Sofa Mountain, Waterton Park

August 3rd, 2015

The Crew: Craig S., Emily A, and Kim Archie

Overview
Ascent: 
from side of road to base of mountain on flat terrain trail = 3km/40 minutes
 to top of falls and emerging from the bushes, with increase in elevation = 20 minutes
from top of falls to south east ridge = 1 hour and 20 minutes
from top of ridge false summit to true summit = 20 minutes
Descent: 
From Summit to side of road where you parked = 2 hours

Equipment/skills: straight forward scramble, could do in running shoes if you had to. If doing in morning dew or after rain, bring gaiters for the brush trail or your feet will get very wet. Be prepared to encounter flies if it is summer, quite a few bugs!

General Route:

You can find the general route in Alan Kane's book on scrambles. The pullout to park at is 1 mile past the first lookout spot if going south on chief mountain highway. The highway is located outside Waterton Park Gates, highway 6. The pullout is on the right hand side.

From the pullout pick out a faint trail worn in the grass. Follow the trail through brush, trees and open grass fields, headed west toward Sofa Mountain. The trail will be overgrown later in the season, expect to get wet if there is morning dew or recent rain. As well, put a brave soul first in line to break all the spider webs formed across the trail. This part is easy going, very little elevation gain. You will see rocky outcropping with a small waterfall ahead, this is where you start to gain elevation. Hike up to the top of this waterfall, the trail crosses to the south side of this waterfall with a very easy creek crossing. Continue up the left hand side of the water. Once the terrain flattens out to the valley floor you are ready to head straight up the mountainside to your left/south.

You may pick up areas of trail worn by people who do this scramble, but nothing significant. It is mostly a pick your own adventure kind of slope. In other words, go up however you like.  You will be headed up grassy slope for a bit and then hit the brown shale. This shale is the kind that is annoying to go up and down, meaning it moves just enough to make it a struggle going up, but doesn't roll enough to let you shale ski down either. Trey to stay on larger rock to avoid struggling up. You will be able to see where there is a general opening in the grey cliff bands near the top, aim for this area as you ascend. Once you hit the grey rock you may encounter some hands on scrambling, but very minimal and possibly avoidable depending on the route you choose.

You will reach the south east ridge of the mountain and find a small cairn there with a pole in the middle. THIS IS NOT THE SUMMIT. Look even further south and you will see the true summit. This can be disheartening but do not lose heart, it is a lot closer than it looks. Only 20 more minutes along the ridge and you will reach the top. There is a cairn and log book on the top. If you are actually reading this description and doing the hike PLEASE BRING A NEW SMALL NOTE BOOK FOR THE LOG BOOK, IT WAS FULL (And then comment below that you did and I will take this part out of the blog).

Descend the same way you came up, make sure you do not descend more west than you came up the slopes. You will encounter cliff bands that way. Stay facing north east as you descend.