Tue, Jul 26 2022 - Akamina Ridge Loop (View Original Event Details)

Event Coordinator(s): Patrick B
Participants:Patrick B, Lorna J, Pati R, Neil M, Rhona G

Write Up:
Although we had planned to meet in the Bear Mountain Motel parking lot at 7:15 or 7:30 AM, we decided to push our departure back to 8:00 to let Lorna, Neil and Pati recover from their ‘extra difficult’, 28 km Avion Ridge-Newman Peak hike. An early start had been suggested if only to avoid the searing mid-day heat atop the ridge. The knowledgeable staff of Tamarack assured me the circuit had been easily hiked the last few days and to ignore any conflicting reports about trail conditions along the ridge. Call it partly sunny or partly cloudy, we lucked out with the weather. Although very buggy at lower elevations, the mosquitoes and biting flies thinned out as we gained altitude. The devastation left behind from the Kenow Wildfire of 2017 was clearly evident giving the forest an eerie beauty. Among the charred trees were carpets of fireweed about to bloom, and meadows were covered with beargrass. The trail was easy to follow up to the 5-metre rock band, for which a bit of route-finding was required. Following the advice of 3 Parks Canada staff in the area to do some terrain training, we found the way up. Helping hands from another hiking group, which included Alan and his son, brought us over an awkward 5-foot shelf. Shortly afterwards, after traversing a narrow snowbank on a steep slope, we made it atop the ridge. The views from the ridge were stunning. Powerful landscapes to the south commanded our attention, as did the 4 km of the ridge itself. Surprisingly, here our speed of locomotion was not dictated by Pat, but by Lorna who kept having to pull out her camera to take photographs! According to her, this was one of the best hikes ever. Our descent to Wall Lake and to the trailhead was uneventful, except for the fast pace demanded by some who were loathe to miss a single moment of happy hour! All told, we hiked a total of 20.1 Km in about 8¾ hrs with an elevation gain of 1,203 m.