Strawberry Hills

Kananaskis, AB, Canada

7 March 2021

With Richard

Easy winter hillwalking

The Strawberry Hills have never been high on my to-do list, but I think they deserve more attention as a winter/early season trip idea. Richard and I quite enjoyed this hike and we actually were a lot more tired at the end of it than we had anticipated, mostly because of super strong winds whipping us around on the upper ridges.

The approach via the trail on the north side of Coyote Hills avoids having to cross the Highwood River (the second approach is from the Fitzsimmons Creek parking lot). It’s mostly a plod through the forest, with the exception of a large clearing that grants a very picturesque view of Junction Hill with beaver dams of the Highwood River in the foreground. This trail is fairly popular with hikers and we were glad to hike on compacted snow instead of breaking trail.

There are many possible routes to the various high points of the Strawberry Hills, none of them with actual trails but all easy. We went up the broad east ridge and traversed over four little high points, the last one being the true summit. One stretch of forest on the way up the second high point slowed us down with knee-deep snow, then there was another patch of soft snow to get up to the final top. Everything else was lovely hiking on mostly open grassy slopes.

After huddling in a semi-sheltered spot away from the fierce winds near the summit we made our way down the open south ridge back to the trail along Fitzsimmons Creek and closed the loop.

Elevation:

1961 m

Elevation gain:

710 m

Time:

5 h

Distance:

14.6 km

Difficulty level:

Easy (Kane), T2 (SAC)

Reference:

Daffern

Personal rating:

3 (out of 5)

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The Strawberry Hills as seen from the bridge over the High River on Hwy 933.
The initial approach in the forest.
Heading up the eastern slopes.
Great views of Holy Cross Mountain further east.
Mount McPhail on the Continental Divide.
The Coyote Hills are to the south.
No snowshoes needed today despite quite a bit of snow on east-facing slopes.
Gently rolling hills make for easy hiking terrain.
Walking up to one of several summits.
Looking SE towards Highwood Junction, Coyote Hills on the right.
K-Country Front Ranges to the east.
This is another smaller hill that stands separate to the north. The rounded snow-covered bump in the back is The Hill of the Flowers.
Mount Armstrong (R) and Mount McPhail make a terrific backdrop to the walk up the main summit.
We headed a little further north to find a sheltered spot to take a break.
This is as far as we got. You could easily continue further north, but the snow cover was pretty thick here.
Heading down the south spur.
A nice view of Junction Hill on the way back.