Swansea Mountain Ashby Ascent and Loop

June 04, 2022

In late May, we attended a meeting of the Summit Trail Makers Society. The mostly elderly members of this society build and maintain trails in the East Kootenay region. A number of the original members were being honoured at the event. John Ashby was one, the first president of the organisation who that position for a number of years and a role in the society for 19. Now, he was not a young man as he retired in 1998 and started the Society in 2001 so he was well into his 80s when he accepted this award at the ceremony. Bottom line, we felt we should make the ascent.

Stats - 12.6 kilometers - Elevation gain - 877 metres.

Trail - Of moderate difficulty except for the Ashby Ascent which is very steep. Dusty in places where bikes and hikers shared trails. Fortunately, not many bikes on the trail. The ascent is steep and long, at least for us. The descent was long and my toes were feeling the forward squish on every step.

Vegetation - Near the top, some of the populars still hadn't leafed out. Some tiny yellow flowers that Nicola couldn't identify. Vivid green lichen attached to the sides of standing deadfall not easily visible in the photo below.

People met - Up the Ashby Ascent, we heard a guy approaching from below. For some reason, he was blowing out with a heavy whoosh on every breath. I thought at first he was jogging but he took so long to catch us I knew that wasn't possible. When he did overtake us, he complained that this was his first hike in the area that year and he should have picked the longer, more moderate trail to the peak that's longer with a more modest incline. He said he'd hiked on the Baja Peninsula in Mexico where he spent his winters. Nicola asked if it was hot. He said, oh yah, 30 degrees. She agreed that was hot. Despite his complaints, he could have been any age between 45 and 60 although the way he talked about the 70s, maybe older.

We also saw a family of three. One on the back of Mom and Dad and what looked like a girl of five or six walking. They were about half-way up the hill and I was a tad sceptical they'd make it the whole way but what do I know?

After trail drink - on patio of the Windermere Golf Course. Served by an athletic young lady who'd said she'd been up Swansea Mountain earlier in the day, hiking or on bike she didn't say. She said she'd seen a bear which had been scary especially because she was alone and didn't have bear spray. Then her car wouldn't start after she'd returned. Quite a morning.

The restaurant at the golf course had been taken over by a couple who'd recently emigrated from Mexico and were famous for their food in a location next to the Centex Gas Station down the road. They'd advertised their Marguaritas on Facebook which Nicola had seen and wanted to try. Despite seeing various Fernie beers on tap, I too ordered one at the counter outside and then retreated to our table on the deck. We waited and waited and when Nicola was off in the washroom, the girl brought out drinks out and said that nobody at the restaurant knew how to make a Marguarita so they'd YouTubed it. She hoped it was good but she would remake it if it was not to our liking. Or course, we weren't going to complain (At least not to her.) Nicola said she couldn't taste any Tequila. I had to admit, I didn't either. It was basically a lime slushy, light on the lime. When she asked how it was, I said, "okay." I couldn't really blame her except to say that she could have told us that they weren't available today. (I don't think she wanted to disappoint.)