evilmoose

On a day so windy that we thought we’d be blown off the mountain (and I was wondering about the boots from The Blood-and-Thunder Adventure on Hurricane Peak), we decided to hike up Heart Mountain. The trees were whipping around like mad, and as a strong gust of wind came along we had to crouch to avoid being blown over (or off the mountain, you can never be too careful). It was delightfully sunny though, and the track was mostly bare – although some snow patches remained. Lots of trail braiding too, so it was easy enough to choose a trail that didn’t go through the snow in most cases.

For reference, this is the one tricky part at about half-way that is mentioned in write-ups of the hike. It’s just a couple of scrambley moves to gain a higher bench – not exposed, and not really too bad going either down or up (be careful to look out for the orange diamond marking the spot though, otherwise it’s easy to keep walking straight).

And some people might not like this either (although you can go around to the right instead of going up this cleft, it’s more exposed, but less steep I think).

Overall the trail is easy to find and follow, just make sure you don’t end up following one of the weaker trails that disappear off from it.

The trail was really dry and dusty (although with occasional mud) except for the final section up to the teahouse, where there was a little snow. A surprise after how snowy the Ha Ling Peak trail has been, I guess that side of the valley really gets a lot more sun.

I did this hike the next Saturday (27th), and then on the Sunday and Monday there were cougar attacks on dogs with hikers. Since then the trail has been closed until further notice (according to the Rocky Mountain Outlook anyway).