far too long messing around trying to balance the camera on top of the rucksack to get a rare shot of the two of us.
All the way along the trail we saw huge patches of dandelions that were in the process of blowing seeds throughout the area, no doubt meaning that next year there will be even more.
Though there are some open areas with great views, the trail is predominantly a forest trail in these early stages, after 6km I scrambled up a steep bank to see if there was a good picnic spot close by with views. The blanket of trees as far as I could see suggested not, and with Sarah developing a blister from one of those new boots I decided to call it a day here and find a picnic spot nearby.
We departed our trail and headed along a small ridge toward the river valley where a good glimpse of daylight suggested a potential picnic spot awaited.
As we reached the end of the small grassy ridge we were able to get a great view along the flood ravaged river valley toward the snow dusted peaks ahead. Far in the distance we watched as a string of horses with riders splashed their way across the river.
I guess it is fair to say that this is a 'reasonable' picnic location for the day. We sat talking and straining our eyes in an attempt to see some of the bears, moose or cougars that roam the area, but it wasn't to be a great wildlife day today.
So, after the seal was broken on the first flask of the season (reminding us of the winter to come) and after our fruit, sandwiches and granola bars were demolished, we tracked back toward the Big Elbow trail via a narrow pathway in the forest that skirted the rivers edge.
When we got back to the single autumnal tree the cloud was bubbling up in preparation for delivering the snowfall later. We stopped for another cuppa as a couple came by just heading out. After a brief conversation I realised they were heading miles off course but when I told them they said that they liked a long walk and would be taking a turn through the forest up ahead and cutting back to their intended target, I told them just how far away they were and that it was likely that they would run out of daylight before even reaching their target (never mind ascending it) They carried on anyway but stopped a little further beyond us and spent a long time looking at the map!!
We were soon back at the truck and on the way home picking up a French-Canadian guy who was walking beside the Trans Canada highway. He was much travelled and good company too, he had made his way over the mountains from Vancouver (a 12 hour drive away) so was doing OK but his previous ride had dropped him in the middle of nowhere. We took him into downtown Calgary before turning around and heading back home after another wonderful day in the mountains.