Oh, Mike Potter. The hiking author who goes where others decline to tread. I remember a conversation overheard by old school friend Dan Malcolm, back in England. Paraphrased, it went something like, 'Oh, hey have you been hiking?'.'Yeah'.
'Cool, we did the Langdale Round. It was awesome'.
'Well I [blows out chest] went Ridge Walking'
It appears that Ridge Walking is indeed a sport apart. I hadn't learned my lesson from following Potter's debatably pleasurable route on Hell's Ridge last year, although the unmoving body on the other side of the bed this morning indicated that my wife clearly had no such problem. So Jason Bazinet and I headed to Starbuck's, from where, fortified by Cherry Mocha (weird stuff), we hit K Country.
I probably shouldn't describe the route, in case someone wants to go do it. Well maybe it's not such a bad hike really, although the views are pretty sparse, even with the trees still stripped for winter. We saw a couple of bald eagles - from the car, near my house -plus a mouse, a squirrel, and a lot of moose shit. And elk shit. And horse shit. And cow shit. The first section is OK once you find the route from the car (ignore the guidebook and start from the K Country sign, bearing right up the embankment behind it on a well defined path). After that you give up all your height, possibly terminally if the path is icy, and then regain it. Then you get a view, before the forest swallows you whole.
The first ridge is forested, but more of a woodland wander than a ridge walk. The descent to the saddle is rather more woody, in that twigs-down-your-neck way that this part of the Rockies specialises in.
The return is more pleasant, other than a nasty-looking bog which extends for about 300 m, but was, fortunately, still frozen. At this point we gave up on the official trail and took a cut through the corner of the neighbouring ranch (possible without climbing fences). The hike is about 8 km and takes around 3 hours, including route finding and bushwhacking.
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