Cox Hill Ridge Hike

Where:

• Cox Hill Ridge

 

When:

• March 12, 2022

 

Who:

• Ed, Dave, Geoff, Lynn, Bailey, Craig, Oak, Peter, Kirk, Roger, Erin, Ian

 

Trailhead:

• coming from Calgary, take highway 68 (Sibbald Flats) south at the east side of Scott Lake Hill
• follow 68 south and southwest for about 20 minutes until reaching Powderface Trail
• turn south (left) and drive a short distance to reach the Dawson Equestrian Center
• from the parking lot, find the Tom Snow Trail near the entrance and follow it down to Jumpingpound Creek, where you’ll see plenty of evidence of the 2013 floods
• cross the river and look for the sign that says Coxhill Ridge Trail
• follow this trail all the way to the summit
• it’s steep and not that interesting early on, but eventually, you break out of the trees, and though it’s still steep going, at least the scenery is interesting

 

 

Degree of difficulty:

• 725 meters elevation to the first plateau
• 13 km round trip
• 4 hours and 15 minutes total time on the trail
• on this day, it was challenging due to wind drifted snow along certain parts of the trail and especially just below the summit

 

 

Interesting notes:

• the trail offers views of Moose Mountain, Hunchback Hills, and the Kananaskis range of mountains
• from the summit, you can connect to the Jumpingpound Ridge trail, which makes for a long hike, so it would be best to leave vehicles at either end (this is only possible in the summer due to a winter road closure)
• you can also connect to the Lusk Pass trail that takes you down near Barrier Lake on Highway 40
• Cox Hill’s proper name is Cocks-comb Hill, named after its fringe of a summit rock by surveyor A.O. Wheeler who climbed it in 1895
• the Stoney’s have their own name, which is Zotha Odabi  Baha or ‘many marmots hill’