Moose Mountain, May 2008, June 2008

From Calgary, Moose Mountain is one of the most easily recognised mountains on the skyline. It's also the closest Rocky, at about 45 km from downtown. At 7,995 ft you're right on the cusp of what might be considered a 'real mountain'. Stand on the fire lookout's helipad and you're probably just about there!

We tried Moose Mtn twice in 2008. The first trip was a little early. We post-holed for 2-3 km before giving up; it turned out that another 100 metres would probably have got us out of the woods and onto a snow-free meadow.....and we missed the chance to be the first that year to sign the summit book. We only realised this when we returned in June, when the hike was straightforward.

Most books just describe the out-and-back trail that starts high on the mountain from a gas plant road, but a look at the map shows that there are several interesting variations that might be undertaken by hike-and-bike, or on a slightly convoluted circuit.