Mohawk East Hill

Panorama looking east

Mohawk East Hill
Crowsnest Pass, Alberta
March 1, 2008

Dinah and I returned to climb Byron Hill only to encounter an unexpected complication. Like the previous week, we passed a house on the approach only this time a curmudgeonly owner yelled at us. He said we were trespassing, and if we didn't leave he would call the RCMP. (If we were on private land, it didn't show: there was no fence and no "No Trespassing" sign.) He told me the way to reach Byron Hill was farther up the road “about a mile.”

We drove up Adanac Road as far as it was maintained in the winter. To reach Byron Hill from here, we would have to cross Byron Creek. But doing it with snowshoes turned out to be impractical because of the steep banks on either side of the creek. After a fruitless search along the creek, we gave up.

After changing our start point and searching for another approach, we lost nearly three hours. With little else to do and little time to do it in, we decided to climb a nearby high point on the west side of Adanac Road which I call Mohawk East Hill. The name comes a nearby coal mine.

Despite limited time and lack of a serious objective, we enjoyed snowshoeing 330 m up the west slope to a hilltop. It was a beautiful day, and the snow was great. In fact, one reason we returned to Crowsnest Pass was that Castle Mountain Ski Hill, only 20 km south of Byron Hill had 108 inches of snow while Lake Louise Ski Hill had only 61 inches – a difference of four feet!

Postscript: Seven years later, I returned and hiked up Byron Hill.

KML and GPX Tracks

On the way to Crowsnest Pass we spotted three moose by Chain Lakes. Mouse over to see the calves.