I had been keeping a close eye on the weather all week. Something I almost never do … because you know I like to be surprised. But this week was different because I was finally going to run/hike Northover Ridge loop.
When I saw pictures of the ridge on Instagram I knew one day I would stand on the ridge and throw my arms up into air. The ridge straddles the border between Alberta and British Columbia. Cool, right? Think glorious views, meadows bursting with wildflowers and high alpine lakes.
The loop is about 35K starting from the Interlake Parking Lot near Upper Kananakis Lake. After reading up on the hike, I decided not to a do it alone for safety reasons. I don’t think it really matters which direction you go.
I met Barry earlier this year who said he has done the loop so I begged him to take me. Thinking it would be better to have more people, I posted an invitation to join us on the Calgary Trail Runner group.
Six of us that took off from the Interlake parking lot. We started super late – around 9:30 a.m. We decided to run counter clockwise. Surprisingly it was a very chilly morning. Last night the weather still called for 18C so I wasn’t sure what we were in for. Thankfully I brought enough clothing for all kinds of weather.
We knew it would be a long day so we hustled our way to the first marker, the Forks campground, which was about 8 kilometres from the Interlakes parking lot. The trail was runnable with some rolling hills. It is marked well and easy to follow.
At the first campground (and outhouse), half the group decided to turn back for various reasons. Amy, Barry and I kept on.
My legs pretty heavy from the Lost Soul race last weekend but I was determined to take in the views on Northover Ridge. Thankfully Amy and Barry were understanding – they accepted I would be lagging slightly behind.
The weather did not seem to be improving. It was still slightly chilly but we knew if we kept going, we would be fine. Although it was hard to keep moving because I wanted to stop and take picture after picture. My goodness the trail was diverse and glorious as it travels through forests, rocky scree bits and those wildflower filled meadows. Oh the colours!
Many people do this hike over three or four days and camp at one of the backcountry campgrounds along the route. Brilliant.
At Three Isle Lake (about 10Kish), just past the campground, you have a choice of a couple of trails. We took the trail to the north heading to Northover or to Turbine Canyon. Around the lake we ran, which no doubt was even more magnificent on a clear day.
After we cleared the lake, we began climbing slightly. My legs were not having the elevation so I took my time while I took up the back of our small group. Did I mention that I couldn’t find my bear spray? Thankfully we only saw signs of bears – scat, over turned rocks etc – and not the actual bears. Both Barry and Amy had carried spray.
Eventually we crossed a rocky terrain and riverbed to a point where we could see the ridge. We missed part of the actual trail and were forced to do a little sidestepping. No biggie as the trail was easier to see from higher up.
I was still lagging behind slightly but we kept together. There was no sign of the sun. All we saw was fog and what looked like darkening skies. We could see a few people on the col making their way down. They turned out to be two campers (and a huge dog) that were camping at one of the campsites.
The wind was overpowering. It was very challenging to keep your breath. So here I was trying to compel my legs to keep moving while trying not to let the wind blow me over. I was also very conscious of trying not to be too far behind the other two.
Climbing up the exposed rocky bit was crazy. At points I had to hug the earth so the wind would not blow me over. Barry and Amy had turned a corner and I couldn’t seem them. I was thinking, gosh they would never know if the wind blew me off.
I reached the col with Barry and Amy yelling down to me. I couldn’t hear a word they were saying over the wind. Once I joined them, we decided that it made no sense to keep going. The ridge was barely visible and the wind was extremely strong and cold.
Nobody needed to be rescued today.
After a few pictures, we quickly ran down. My legs had enough with the climbing so I welcomed running downhill and the rolling hills.
We found the trail we missed on the way up to the ridge. That made for a nice change. We had run/hiked through a rocky riverbed that was not nice. Oh the colours. A few of the larch trees had already begun to change colours. It was lovely.
While we didn’t do the full loop, we still got in about 33K. It was a fun day. We made a pact to do the loop together next year. Next time we will go earlier in the year, and order much calmer weather.