Was I EVER happy to hit the trails again when Alberta Parks reopened in May! Rachelle and I went out to hike Mt. Albert & Mt. Baldy in Beauvais Provincial Park, located just west of Pincher Creek. This is a great place to hike with families or beginners because it is a network of trails of various degrees of difficulty. You park in one spot and have access to five trailheads.
We started off for Mt. Albert and enjoyed the easy steady incline of the beginning of the trail. We came to a clearing where signs told us to go straight up and the AllTrails map said to take a left. Either way works, we took a more round about route to get to Mt. Albert and I’m glad we did because we saw the biggest beaver lodge and dam I’ve ever seen.
The trees all around the trail showed were chewed down by beavers and Rachelle made a note to bring her boys hiking to this area.
Being spring there was a ton of runoff and art one point in the hike, the trail was a creek and we had to bush whack on the side of the trail to stay dry.
Then we finally approached the hike up Mt. Albert. By hiking standards, this is definitely a moderate hike. The climb is slow and steady but for the first hike of the season and my first real hike since baby, it was tough.
I was embarrassed at how much I was huffing and puffing on the way up.
But as usual it was worth it because when we got near the top the mountain opened up and the views were fantastic.
We stopped at what we thought was the peak and had a snack. Our break was interrupted by this crazy horn-like sound that turned out to be a male grouse trying to impress a female. I’m not a bird person, so when he stood his ground and watched us walk by all puffed up, I was nervous that he was going to come after us.
We hit the actual peak of Mt. Albert a little while later and enjoyed prairie views on one side and mountain views on the other.
The way down was a bit precarious as the trail was covered in that slippery, slushy snow. My legs took a beating as we slowly made our way down.
After we made it down, we went what felt like off-trail toward Mt. Baldy. Thank goodness for the Alltrails app again because the “trail” is marked with orange diamond signs nailed to trees and sometimes you go off too far to see the next one. It became a game of spotting the next marker to know we were on the right track.
By this time we were tired and dreading another climb. Luckily, Mt. Baldy is really just a very large hill with a tower of some sort on the top. The crocuses on the way to the top were gorgeous and there’s even a bench to rest and enjoy the view of the tower. Ha!
On the way back down, we passed an old homestead which was pretty cool to think that someone had made a life for themselves in these mountains.
This route is a loop and a very scenic 8 km hike. Mt. Albert & Mt. Baldy are good hikes for folks who want to do a moderate peak hike.
