October 7/2021 Fall Scramble

Today we are in Bow Valley Wildland Provincial Park, near Lac des Arc. We will be scrambling up Heart Mountain. Our original plan was to complete the Horseshoe Loop, but due to the weather at the top we decided to just do this scramble, out and back. The trail is 7.3 kilometers out and back with an elevation gain of 769 meters.

The Heart Creek Trailhead is located on the South side of the Number 1 highway, if you are heading West, just opposite of Lac des Arc. We start out taking the Heart Creek Trail East through the trees for .7k. Here you will be in an opening, and you get a great view of your objective, Heart Mountain. The trail was closed going straight, due to reclamation, so you have to go right, and proceed up the Heart Creek trail. You proceed into the woods and will come up to a bridge crossing Heart Creek. Once you cross the bridge take a left on the trail, if you go right, you will be going up Heart Creek. At 1.2k just past the fencing you will see the trail on your left to head up Heart Mountain. The easy part of the trail is done, be prepared for a constant elevation gain going forward. As you climb you will almost immediately start getting views looking down at Lac des Arc and Heart Creek below you to the right. You will soon be hiking on rock slabs and rock. At about 2k you will now have to start scrambling. Get used to it, because that’s all you will be doing now to the top of the mountain. It’s a good idea to have an App on your phone as you can easily lose the trail. I use the All Trails App. The trail will take you into the trees for a bit but then work you way back to the ridge on your right. At 2.5k the trail gets a lot steeper. At 2.9k you will reach a rock face that you will have to climb up, this is your first major challenge, follow the blue markers. At 3.1k you will reach Lookout Rock, and start to get views looking East and North down at the Bow Valley. Continue following the blue markers and you will soon find yourself at the Devils Staircase. This is the crux of the scramble. You will now be climbing up a chute, be careful if someone is in front of you as they can dislodge rocks. At the top of the chute go right, this section was very tricky as the rocks were really loose. Take a break here, enjoy the views, you have earned it. At 3.4k you will reach the Diving Board, another great lookout spot. Now you only have .3k to the summit of Heart Mountain. At 3.7k you will have reached the summit. You continue going South to carry on to Grant MacEwan peak. We hide in the trees here to have lunch, as the wind was really picking up, and within minutes we here in a whiteout. We made the decision not to continue the loop as the clouds were surrounding us, and more inclement weather was heading our way. The clouds broke to give us some spectacular views in all directions. Scrambling down is harder than going up, we spent a lot of times on our bums. Take it slow and easy.

Heart Mountain is a SCRAMBLE, not a HIKE. A 21 year old hiker died when he fell 60 feet in May of 2019. Also in May of 2019, 4 men had to spend the night on the mountain as a a blizzard moved in on them and they ended up stuck on a cliff band.

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Thank you,
Cary Mason
#hikingalberta #canadianrockies #travelalberta
Email - liveon73@gmail.com
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