Boring Art, Boring Life: Minnas Ridge, Hiking around the backside of Cokely, Arrowsmith and Mt. Moriarty.
Minnas Ridge, Hiking around the backside of Cokely, Arrowsmith and Mt. Moriarty.
Saturday, 13th of September turned out to be an amazing day!
The Ramblers and several guest hikers comprised a group of thirteen for the hike along Minnas Ridge. We ventured out on this sunny day to visit Minnas Ridge, located south of Mt Cokely, Mt Arrowsmith and west of Mt. Moriarty. From the ridge it is easy to see man's impact on the back country, including roads cutting through the mountainside
Total Horizontal Distance: 10.4 km
Total Time: 6 hours 30 minutes
Total Elevation Gain: 844 m
Max Elevation: 1431 m
Starting Elevation: 879m
Many of the hikers rendezvoused at Chapters at 730 am with a secondary stop off point at the Whisky Creek Co-op to pick up Dean and Christine. We were on our way to the Cameron Main turnoff, found near the top of the hump on the Alberni Highway (HWY 4)
The weather was excellent, warm but not scalding. We made our ascent to the ridge easily, the slope was quite gentle and gained the ridge by eleven thirty. Once on the ridge there was only one significant drop in elevation which is quickly regained, before hiking the remainder of the ridge.
A long train of hikers!
The ridge is around 1350 m, the sub alpine terrain is an ambling but easy to walk to the end of the ridge. There is an abundance of vegetation including stunted hemlock and low-bush alpine blueberry. The route is not always obvious but the ridge provides a strong general idea of where to go. The route rolled up and down, never exceeding class two, easy hiking.
The surrounding hills and peaks are great to view as the route meanders around a variety of medium sized tarns. We arrived at the end of the ridge around twelve fifteen. We ate lunch and enoyed the warm sun and cool views. A few of us even had a relaxing snooze. Before long we were leaving the end of the ridge behind.
On our way back we stopped at at a tarn where several of the hikers stripped down to their undies an dove into the cool waters of a medium sized tarn. The water was cool, possibly even cold but certainly not frigid.
After a quick dip we were back on the route and heading back to the car. We backtracked our route and arrived at the car around three forty-five.
Considering the range of skill and ages between the 13 hikers, we made excellent time on this trip.
