After not having our schedules line up since the end of May, Sam and I were able to plan an early Sunday morning hike for today. Sam suggested Pigeon Mountain as neither of us had hiked it before. The trailhead is accessed via the Hamlet of Dead Man's Flats, just a few minutes this side of Canmore. After doing a bit of research we decided to make it a bike-and-hike as the first four and a half kilometers is along the Skogan Pass trail which is essentially a cutline with a well defined double-track.
We reached the trailhead at about 7:00 a.m. The trailhead temperature was ~14 C, and the skies were mostly sunny with intermittent cloud. Although the intent of biking the approach was to make the hiking a little easier, it is safe to say we were both gassed by the time we locked the bikes up and started hiking. Looking back at the maps we later realized we did ~400 m of the 1,000 m total elevation on bikes. Fortunately we would have our payback on the return leg!!
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| Skogan Pass Approach |
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| Micro-Break (For My Sake) |
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| Slightly Gassed Hikers Before Our First Steps... 😝 |
After locking the bikes and catching our breaths we started the ascent up to the summit. It only took about five minutes to get above the tree line, which confirmed the elevation gained by bike. From there on the hike was fun and spectacular. The trail is essentially all in meadows until the last 200 m or so. The views in every direction were some of the best - East and West up the Bow Valley, North towards Gap Peak, Exshaw and Lac Des Arcs, and South towards Mount Colembola, Mount Allan, Wind Mountain, and the three Lougheed Peaks. We were first to the summit and enjoyed some snacks and the views on our own for around 20 minutes.
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| Sam With Mount Collembola And Mount Allan In The Background |
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| View Towards Gap Peak On Summit Approach |
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| Final Approach |
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| Summit Selfie |
As we began our descent we started to run into groups of hikers and runners on their way up. The first couple made it to the summit just as we were leaving. They passed us shortly after that on the way down and we started to wonder if they would beat us back to the trailhead or if we would pass them one final time on our bike descent. The descent was just as picturesque and we would have enjoyed it as much if it weren't for a few swarms of Kamikaze flies who thought it would be fun to torment two tired hiker/bikers. 😡.
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| Sammy On The Descent |
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| JM On The Descent |
We did not waste any time getting on the bikes once we were back at them, and from there I was hanging on for dear life trying to keep up to Sammy. With about 500 m left to go we passed the first trail runner couple and were able to claim First-Up/First-Down honours for the day. 😂. I am only partly joking about this - we don't care about being first or last or how long it takes, but we do truly appreciate having the trail and the summits to ourselves. Being up first allows us to soak in those special moments on our own, and it is something we treasure so much.
What a hike!! I highly recommend this one for the views, but i also recommend doing it as a bike-and-hike if at all possible. As mentioned above the approach is a little tedious, and the return is so much more fun with the bikes. Kudos to Sammy for picking another banger, and for letting me keep up!! I can't wait to see what our next outing will be!
FUN FACT #1 - The 2002 G8 summit was held in Kananaskis. It was reported by a local outdoors person that the meadows of Pigeon Mountain were designated as a military security zone, and were patrolled by armoured vehicles equipped with surface-to-air missiles. 😱
FUN FACT #2 - Between 1962 and 1974 the Pigeon Mountain Ski Area was created on the NW slopes of the mountain. It proved quite popular until some lean snow years led to its demise. Today what was the very nice ski lodge, is now the base for a slew of time-share cabins built up and down the ski hill.
