Home»All Photographs»2016 Hikes»Smutwood Peak 09-17-16

Clayton, Eric, David and Myself wanted to see fall larches, so what better place than Peter Lougheed Provincial Park in Kananaskis?
Our objective today was Smutwood Peak, an unofficially named peak between Mt. Smuts and Mt. Birdwood.
We hiked up the Commonwealth Creek drainage (I was here six month ago in snowshoes - a much different landscape today, although the snow will not be long coming here again). Once up the steep grunt to Smuts Pass, one is rewarded with fine views of the Birdwood Lakes and surrounding alpine meadows. I commented how this was prime grizzly habitat.
We then geared up for the ridge scramble to the summit. Steep terrain (although a boot-beaten trail has formed due to its popularity) led past a nub and then on to the true summit.
On the descent, a group behind us, who were higher and had a better vantage, warned us of a bear below. We took extra caution, although none of us actually saw the bear before it disappeared into the woods. We continued descending into open terrain with good sight lines, just to be safe.
We continued on to a narrow finger of land separating the upper and lower Birdwood Lakes. We found a sublime, wind-free spot on soft groundcover overlooking the lake and the golden larches. Then the bear re-appeared over the ridge. We first watched as a group of hikers, who were much closer to the bears location, hiked away to give the bear room. It showed no signs of aggression, and as a matter of fact, was quite unconcerned with the loud calls and presence of several tense hikers. Then the bear (a male grizzly) started up toward the finger of land that we were on. It was foraging as it went, digging at the ground between short periods of brisk walking - in our direction still. It was time for us to give up our sweet lunch spot and move our hungry foursome elsewhere.
We hiked down a slope uphill of where we were predicting the bear to move. We sat down with a good view of the valley below and had a big lunch.
On our exit toward Smuts Pass, sure enough, we saw the bear on a steep slope foraging some more. We watched with binoculars and took lots of pictures...what an amazing experience for David on his second scramble in the Rockies!