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A Day Trip of Well Site and Hat (IG22) Mountain
Timestamp Free: 2021.01.26 - 22:54:46
Ranges: North America Ranges / Rocky Mountains / Canadian Rockies / Continental Ranges / Front Ranges
  (1 days)     Elevation Gain: 1470m
Participants: Wietse Bylsma, Vern Dewit
Difficulty: 1: Easy hiking and scrambling with some bushwhacking.
A late season trip up two easy summits in the Ya Ha Tinda Ranch.
I've biked past Well Site and Hat (Sheep) Mountain many times on route to other "more exciting" adventures in the eastern Banff Ranges along the western borders of Ya Ha Tinda such as Warden Rock, Wapiti and Tomahawk Mountain. Just in 2020 I biked past these two rather simple bumps on my way towards a 73km day trip of Mount White and Grouse Peak and then again to a ramble up McConnell Creek with ascents of Boar Station and Bellow and Howl Peaks. I have to be honest that I'm pretty sure Phil and I joked more than once, something along the lines of;

"Why would anyone ever bother with those two "peaks"?! Driving 5-6 hours round trip from YYC just to hike up a bump with no clear summit and likely very muted views? Meh."

Ah yes. Irony is a concept I'm extremely familiar with in this bizarre and strange year of the Covid. 😐 As it turns out, with my ankle still healing after a bad sprain at the end of September and an unseasonably warm November and December Well Site Mountain somehow ended up on the agenda for Wietse and I on Saturday, December 5th - Sinterklaas for all the Dutchies out there. And here I was, slogging up a front range bump that never really inspired me, even after reading others' trip reports on it.

[photo]1approachroad.jpg[caption]Hiking the ranch road towards Well Site (L) and Hat (R) mountains. At this point wishing I had my bike![/photo]

As we walked up a very dry Ya Ha Tinda Ranch Road I was far from happy. I knew that I should be biking this road rather than walking it and despite expecting a dry road, I still left the bike at home in my garage for some reason. Funny how such a simple task seems like too much on a Friday night but a few hours later I couldn't for the life of me figure out why the heck we didn't just throw...

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