Packenham Junior

BOU AVENUE
Packenham Junior

Zosia Zgolak and I ascended Packenham Junior in Alberta's Peter Lougheed Provincial Park on 12 June 2022. This gem of a trip was first brought to Andrew Nugara's attention by local hiker, Calvin Damen, in 2007, and the fairly straightforward ascent route is now described in Nugara's More Scrambles in the Canadian Rockies. The shortness of this trip perfectly suited Zosia and me since we also had plans later in the day to attend Trails Fest, a festival celebrating outdoor recreation in Kananaskis Country.

From the junction with Trans-Canada Highway, drive south on Highway 40 for 47 kilometres to Hood Creek. Park in a grassy ditch near some concrete barriers on the west side of the highway just north of the creek. Wire barricades make it impractical to park on the shoulders of the highway here.

From where we parked, Zosia and I carefully crossed to the east side of the highway and walked south to Hood Creek where we picked up a distinct trail climbing up the north bank. The trail braids in a few places lower down, but all routes inevitably go the same way--up. The entire ascent is little more than a steep hike, but the steepness is sustained and unrelenting. Although the initial trail eventually peters out, we found plenty of beaten paths and signs of passage to help guide us through the forested lower half of the mountain. Some short cliff bands appear as the trees thin out higher up, but we easily circumvented all of them. The angle of the slope finally eases near the top, and we arrived at the summit about an hour and fifty minutes after leaving my car.

Zosia and I were blessed with sunny and calm conditions on top of Packenham Junior, and were it not for Trails Fest, we probably would have stayed up there for more than just a half hour especially since we had the peak all to ourselves. Retracing our steps more or less, our descent was trouble-free, and we were back at my car in a little more than an hour. With our hike completed, we drove to Kovach Pond near Kananaskis Village to attend Trails Fest where we got some free hotdogs to go along with lots of free advice about outdoor recreation safety which was the main focus of this year's event. Best of all, we got to hobnob with some legendary guidebook authors who were on hand to explain why AllTrails sucks!

	A good trail climbs up the north (left) bank of Hood Creek.
	Packenham Junior is the rounded hump straight ahead while its loftier parent, Mount Packenham, is visible to the right.
	Clearings along the way such as this one help alleviate some of the drudgery of the uphill grind.
	Sonny circumvents one of the short cliff bands on the upper mountain. Photo courtesy of Zosia Zgolak
	Zosia ascends the remaining slope before the top. Towering high above and to the right is Mount Evan-Thomas.
	Sonny and Zosia stand on the summit of Packenham Junior (2304 metres).
	Mount Packenham and Mount Hood rise up steeply to the east.
	The rest of the Opal Range stretches away to the southeast past King Creek Ridge (right).

Too bad the clouds are blocking the views of Mount Joffre.

Lower Kananaskis Lake is the centrepiece of the panoramic view to the south.

	Immediately north is Grizzly Peak.
	Here is a close-up of the summit block of Mount Evan-Thomas.
	Zosia signs the summit register atop Packenham Junior.
	Here is one last look at King Creek Ridge and Lower Kananaskis Lake as Zosia begins her descent.
	A chipmunk is having Sunday brunch on a log. Photo courtesy of Zosia Zgolak
	Mount Lawson dominates the view to the west while Zosia descends a clearing.

We owe a huge debt of gratitude to these four amazing authors!

At Trails Fest, Zosia and Sonny stand side by side with legendary guidebook authors, Alan Kane, Tony Daffern, Gillean Daffern, and Andrew Nugara.

Photo courtesy of Zosia Zgolak

Total Distance: 3.9 kilometres
Round-Trip Time: 3 hours 21 minutes
Net Elevation Gain: 633 metres

GPX Data