Willow Creek East Hills

BOU AVENUE
Willow Creek East Hills

Taking advantage of some fine weather on 18 November 2023, Shaun Luong, Aga Sokolowska, Wil Tabak and Zosia Zgolak joined me for a hike up several unnamed hills in the eastern half of Alberta's Willow Creek Public Land Use Zone. Part of the inspiration for this trip came from Bob Spirko's ascent of what he calls "Willow Creek Knoll", but I wanted to also include several other hills in the vicinity that I figured would be easy enough to link up in one big loop. I ultimately concocted a route that would visit six separate hills or high points. Since the area is rife with hunters and off-highway vehicle enthusiasts, my hope was that there would be plenty of game trails and ATV tracks to help with route-finding from one hill to the next, but if not, I was still confident that off-trail travel would be fairly easy with minimal bushwhacking.

Starting from the south side of Highway 532 just east of the bridge over Willow Creek (50.2422095, -114.3507725), Shaun, Aga, Wil, Zosia and I followed an ATV track eastward for about 450 metres before abandoning it to climb up our first hill of the day. Other than having to squeeze through a barbed-wire fence, we had few difficulties hiking off-trail to the top of the first hill. After a brief pause, we continued eastward down a steep cow trail and subsequently joined an ATV track which conveniently led us to the top of our second hill. As we approached our second high point of the day, we were surprised to run into a woman named Cat (or Kat) perched in a tree. She announced her presence to us before we even saw her possibly because she was concerned about being inadvertently shot by hunters. She had a good sense of humour though and posed with us for a group photo. Zosia even convinced her to sing a pre-emptive "Happy Birthday" to Wil! After parting ways with Cat, the rest of us dropped steeply into a big dip on the east side of the second hill before climbing moderately up our third hill of the day. This third hill is the same one that Spirko climbed and would be the highest point of our loop hike. We took an extended break for lunch here before resuming our hike.

	Aga, Zosia, Wil and Shaun aim for the hill in the background.
	Shaun, Aga and Wil climb a steep grassy slope on the west face of the hill.

Mount Livingstone is kinda hidden behind the ridge between Coffin Mountain and Mount Hornecker.

This is the view to the southwest from the top of the hill.

No Wil, you can't see Holy Cross Mountain from here!

The view to the west includes Indian Graves Ridge in the foreground at right.

	Shaun, Zosia, Wil, Aga and Sonny tag their first high point (HP1; 1598 metres) of the day.
	Zosia heads toward the next hill to the east.
	Shaun, Aga and Wil put the first hill behind them as they follow an ATV track along a fence.
	Surprisingly, there is a Cat in a tree atop the second hill. Cat (or Kat) turns out to be a solo female hiker from Nanton. Photo courtesy of Zosia Zgolak
	Before departing, Cat (second from right) poses with the group on the second high point (HP2; 1653 metres).
	The group continues eastward toward the next hill in the distance.
	The group climbs a forested slope with minimal toothpick deadfall. Photo courtesy of Zosia Zgolak
	In this view to the east from the top of the third hill, a small sliver of Chain Lakes Reservoir is visible at far left.
	This rugged outcrop to the east lies on leased public agricultural land, and recreational access requires the leaseholder's permission. Photo courtesy of Zosia Zgolak
	The group stands atop the third hill which would turn out to be the highest point (HP3;1664 metres) of the entire hike. Bob Spirko refers to this hill as "Willow Creek Knoll".

From the top of the third hill, Shaun, Aga, Wil, Zosia and I descended south-facing grassy slopes and quickly picked up an ATV track which we followed down into Willow Creek valley. Where the ATV track began to veer westward, we turned left onto another ATV track heading south, and this second track led us right alongside Willow Creek. After hopping across Willow Creek, we followed another ATV track on the far bank until it bent back to re-cross the creek. We left the track here and basically headed off-trail to gain the north end of the fourth hill on our agenda. Other than having to squeeze through another barbed-wire fence, we had few problems hiking up to our fourth high point of the day. Continuing southward along the same ridge, we made short work of the one kilometre or so to our fifth high point. From there, we backtracked a short distance before stumbling upon a hunter's tree stand--a chair fixed about 3.5 metres up a tree with a ladder for access. For fun, we all took turns climbing the ladder to sit in the chair. When we had enough of pretending to be King/Queen of the World, we descended the north side of the ridge we were on and crossed an ATV track before climbing up the south ridge of our sixth and final hill. We had to initially churn through some unpleasant slash here but eventually finished the ascent on a nice trail. Unlike the previous high points, the sixth high point is completely viewless, but we did not really care since we were busy celebrating Wil's upcoming birthday with chocolate cake, candy and even a present (R.M. Patterson's book, The Buffalo Head).

When the birthday party was over, Shaun, Aga, Wil, Zosia and I dropped down the very steep northeast side of the sixth hill. Fortunately, we did not encounter any difficult drop-offs and were soon tramping across more mellow terrain until we intersected the main ATV track running through the valley. Aside from one more crossing of Willow Creek, we had no problems following the ATV track all the way back to our cars as darkness fell over the area.

	The group descends into the valley on an ATV track.
	The ATV track runs alongside Willow Creek. The next objective is the bump on the right horizon.
	Shaun and Wil look for a suitably shallow section of Willow Creek to splash across without removing their boots.

Zosia has elven feet that can walk on water!

Wil and Shaun wait for Zosia and Aga to finish crossing Willow Creek.

	Aga squeezes through a barbed-wire fence with some assistance from Sonny and Shaun. Photo courtesy of Zosia Zgolak
	The group tags its fourth high point (HP4; 1549 metres) of the day.

Anyone bring their ice skates?

Southeast of the fourth hill is a frozen unnamed pond.

We're still walking away from the trailhead at this point!

The group easily makes its way to the fifth hill at left.

High five!

Everyone still looks refreshingly happy on the fifth high point (HP5; 1551 metres).

	Zosia watches Aga climb up a hunter's tree stand located not far from HP5.
	Wil is the King of the World.
	This is looking back down from the throne.
	The fourth and fifth hills are visible at left and right in the background as Aga makes her way up the sixth and last hill of the day.
	Zosia and Aga tramp through a logging slash on their way to the sixth high point which is somewhere in the trees at far right.
	Aga, Zosia, Wil, Shaun and Sonny stand on the sixth and last high point (HP6; 1571 metres).
	After a steep descent, Zosia puts the sixth hill behind her.
	Zosia rock-hops across Willow Creek one last time.
	Total Distance: 16.2 kilometres Round-Trip Time: 8 hours 16 minutes Cumulative Elevation Gain: 693 metres GPX Data