We set out to hike up the north ridge of Mount Burke but somehow I managed to start up the wrong ridge. Fortunately I had recently planned a route in the nearby unnamed hills by Miller Creek. This route called for ascending a succession of small peaks starting with the north peak at GR7434838 and leading to the highest point at GR763806. For the sake of simplicity, I'll call these Peaks 1, 2, 3, and 4 with Peak 1 being the north peak and Peak 4 the south peak. For the return trip I would have followed Painted Creek and Zephyr Creek. When I realized I was on the wrong ridge I decided to head to Peak 4 and do the route in reverse from there.

We followed the wrong ridge to its high point above Painted Creek and dropped down 100 metres to a saddle. On the saddle we came across a trail, a hunter's trail I assume given the recent activity on it. The trail led to the ridge between Peaks 2 and 3. After reaching the ridge, we continued hiking along it towards Peaks 3 and 4. Much of it was open so we could appreciate the sun and enjoy the views.

The only surprise came when we thought we reached the high point but it turned out to be a false summit. Several minutes later after losing much elevation, we gained the true summit marked by a cairn. To the east was nothing but the prairies. To the south we could make out the lookout on Mount Burke.

From the summit we retraced out footsteps back to the hunter's trail. I expected the trail would continue north along the ridge but instead it disappeared and we had to bushwhack. Eventually we ran out of ridge and we had to drop down and head NE to Peak 2 (GR751831).

We were surprised to find a cairn marking this peak. Then it was on to Peak 1. Since the map showed open expanses on the lower SW slopes we decided to take advantage of them rather than hike up and over Peak 1. I was concerned about bushwhacking down the north side of Peak 1 but after descending to the gully I looked back to realized that the ridge was semi-open. It would have been better to go up and over Peak 1.

This trip may not be impressive and is more a hike than a scramble, but it's an enjoyable outing given the time of year. Indeed, if this area is windblown in the winter it may be possible to do all year round. I'd like to return to do it as I first planned: climbing Peaks 1-4 in succession and returning via Zephyr Creek or by the ridge east of it, the one we used for the ascent.

Two days later we learned that a hunter was nearly attacked by a Cougar in the same area the day before we were. Read his account.

MOVIE (1:48)