{"id":3810,"date":"2012-11-17T14:45:16","date_gmt":"2012-11-17T20:45:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/evilmoose.shafted.com.au\/?p=3810"},"modified":"2013-10-17T22:27:10","modified_gmt":"2013-10-18T04:27:10","slug":"pigeon-mountain-lacking-in-pigeons-since-1858","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/evilmoose.me\/?p=3810","title":{"rendered":"Pigeon Mountain (lacking in pigeons since 1858)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pigeon Mountain has been hovering on our radar for a long time – it sits just next to Skogan Pass, so we’ve travelled past it plenty of times, but have never quite made the turn up towards the summit. It was a warm day for November, and without too much snow on the ground, we thought we may as well use this trip as a good shoulder season excursion.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

After cheating and driving to the trailhead, we unloaded the bikes and Chariot, and started the slog up alongside the power-lines. There were a couple of other random hikers about, but the carpark had been overwhelmingly full of hunters. We passed a few on the trail; bow hunters who had bagged a bighorn sheep. <\/p>\n

We managed to cover 3.5 km or so before the snow on the trail started to make traction impossible, so gave in and stashed the wheels in the trees. <\/p>\n

\"\"

Above the treeline and trudging uphill, with an old-school toddler carrying device – shoving them in the space between your back and the backpack<\/center><\/em><\/p>\n

Another kilometre or so and we reached the turnoff, taking us up single trail, climbing a spur until we were spat out above the treeline and into the wind. From there on the trail wasn’t so well defined. There was a fantastic choose-your-own-adventure set of trails to follow through the snow though…<\/p>\n

Follow the sheep trail.<\/strong> Turn to page 63. <\/em> You have fallen into a wind drift and can’t get out. You starve to death before summer comes.
\nFollow the lower human trail. <\/strong>Turn to page 48.<\/em> The trail disappears over the edge of a cliff. You fall to your death.
\nSet your own tracks across wind slab. <\/strong>Turn to page 38. <\/em> The wind slab holds for the first twenty metres, but suddenly gives way, and you are trapped in postholing hell.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Lunch!<\/center><\/em><\/p>\n

We managed to make our way through the perilous choose-your-own-adventure section, and reached the ridge, where the wind had kept the snow pretty thin on the ground. Surprisingly, the wind swept ridge was also rather windy. <\/p>\n

\"\"

Onwards and upwards<\/center><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"

We were not alone – hoards of bighorn sheep around. The whole area will be under seasonal closure from December 1st, as it’s a breeding ground for the bighorn sheep.<\/center><\/em><\/p>\n

It was easy walking to the summit and after snacks and photos at the summit cairn, we shook our fist at the sun, which had just disappeared behind a bank of clouds that had been hugging the mountains to the west of us, and then we scarpered back down the mountain.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Thanks to the bike-stashing effort, we made it back to the car a full five minutes before sunset (with the added benefit that we weren’t driven insane by having to walk down a road next to a power-line for a full five kilometres).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Oh, and as an added bonus, here<\/a> is a link to the song we both had stuck in our head all day long.<\/p>\n

Distance:<\/strong> 16.5km
\nElevation gain:<\/strong> 960m
\nSummit altitude:<\/strong> 2394m<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pigeon Mountain has been hovering on our radar for a long time – it sits just next to Skogan Pass, so we’ve travelled past it plenty of times, but have never quite made the turn up towards the summit. It was a warm day for November, and without too much snow on the ground, we […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[29,24,1,123,1270,17],"tags":[1272,1402],"class_list":["post-3810","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bikes","category-canada","category-general","category-hiking","category-moosling","category-trip-reports","tag-chariot","tag-pigeon-mountain"],"author_meta":{"display_name":"megan","author_link":"https:\/\/evilmoose.me\/?author=1"},"featured_img":null,"coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["bikes<\/a>","canada<\/a>","general<\/a>","hiking<\/a>","moosling<\/a>","trip reports<\/a>"],"unlinked":["bikes<\/span>","canada<\/span>","general<\/span>","hiking<\/span>","moosling<\/span>","trip reports<\/span>"]},"tags":{"linked":["chariot<\/a>","pigeon mountain<\/a>"],"unlinked":["chariot<\/span>","pigeon mountain<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":"0","relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 13 years ago","modified":"Updated 13 years ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on 17.11.2012","modified":"Updated on 17.10.2013"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on 17.11.2012 2:45 pm","modified":"Updated on 17.10.2013 10:27 pm"},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/evilmoose.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3810","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/evilmoose.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/evilmoose.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/evilmoose.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/evilmoose.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3810"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/evilmoose.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3810\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4158,"href":"https:\/\/evilmoose.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3810\/revisions\/4158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/evilmoose.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/evilmoose.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/evilmoose.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}