Mountain View Hill

Mountain View Hill
Kananaskis, Alberta
December 16, 2023
Distance: 6.2 km
Cumulative Elevation Gain: 165 m

The minor hill that Dinah and I climbed on a sunny, wintery day, isn't inspiring, being too low to see much, but we appreciated the semi-open hilltop. Since Mountain View trail runs by it, I called it Mountain View Hill. But the name is misleading as there are no mountain views unless you count Moose Mountain which appears tiny in the distance.

From West Bragg Creek parking lot, we followed West Crystal Line through the forest. The trail comprises two paths: a broad ski trail that runs nearly straight while a narrow trail for cyclists and snowshoers meanders alongside it. We followed the bike/snowshoe trail. There was no need for snowshoes as the snow was packed down, but being the weekend, bikers were out in full force. We often stepped aside to let fat tire mountain bikes roll by.

After hiking nearly two kilometres, we emerged from the forest onto a clear-cut. There we turned onto Snowy Owl. The trail crosses Mountain View trail, and that's where we left the trail and started up the northeast ridge of Mountain View Hill. Thin forests and clear-cuts weren't a problem, and we easily hiked 700 m to the hilltop. We took a break sitting on logs before retracing our steps back to Snowy Owl. We followed the trail as it ran through pleasant clearings back to the parking lot.

KML and GPX Tracks

From the parking lot, we went up West Crystal Line (left) and returned on Snowy Owl (right)