Saturday,
7/14/2018, Shunga-la-she – Hwy546/Sheep River Rd, Bluerock W.P.P., Kananaskis, AB
· Round Trip: 14km;
Elevation: 2621m; Elevation Gain: 1003m; Time: RT – 9:30hrs (9:45-19:15), ascent
– 4:15hrs, descent – 3:45hrs; Easy to moderate scramble with nasty bushwhacking
on alternative descent
· Book: ‘More
scrambles in the Canadian Rockies’ by Nugara, Andrew
References:
Drive
From Calgary, drive south on Hwy 2/Deerfoot
Trail, take the exit for Okotoks driving south on Hwy2A for 10.9km, turn
right/west onto Hwy7 towards Black Diamond and Turner Valley. After passing
through these two towns, continue driving west on Hwy 546 then Sheep River Road
to the end of the road and park on the parking lot. Driving time would be
around 1:50 hours.
Hike
Our original object was Elbow’s Big-Four,
but it was raining when we arrived at the parking lot in the earlier morning.
We waited for a while then knew we had to change our plan since we needed a
better weather for this long trip. We thought Sheol Mountain is a short trip
and will be more suitable for a unstable weather, but then found the park pass
was left at home. So we ended up changing the driving direction to the south
for a moderate scramble up an unofficial named peak – Shunga-la-she.
The route up
Shunga-la-she is quite straight forward. We started by hiking up the Sheep
River Trail for around 3.5 km and crossed the river over a new-built bridge. We
then ascended the forest slope southeastward immediately after the bridge
crossing. The initial slope was quite steep and dense and didn’t look like
well-travelled. Fortunately, we were able to find some faint trails here and
there and followed them up. Upon topping out on the ridge, we followed it
southward and encountered some moderate fun-scrambles until we reached the northwest
ridge. We then had a pleasant ridge walk to the summit of Shunga-la-she under a
much clearer sky than this morning.
The weather was so
nice that we spent one and a half hours soaking ourselves in the views surrounding
us. We then left the summit by retracing our steps to the intersection with the higher
unnamed peak. Here, we descended to the gully to our left, making a loop,
instead of heading the ridge we ascended. This scree gully brought us to a
not-so-pleasant drainage that sometimes forced us to bushwhack on the
right/east side of it. With hindsight, we should never have chosen this route
down since it involved undesirable dense bushwhacking, was time consuming, and
had no view at all. I highly recommended someone who is going this hike just
takes the ridge route up and down for your own sake.
Whatsoever, we
survived our descent through the drainage and backed on the Sheep River Trail. Even
though I regretted the descent choice, I still really enjoyed the fun scrambles
along the ridge up to the summit of Shunga-la-she.
The trailhead of Sheep River Trail
We took the horse trail at left. It will meet the Sheep River Trail ahead
The horse trail is narrower and muddier
Crossing the river over a new-built bridge after around 3.5 km
Ascending the forest slope southeastward immediately after the bridge crossing
The initial slope was quite steep and dense and didn’t look like well-travelled
Higher up, following some faint trails here and there
Out of trees
Looking west towards Gibraltar Mtn(L) and Sheep River Valley at treeline
Steep slope after treeline
Looking back
Scree slope leads to the ridge
Mt Burns to the northwest
Topping out on the ridge
Circumventing an outcrop to its right
Looking a way back to the ridge
Going up onto the ridge
Looking down from the ridge crest
Fun scramble starts
Looking down
Looking around for our object
More scrambles ahead
Mist(L) and Storm(R) Mountains on the way up
Pleasant ridge walk from now on
Heading to the summit ridge
Looking back at the ascent ridge
Heading to the summit of Shunga-la-she
View east where the prairie meets the mountains
View southeast with Junction Mtn to the left and Pyriform Mtn in the centre
View south with Highwood Peak to the right
View southwest with Highwood Peak to the left and the higher unnamed peak to the right
To the west, the beautiful natural grain of Mist Mtn always attracts your eyes
(l-r) Storm Mtn, Mt Arethusa, and Mt Rae forming a backdrop
View west with (l-r) Mist Mtn, Storm Mtn, Mt Arethusa, and Mt Rae forming a backdrop
View northwest with Gibraltar Mtn in front and Mt Rae(CL), Mt Sir Douglas(C, distant), Elpoca Mtn(CR) and Tombstone Mtn(R) in the back
View north-northwest to Mt Burns with Bluerock Mtn to its right, Elpoca Mtn(L) and Tombstone Mtn(CL) to its left in the distance
View north with Bluerock Mtn to the left, Prairie and Moose Mountains in the far right
Can barely see Calgary downtown
A closeup of Junction Mtn to the southeast
Pyriform Mtn to the southeast
Highwood Peak to the southwest
Mist Mtn to the west
Storm Mtn to the west
Mt Rae to the northwest
Mt Sir Douglas(L) and Elpoca Mtn(CR) in the background
Zooming in on Tombstone Mtn
Mt Burns to the northwest
Bluerock Mtn in this angle looks unfamiliar
A pano (E-S-W) from the top of Shunga-la-she
Zooming in on Mt Burns
Leaving the summit by retracing our steps to the intersection of the higher unnamed peak
Descending the gully to the left/south of our ascent ridge
Traversing the mix of scree and slab slope on the right side of the gully
Looking back on the way down the gully
This scree gully brought us to a not-so-pleasant drainage that sometimes forced us to bushwhack on the right/east side of it
Undesirable dense bushwhacking
This waterfall blocking our way down
Traversing above the drainage to bypass the waterfall
Looking a way back to the drainage
Looking back to the waterfall
Trudging down the drainage
Back on the Sheep River Trail here
Going back to the car
The end.
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