A friend once described the Mount Lipsett “a hill with some rocks on the top.” She wasn’t too enthusiastic about it, but then again, she isn’t as fascinated by uniquely shaped rocks as I am.
The straightforward 14-kilometre out-and-back was just what I needed on a relaxed Saturday. My friend AC from Red Deer joined me, and we were both looking for an easy day in the mountains.
The trail begins about 13 kilometres south of Highwood Pass on Hwy 40 in Peter Lougheed Provincial Park. It was a gradual unchallenging climb through the forest. We smelled some spoke in the air but not enough to warrant wearing a mask. About three kilometres in, we received glimpses of the lush green valleys. Soon after, we were out of the trees and rewarded with glorious expansive valley views and beautiful wildflowers (which I won’t even try to name).
Once the views opened up, it was challenging to keep moving. We just wanted to take photos and soak in the atmosphere. That’s what a casual day is all about so that’s exactly what we did.
The jagged rock summit was anti-climactic but a summit is a summit. (I’m beginning to wonder if I’m turning into someone who only finds joy in the more challenging/heart pulsing climbs, but that’s a story for another blog post.) We met some new hikers, and I happily took some photos of them for their family.
There’s a known scramble route from Mount Lipsett to Mist Mountain, and although we brought our helmets, we were both preferred to keep things low key. One day I will have to come back and try this route.
On the way back, I decided we would climb every hill in the wide open areas before we headed back into the trees. This turned out to be a lot of fun.
Mount Lipsett may have not have been as social-media sexy as some of my recent scrambles and hikes, it was the perfect choice for a laid-back day in the mountains.