Hike to Baldy Pass

This past weekend was beautiful, sunny and a high of 80 F. Just perfect for a hike to Baldy Pass. Baldy Pass is in Kananaskis Country, which has seen quite a few of it's trails devastated by the spring floods. The trail head starts at Baldy Parking lot near Barrier Lake on Highway 40. The hike is a popular half day hike that is 8 km (5 miles) round trip. There is an elevation gain of 575 m (1,886 ft.). The trail was washed out at some points and the bridge crossings were washed away. I have posted a couple of pics of what the trail looked like before the flood. We enjoyed enhanced views of the valley and ski area by scrambling up the Lusk Pass trail for about 1 km.

Here I am at the top of Baldy Pass Trail

As we climbed higher to get better views, we saw people scrambling up Lusk pass just under the rocky point on top. We decided to head over that direction.

The views opened up as we got higher. You can see the Nakiska ski area in the background.

The Kananaskis valley in the background. That is a steep cliff, my friend...

We scrammbled up these rocks to get to the top. Going up was okay. Coming down was not so easy.....

Taking a rest.

Looking across to the other side, our first climb towards Mt Midnight.

Flooding damage to the trail. The next picture is the way the trail looked in 2009.

The trail in 2009.

More flood damage. The bridges and paths along the river bed were wiped out.

This picture show the trail along the left side in 2009.

No more trail in 2013.