Home»All Photographs»2013 Hikes»Mount Howard 06-08-13

I enjoyed this outing more than I thought I would. I pictured gently sloping hills of brown Front Range shale and pleasing, if not astounding, mountain scenery. It delivered much more than that.
I started along an overgrown old ATV track, then through a regenerating cutblock, followed by some light bushwacking through a mature spruce and pine forest - where I found the pretty little Calypso Orchid.
This direct shortcut soon dropped me off on the banks of Canyon Creek. I followed this drainage up to the north ridge of Mt. Howard. Once up on it, the ridge follows a zig-zag, connecting successively higher points (see pic #6). This results in a fair bit of elevation loss between each point. The snow patches higher up were still quite large, and partially dictated how I approached the summit. I visited each of the high points, as this kept me on the ridge where the least snow was. In some parts, the scree slopes were completely covered in snow, and scrambling up the crest of the ridge was the only option. The summit block offered some hands on scrambling at the crux as well, but most of the day was spent as a long, enjoyable ridgewalk.
An alternate descent after getting back to the third high point was to continue on another ridge headed east toward Compression Ridge, then descending north back to the Canyon Creek draingage.
I was lucky and picked well with this choice of hike...it has just recently come into shape in terms of snow conditions (the alternate descent route still had knee-deep patches), and to be able to get above 2700m on June 8 is just great! I think I was the first one up Mt. Howard this year. Looking forward to a great year.
On the drive home along Powderface Trail, I noticed some bones. Hypotheses or opinions as to the species of the animal are welcomed and encouraged. Deer(?) Calf(?) Elk(?)