Barrier Lake Lookout & McConnell Ridge Traverse
Kananaskis
April 10, 2010

Two days after Calgary was hit by a snowstorm, we assumed the mountains would be under fresh snow, so we settled on hiking to Barrier Lake Lookout for exercise. But there was little fresh snow in the mountains, and after a vapid hike up Prairie View Trail to the Lookout, we decided to traverse McConnell Ridge.

McConnell Ridge extends south from the Lookout. To reach it, we started down the trail to Jewell Pass. We soon left the trail – and the crowds – to go up the ridge. It was thick with trees and with so few views, that we lost track of where we were. After a few ups and downs, we reached a tiny, pathetic cairn that marked the south summit. (If there was a cairn on the north summit, we missed it.)

The map showed a side ridge that splits east from the main ridge after the south summit. When we saw the side ridge through the trees, we thought we should try it. This ridge, if cliffs didn't prevent us, would be the quickest way down.

Since we had passed the side ridge before noticing it, we had to backtrack to get to it. The ridge appeared steep although trees and terrain obstructed much our view. As we descended, I expected to be stopped by cliffs. But when the way down appeared too precipitous, we found we could always go left, onto easier terrain.

Nothing stopped us on the ridge and we made it all the way down to the bottom, to the powerline access road. After a 3.4 km trudge, we were back at our car.

Our trip was memorable only for traversing McConnell Ridge. Although there wasn't much to see, we enjoyed the routefinding and were glad to find solitude in an otherwise popular area.

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