Fri, Oct 21 2011, Sat, Oct 22 2011 - Folding Mountain & Fiddle Peak (View Original Event Details)
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This is an easy trip report. We left Edmonton for the Folding Mountain Resort as planned only to find out that this campground resort was closed for the season. We checked the Hinton KOA which was also closed for the season. Finally around 11 or 11:30pm, we found a Provincial Recreation Area 5km off Hwy 16 at Wildhorse Lake. This was near our trailhead and worked well for us. We did have some rain as we set up our tents for the night.
We got an early start the next morning. We parked at the Folding Mountain Resort and walked west a few hundred metres to locate the trail to Folding Mountain. Next time, one only needs to park at the sign indicating rest area 2km as the trail is here directly across the highway and is marked with a yellow hiker sign. Funny we could not locate this the previous night in the dark.
We started up the trail which was steep at first gaining at least 500m until it leveled off for a while with a clearing on the east side which gave great views to the west and the mountains. The trail then dipped into trees for a while, passing a sign for a spring, then the remnants of an old campsite, before returning to an opening on the east side along a spine which the trail climbed steeply toward the open scree slopes of the summit. The last section was steep and the trail was worn into the scree but any choice of routes up this slope would be fine. After about 4 hours, we finally reached the summit of 2117m Folding Mountain. Great views here! Sky was clear and blue with only a few white clouds.
We then continued down from the summit to the SW along a ridge which would eventually conect us with Fiddle Peak. 5km seperated the two summits with several hundred metres of elevation loss and gain. We reached a high point along the ridge slightly more than halfway when I decided to turn back. It was just after 2pm and I don't think our group as a whole was quick enough to add Fiddle Peak to the day leaving this for another day. The hike back over Folding Mountain was good save for the increase in wind presence. We found refuge back in the trees and by 6:15pm, were at our vehicles again.
All in all, a gread day out despite not reaching Fiddle Peak. The views were wonderful and so worth the effort. We had a good, friendly, pleasant group and it was nice to meet them. We had a supper stop at the Subway in Hinton before returning home to Edmonton at about 10:30pm.
Thanks to those who drove and for making this a good day out for me.
Jeff
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