The Ya Ha Tinda Ranch is located some 60 km west of Sundre, about a 2.5 hour drive NW of Calgary. It is by far not as popular as most other regions in the southern Canadian Rockies, which is in part due to 1) less convenient access as compared to Banff etc. (access is via a small gravel road), and 2) less publicity and information available on this area. Recently, more and more scramblers have been documenting trips to this area, so things are slowly changing.
It’s a lovely area, far from the maddening crowds, and you’ll often have it all to yourself. There are a number of easy ascents near the road that are thoroughly enjoyable, not least for their short approach route and almost complete lack of bushwhacking. Other mountains are more difficult to access and involve either a chilly river crossing or a lengthy hike or bicycle ride deeper into the backcountry. The area also appears to enjoy unusually mild winter weather, with many peaks and ridges snow-free and in condition before the rest of the Rockies.
Restricted access to the Ya Ha Tinda Ranch: Note that public access to the ranch buildings is not allowed anymore. This means that you cannot walk or bike through the ranch complex (starting at the gate at the end of the gravel road, ca. 3 km NW of Bighorn Campground), even if you’re just passing through. Objectives like Scalp Peak, Skeleton Mountain, or Hat Mountain can be approached via the Old Forestry Road, the trail that starts directly north of the parking area by Bighorn Campground. This trail also passes by Bighorn Falls, which is worth visiting as well.
Parking at Ya Ha Tinda: Within the bounds of the Ya Ha Tinda Ranch area, the only public parking is the small lot across from the Bighorn Campground.
For more information please see Parks Canada Ya Ha Tinda Ranch.
Barrier Mountain 9 October 2017 With Richard We awoke well-rested after a quiet but chilly night in our little tent at camp. It had been an enjoyable outing on Gable Mountain the previous day and we were ready and eager to go exploring again. The creek had frozen over during the night so we had to use an […]
Blue Hill Lookout Ya Ha Tinda, AB, Canada 8 December 2019 Solo Boring forest walk but decent Plan B I knew this wasn’t going to be a very exciting outing but I was left with little choice. After discovering that more than 20 cm of fresh snow was covering the Panther Road, I was unable […]
Cutoff Peak (attempt) Ya Ha Tinda, AB, Canada 26 January 2020 With Richard Terrific ridgewalk that ends so close to the summit! This was an exploratory trip to an area we had never been to before – the Cutoff Creek area with its horse and OHV trails located north of the Ya Ha Tinda ranch. Only […]
Dormer Mountain 14 September 2016 Solo Dormer Mountain can be seen from many peaks in the Ya Ha Tinda area and its steep east face is easily recognizable, making this a prominent landmark but one that is very rarely ascended. I could not find any route information or previous trip reports, which of course sometimes is part […]
Eagle Mountain 1 August 2016 With Trevor & Richard Like neighboring Maze Peak, Eagle Mountain is a perfect introduction to the beautiful Ya Ha Tinda area west of Sundre. The trailhead is easy to find (Eagle Lake parking lot), there’s a very good approach trail, and the mountain itself is hardly more than a strenuous hike, interspersed higher up […]
Evangeline Peak & Poplar Peak Ya Ha Tinda, Canada 26 February 2016 Solo A fantastic ridgewalk at Ya Ha Tinda Since Vern and Steven published their trip reports on Evangeline and Poplar (Rum Ridge), many people have followed in their footsteps to do this fabulous outing, including myself. And for good reason – in my opinion this is […]
Gable Mountain 9 October 2017 With Richard Combining Gable Mountain with Barrier Mountain for a short weekend getaway in the Ya Ha Tinda area was a trip that Richard and I had been keen to do for a long time now. Somehow, our plans were always put off… either by lack of time, lack of decent weather, or […]
Hat Mountain 5 May 2017 With Wen Some trips take a LOT more time and energy than they should and today this is exactly what happened. Hat Mountain, also referred to as The Hat or Sheep Mountain, is a relatively minor high point just above the Ya Ha Tinda ranch. There are a number of good horse trails that […]
JI Mountain Ya Ha Tinda, AB, Canada 19 January 2020 With Trevor Walking on the frozen Panther River Trevor and I have crossed many frozen-over creeks and rivers before, but neither of us have ever hiked on top of a frozen river for a significant distance. This was to be the special appeal of today’s […]
Labyrinth Mountain & Mount Minos 12 March 2016 With Priyesh Our original objective for today was Wapiti Mountain, which is best done using a bike for the approach due to the total length of the route (52 km using the route by Steve Song, potentially only 30 km using an alternate route we wanted to scout out). But when we arrived […]
Limestone Mountain (Sundre) 22 January 2017 With Richard Our original objective for today was Onion Peak in the Ram Range, which we had to drop due to poor road conditions on the last 54 km stretch to Ram Falls, where the road is unmaintained. Not wanting to risk getting stuck in the middle of nowhere, we opted for Plan […]
Maze Peak 5 December 2015 With Elias, Marcelina, Priyesh, Sarvan and Wen This was our first time to the Ya Ha Tinda area, which we thought was a long and boring drive away (Google says something like 3.5 to 4 hours from Calgary!), but we made it in about 2.5 hours there and 2 hours back. What really […]
Otuskwan Peak 19 September 2017 Solo Otuskwan Peak is located in a seldom visited area west of Sundre and probably does not rate very highly on most people’s to-do list. Just about the only reports available online are of an ascent in October 2013 by Steven Song, Ben Nearingburg and Eric Coulthard – but tales of an […]
Scalp Peak 22 November 2016 Solo There are mountains that require very little effort for a lot of fun in return. And then there are those where the opposite is the case. Scalp Peak was, unfortunately, in the latter category. I had hoped for a snow-free approach, but there was a thin layer of snow covering the approach trail […]
The Diamond Ya Ha Tinda, AB, Canada 23 November 2019 With Trevor & Richard Pleasant hike on an unknown ridge This long, almost straight NE-SW trending ridge has caught my eye on several occasions in the Ya Ha Tinda area. It’s treed almost all the way to the top, but the gently undulating crest […]
Wapiti Mountain 24 July 2016 Solo At just over 3000 m, Wapiti Mountain is one of the highest in the Ya Ha Tinda area and forms one of the two “pillars” (together with Warden Rock) of the entrance gate to Banff National Park. I had come across a couple of trip reports by two different parties (including the […]
Warden Rock 1 May 2016 Solo Warden Rock is yet another destination in the Ya Ha Tinda area that has become quite popular (relatively speaking!) after the publication of trip reports on various websites, with a number of meetup groups and individuals recently scrambling up this landmark peak on the eastern border of Banff National Park. None […]