Heart Mountain

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Heart Mountain

Trip No. 122

Elevation

2072m - first summit

2178m - highest point

Height Gain

639m to first summit

845m to highest point

Distance

8.9km

Time to Reach Summit

1.5 - 2.5 hours to first summit

3.5 - 6.0 hours to complete loop

Degree of Difficulty

2 of 5; brief scrambling required

Scenery

3 of 5

Date of Most-recent Ascent

May 31, 2003

Download GPS Track

In the Front Range and at 825m vertical elevation, Heart is one of my favorite early-season tune up hikes. To get there, you can park at the Heart Creek parking lot on the south side of Highway 1 and wander east for 750m to get to Heart Creek and the trail head, or you can just pull off the highway at Heart Creek itself (GPS reference 51d03m04s N, 115d09m22s W) and leave your vehicle on the grassy embankment.

If you're in good hiking shape, you'll reach the first summit in about 1.5 hours. If you're doing the Heart Mountain Loop then this summit is the one-third point. The remaining two-thirds of the trip will take another 2-3 hours.

The way up the mountain is obvious - the trail is visible even from the road - you simply hike up the west ridge to the top. There are plenty of markings along the way to make sure that you don't wander off course. On your right, Mount McGillivray towers over Heart Creek at its bottom. On a nice summer weekend you can see the caravans of families make their along this popular trail. Two-thirds of the way up you reach a 3m high rock step (GPS reference 51d02m34s N, 115d08m27s W) on your left. There's a red marker nailed to the top of this wall. There really isn't too much difficulty in scaling this step - the hand and foot holds are solid. You need to be more careful if the rocks are wet, as they are smooth and tend to be slippery.

After you overcome the wall, the mountain seems to go up in steps, and you loose sight of the summit. You can judge how far up you are by looking over to the east ridge, since the east and west summits are at about the same elevation. Further up, the trail takes you to a narrow rocky gully which requires you to scramble up about 10m. There are lots of steps to help you along, but leave some distance between you and others as the rocks are loose. Near the top of this section look for the trail to resume on your right (GPS reference 51d02m31s N, 115d08m23s W).

On reaching the first summit (GPS reference 51d02m23s N, 115d08m13s W) Mt. Lorette fills the southern vista. Looking back, the most prominent features are Mts. Grotto, Fable, and Exshaw. The sheer face of Mt. Yamnuska is visible to the east. Continue along this broad ridge which takes you over 3 other minor summits. When you reach the southern-most point (GPS reference 51d01m58s N, 115d07m19s W) there's a sloppy cairn marking this highest summit. This is a great spot to grab some lunch and to admire the view of Barrier Lake and Mt. Baldy.

Through a short belt of stunted trees the trail turns east along an open, grassy ridge. A couple more minor summits later the trail wends left (GPS reference 51d02m13s N, 115d06m56s W) and starts to descend the ridge. This is the no-nonsense way down, and even though the upper sections are rocky there are no problems. If you don't mind steeper terrain and a bit of scrambling, you can go down the broad gully just before the final ridge, which eventually narrows into a rocky stream bed. Boulder hop down below tree-line and you'll eventually come to a climbing wall. Follow the climber's access trail along the bottom of this wall which alternates back and forth across a small stream. When you reach a waterfall the trail turns right and climbs sharply into the trees and comes out onto a rock face. There's a chain bolted to the rock for you to hang on to as you maneuver across this exposed 5m section. You should hope that you weigh less than the person who put up the chain. Beyond this point the remaining trek downstream is routine.

The ridge route intersects this stream at the very bottom. Cross the bridge and soon the trail intersects Quaite Valley Trail. Head west for 2km back to Heart Creek. This section is frequented by mountain bikers so keep your eyes open.

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