King's Creek Ridge
Trip Date: March 21st 2021
Time: 4-5.5 hours
Distance: 7.3km
Elevation: 2433m
Elevation Gain: 740m
Hiking Difficulty (Shenandoah's formula): Moderately Strenuous (148)
Technical Rating (Yosemite Decimal System): Just steep, some slippery dirt sections that can turn to mud, in the winter you’ll need spikes to navigate the switchbacks and steep sections. There was no scrambling needed as the trail is marked quite well and beaten up from popularity.
Best time to go: Summer/Spring
Toilets: Located in King Creek day-use area (not at the exact trailhead) outhouses here
Trail Popularity: Moderate - Low
Food and H20: I packed 3L and had a sandwich.
Footwear: Hiking boots, Hiking Shoes, lots of steep dirt sections that running shoes will find difficult
Equipment: Snowshoes for winter and Microspikes for Winter, Fall, and early Spring
Trailhead: here
Parking: here
Hey, welcome back everyone! I know it’s been a while since I’ve updated any hiking guides… I had bad weather, car problems, and stress to blame but I came to my senses and got my ass out of bed for a much-needed solo hike.
King’s Creek Ridge (KCR) would be best described as short, sweet, steep, and scramble-free. It offers amazing summit views of the Opal Range and the Iconic views of Upper and Lower Kananaskis Lakes. KCR is accessible all year round as it is located on Highway 40 and Highway 742 right at the seasonal closure gate, however, the day-use area and parking are closed if you are hiking outside the seasonal dates (December - June 1st) so be prepared for roadside parking.
Let’s get started! I got up pretty early around 7 am and arrived at 8:30 am for not so busy area, weather conditions were so-so with the forecast of -10 Celsius and cloudy for most of the day. This photo is looking south towards the Highway 40 closure just behind my car, a right turn towards Highway 742 in the far right edge of the photo. Reminder! Highway 40 is closed DEC - JUNE 1ST every year!
As you can see only a few others have parked on the side of the road, many of which were probably ice climbing in the creek area and didn’t go to the ridge. Also, the day-use area (right) was closed off as well. Trailhead is just hiding in the distance behind that yellow sign. See the next photo for more accuracy.
Walk past the creek and the trailhead is just in the slight incline along the treeline on the right of your screen.
South view of the parking lot on the trail head, hopefully you can get it right!
Unfortunately, 60% of the hike will be in dense forest, follow the trail, and no need to fork off into random directions. your general path for the next 3.5 km’s will be northeast and then strictly north along the ridge as the trail flattens out.
Tree’s start to thin out and views begin to show. You’ll know you’ve done most of the grunt work from tackling the steep switchbacks. Don’t worry it gets easier from here. This view is looking East, the next photo is me literally turning around 180 degrees to look west.
Finally ran into some people, maybe im not alone afterall!
Southwest view of Mt. Indefatigable and Lower Kananaskis lake in the distance on the left.
Glad the switchbacks are over, the generally flat ascent along the King Creek Ridge begins. The snow is not as deep as it looks.
East views of Mt. Blane and Burney. The fog adds some character to the peaks… It was not as cold as it looks. I mean -10C was not that bad.
I kept on making my way throught the ridge and the sightlines become more prevelant. Southwest view and a higher elevated view of Inefatigable.
Finally a better look at an iconic view of Mt. Wintour (looking South), the parking lot is just below on the right.
A nice surprise as I aproach the summit, the signs read “forevers gotta start somewhere” and “how about here”. hmm I wonder what this is all about?
OK now I get it now, I Should’ve known! Happy to have caught their special moment, Congratulations to these guys <3
The perfect angle at the top to capture Mt. Wintour in the backdrop… gentlemen take notes!
AWWWW
Here are some final shots from the top.
Looking North of King Creek Ridge summit.
Thank you for joining me on King Creek Ridge everyone and a big thank you to some amazing people I met along the way, what a great day. See you guys on the next post.