Porcupine Ridge Hike

Where:

• Porcupine Ridge

 

When:

• December 7, 2024

 

Who:

• Ed, Oak, Peter, Erin, Neil, Roger

 

Trailhead:

• the trailhead is 15 km south of Highway 1 on Highway 40
• you can either park in the ditch on the left-hand side of the road before the creek or on the right-hand side of the road
• the trailhead starts out along the north (left) side of Porcupine Creek
• when you come to the bridge, you can go along the left side of the creek or cross the bridge and up the right side of the creek
• both sides present different challenges depending on the water level, as we had to do three creek crossings (six counting the return journey) on rocks and logs and I fell off the first set of logs, and some others fell off the rocks
• after a flat walk and just past the climber’s cliffs where the creek splits, you climb the mountain between the two creeks
• look for pink ribbons as the trail can be hard to follow until your break out onto the ridge

 

 

Degree of difficulty:

• 700 meters of elevation to Porcupine Ridge but we only went 550 meters
• 7 km out and back to the final ridge before you ascend to Porcupine Ridge
• steep incline once you leave the creekbed and some scrambling, especially on the upper section, which was tricky with some snow and ice
• there are some slabby sections just above the creek and near the summit, but they are manageable, and the trail is well defined
• the hike took us three and a half hours

 

 

Interesting notes:

• the views are limited while you climb through the forest, but then you break out to panoramic 360-degree vistas
• one side of the ridge (south) is bordered by Wasootch Creek and the other side (north) by Midnight Peak and the Mount Baldy range
• there are beautiful views of Mount McDougall, Mount Bryant, Mount Baldy, Boundary Ridge, Mount Allan, Mount Collembola, Midnight Peak and Mount Lorette
• Porcupine Ridge is presumably named for the shape of the three peaks at the summit