Barwell East Hills

BOU AVENUE
Barwell East Hills

On 2 December 2023, Zosia Zgolak and I hooked up with Dinah Kruze and Bob Spirko to hike up some low hills east of Mount Barwell in Alberta's McLean Creek Off-Highway Vehicle Public Land Use Zone. With the help of satellite imagery from Google Maps, I proposed a loop that would visit three separate hills utilizing a mix of roads, clear cuts, and dirt bike trails. Most of the area has been extensively logged, and while I was confident that we would at least have some far-reaching views, I was less certain about how easy it would be to hike through the slash in the clear cuts.

Starting from the upper parking lot (50.790765, -114.585065) at Fisher Creek Provincial Recreation Area (PRA), Dinah, Bob, Zosia and I walked back out to McLean Creek Trail (Highway 549) and headed northward past the seasonal gate (closed annually between December 1 and April 30). About 1.3 kilometres from the gate, we turned off onto a gated gas well road. There are "No Trespassing" signs here, but as Bob pointed out in his Mount Barwell trip report, these are meant more to discourage vandals than to restrict recreational access. After walking about 700 metres past the turnoff, we abandoned the gas well road to take a faint trail going through a clear cut toward a forested ridge to the west. The trail eventually peters out, but after a brief stretch of off-trail hiking, we gained a road along a northwest-southeast cut line. This road actually runs all the way back to Fisher Creek PRA, but a huge dip makes it a significantly more strenuous approach for our intended loop. Heading northwest, we ascended the cut line road for a short distance before turning left onto a dirt bike trail signed "WESTHILLS". Immediately after emerging from the trees, we thought that we had reached the top of our first hill, but when we continued westward along the dirt bike trail, we quickly realized that we had merely tagged a false high point. Fortunately, we only had to hike off-trail for a short distance to reach the true high point.

From there, Dinah, Bob, Zosia and I dropped down and followed the dirt bike trail to where it merges with the same gas well road we abandoned earlier. Instead of taking the road though, we turned southward to go through a large cut block aiming for a saddle just west of the next hill on our agenda. Fortuitously, we found a convenient trail to take us through the entire cut block, and only a couple of frozen creek crossings and the odd downed tree presented any modicum of challenge. When we reached the saddle, we intersected another dirt bike trail, and turning left, we followed it without fuss to the top of our second hill. There is a junction here with another trail signed "BARWELL 1st RIDGE" heading southward, but after taking a few photos, we continued northward and easily climbed to the top of our third and last hill where we stopped for a short lunch break. When we resumed hiking, we headed eastward and crossed a short dip before arriving at another signed junction replete with a map. We turned left here and descended a series of switchbacks until we intersected the aforementioned cut line road. Turning right, we walked down this road back to Fisher Creek PRA without any trouble to conclude our hike.

Be sure to check out Bob's trip report.

Watch out for the barbed wire! Dinah and Zosia make their way around a locked gate at the start of the seasonally-closed section of McLean Creek Trail (Highway 549).

See the moon?
Bob, Dinah and Zosia hike along a gas well road that leads to the top of Mount Barwell (not visible here). They would soon leave the road to ascend the forested ridge in the distance.

How the heck is Dinah in the lead? Dinah follows a faint trail through a clear cut leading to the forested ridge in the background.

No trail? No problem!
Bob makes his way through some light bush in the same clear cut.

Not great for this approach because of the huge dip! The group gains a road along some sort of cut line. This road can actually be followed all the way back to the trailhead over the ridge in the distance.

Still more scenic than Mount Barwell's summit! Sonny, Zosia, Dinah and Bob stand on what turns out to be a false high point (1560 metres) on the first hill of the hike.

Just have to walk through a bit of unpleasant logging slash... After leaving the false high point, Bob and Dinah go off-trail to climb up the true high point of the first hill.

Pretty nice for a lowly hill! Zosia, Dinah and Bob reach the true high point (1566 metres) of the first hill.

Lotsa nice Christmas trees to cut here!

The second and third hills of the hike can be seen ahead as the group makes its way through a cut block aiming for the distant saddle at far right.

	The group carefully crosses a frozen stream.
	The group follows a convenient trail through the cut block.
	From the saddle, a dirt bike trail leads to the top of the second hill.
	Partway up the second hill, Zosia pauses to survey the cut block that she and the others crossed earlier.
	Bob, Zosia, Dinah and Sonny balance themselves on tree stumps at the high point (1663 metres) of the second hill.
	The group easily follows the dirt bike trail to the third hill of the hike.
	Downtown Calgary is clearly visible from the top of the third hill. Photo courtesy of Zosia Zgolak
	Bob, Dinah, Zosia and Sonny stand near the high point (1658 metres) of the third hill.
	Bob continues along the dirt bike trail after leaving the high point of the third hill.
	The group descends a series of switchbacks on the east side of the third hill.
	Not far from the trailhead, Dinah and Bob step to the sides of the cut line road to allow an ATV to pass.
	Total Distance: 8.4 kilometres Round-Trip Time: 3 hours 58 minutes Cumulative Elevation Gain: ~375 metres GPX Data

	Dinah and Zosia make their way around a locked gate at the start of the seasonally-closed section of McLean Creek Trail (Highway 549).
	Bob, Dinah and Zosia hike along a gas well road that leads to the top of Mount Barwell (not visible here). They would soon leave the road to ascend the forested ridge in the distance.
	Dinah follows a faint trail through a clear cut leading to the forested ridge in the background.
	Bob makes his way through some light bush in the same clear cut.
	The group gains a road along some sort of cut line. This road can actually be followed all the way back to the trailhead over the ridge in the distance.
	Sonny, Zosia, Dinah and Bob stand on what turns out to be a false high point (1560 metres) on the first hill of the hike.
	After leaving the false high point, Bob and Dinah go off-trail to climb up the true high point of the first hill.
	Zosia, Dinah and Bob reach the true high point (1566 metres) of the first hill.