We did this hike Sunday, October 25. Present company was Sandy, Fiona, me. Second hike in a row and we felt it.

The hike started off on the old coal mine road. It’s a gentle hike until you get off the road and on the trail. It becomes steep and full of switchbacks. The hike is nice as it winds through the pine forest. It breaks and from there, and opens up into alpine meadows. During the summer, this would be filled with sheep.

It’s switchbacks until the first false summit. We encountered 3 all together. There was some easy scrambling and a lot of steep uphill trails to the first false summit. Our legs were sore from yesterday’s hike but we pressed on thinking it was close to the summit. The views are amazing of surrounding summits.

Once we got to the top, we discovered we were just over halfway to the true summit. We started on the Centennial Ridge for a way and realized we were out of steam so we tested and started to come down.

We will have to summit this again with a full store of energy.

In summary:

Be prepared for a long hike. It’s steep in areas and a long hike. The views of Nakiska are fantastic as well as Mount Lougheed.