Forgetmenot Ridge & Mountain

Kananaskis, AB, Canada

12 October 2021 

Solo



Nice off-season ridge walk 

 

Forgetmenot is the memorable name of a significant foothills promontory in the Elbow Falls area of Kananaskis west of Bragg Creek. I’m not sure why there is a “Forgetmenot Ridge” and a “Forgetmenot Mountain” shown separately on maps – this is really just one big broad hill that offers some good opportunities for off-season hiking. 

Late summer or fall is probably the best time to do this trip as the Little Elbow River can then be rock-hopped or will be bone-dry as was the case today. This is also a good one to do with some snow around since it’s pretty popular and there will most likely be other people packing the trail for you before you arrive. 

I followed my line on the map and quickly found the steep trail up the NW side of the mountain (route marked by cairns and initially also by orange metal tags). It’s steepish at the beginning but the trail is very good and eventually eases off to a gentler grade. I was surprised how quickly I reached the ridge top which offers beautiful views of Front Range classics such as Nihahi Ridge, Mount Remus and Mount Glasgow. 

There is an optional detour to the north summit of the ridge but I decided to forego that today and continued straight south along the broad ridge, via a short steepish and rocky section, to the first high point labelled “Forgetmenot Ridge” on all the online maps I’ve seen. Most people turn around here and head back the same way. I continued down grassy slopes and the occasional rocky stretch to a gentle saddle that then slowly rises to the summit of “Forgetmenot Mountain” at the southern end of the massif. Interestingly, the latter is actually 9 m lower in elevation (2325 m) than the previous ridge highpoint (2334 m), at least according to my GPS. 

Instead of backtracking along the ridge, I decided to make a loop today and descend along a faint trail down the south slopes to a wide grassy plateau. A good horse trail can be found here that winds its way down to Threepoint Creek, makes a sharp turn west, and slowly climbs to the creek’s headwaters. Here, I joined Threepoint Mountain Trail which runs north and eventually brings you back to the Harold Chapman footbridge over the Elbow River by the campground. 

I found Forgetmenot Ridge/Mountain to be a nice hike but nothing special overall. The loop is nice for variety and you won’t see another soul on the south side of the mountain and Threepoint Mountain Trail. On the other hand that last stretch is pretty boring as it’s all in the trees. 

 

Elevation:

2334 m 

Elevation gain:

1160 m 

Time:

7.5 h 

Distance: 

26.0 km

Difficulty level:

Easy (Kane), T2 (SAC) 

Activity:

Hiking  

Reference:

Local maps; Gillean Daffern’s Kananaskis Country Trail Guide Vol. 2 & 4 

Personal rating:

3 (out of 5) 



 

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Morning view from the footbridge over the Little Elbow River: Mount Glasgow (centre), Garriochmill Peak and North Glasgow Peak (R).
Lots of well-signed trails in the area.
A metal marker guides hikers across the dried out Elbow River bed.
The trail first climbs along a former seismic line.
This metal tag is evidence of the former seismic line. It reads: “J.R.S., Permit 523, LN 71-27, SP 594, ID 69 0047”.
There is a good view of the entire loop route around Glasgow North to Garriochmill from here. It goes up the treed rib on the right, traverses along the ridge and across the notch to the left, heads up to Garriochmill Peak and then comes back down the rib in the left of the photo.
Banded Peak
The foothills to the east: Powderface Ridge (L), Prairie Mountain and Ben’s Hill (centre), Mustang Hills (centre middle), Iyarhe Ipan and Swaney’s Ridge (R).
Close-up of the rocky ridge that forms Iyarhe Ipan, with the Mustang Hills in the foreground.
A trail leading up some grassy slopes of Powderface Ridge.
On towards the ridge top.
The broad, wind-swept top of Forgetmenot Ridge.
A group of hikers follow my tracks. Moose Mountain in the background.
Looking north along the broad ridge.
The city of Calgary can be seen in the plains to the east.
Close-up of Calgary high rises.
At the summit cairn of Forgetmenot Ridge.
Conglomerate everywhere up here!
View north towards Forgetmenot Mountain.
It’s all easy hiking up here.
Looking back at the high point of Forgetmenot Ridge.
The Front Ranges form a pretty dramatic backdrop.
Banded Peak
Mount Glasgow
Mount Cornwall
Mount Romulus (centre) and Mount Remus (R).
At the summit of Forgetmenot Mountain.
Allsmoke Mountain in the the mostly forested foothills further east.
Nice open terrain on my descent route down the south side of the mountain.
And a good trail that can be followed most of the way.
The trail along Threepoint Creek.
At the junction with Threepoint Mountain trail.
A look at Nihahi Ridge on my way back.

In this section

Kananaskis Allsmoke Mountain Ben’s Hill Blue Ridge Bluerock Mountain Bull Creek Hills Cat Creek Hills & Stony Ridge Channel Ridge Commonwealth Peak Compression Ridge Cox Hill Coyote Hills Cummings Ridge East End of Rundle Etherington-Baril Ridge (Three Cairns) Forgetmenot Ridge & Mountain Gilligan Peak Glasgow North & Garriochmill Peak Green Mountain Gunnery Mountain Ha Ling Peak & Miner’s Peak Hailstone Butte, Sentinel Peak & Iron Creek Mountain Heart Mountain Hell’s Ridge Highwood Peak Hill of the Flowers Holy Cross Mountain Hood, Mount Horton Hill & Horton Ridge Iyarhe Ipan, Swany’s Ridge & Quirk Ridge Jumpingpound Mountain Kidd South, Mount Link Hill & Vents Ridge Little Lougheed Lookout Range to Mount Burke Lusk Ridge Mesa Butte Missinglink Mountain Mist Mountain Mist Ridge Moose Mountain Mount Barwell Mount Bogart Mount Bryant Mount Burns East Peak Mount Denny & Mount Potts Mount Dyson Mount Evan-Thomas Mount French & Mount Jellicoe Mount Head Mount Howard Mount James Walker Mount Lorette & Skogan Peak Mount Lougheed I Mount Mann Mount McPhail Mount Muir Mount Quirk Mount Remus Mustang Hills Odlum Ridge Old Baldy Mountain Opal Ridge South Opal Ridge Traverse Packenham Junior Pasque Mountain Pigeon Mountain Pocaterra Ridge Powderface Ridge Powderface Ridge (south route) Prairie Mountain Raspberry Ridge Red Peak Red Ridge Running Rain Peak & Mount Odlum Serendipity Peak & Patterson’s Peak Seventy Buck & Eagle Hill Ship’s Prow Mountain Shunga-la-she & Jägermeister Peak Snow Peak Storelk Mountain Strawberry Hills The Orphan Tower, The Volcano Ridge Wasootch Peak Traverse Wasootch Ridge Windtower Windy Point Ridge & Gleason Ridge Yates Mountain Zephyr Creek Hills

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