Ford Knoll

Elevation: 1830 m
Elevation Gain: 244 m
Ford Knoll is one in a line of eight treed hills immediately east of Nihahi Ridge. These hills are comprised of cardium sandstone which persisted after surrounding shales were eroded by runoff from Nihahi’s east escarpment. The name “Ford” refers to nearby Ford Creek which flows down along the east side of the Nihahi hills into the nearby Elbow River.
My Ascents:
August 27 2022
Trailhead: Little Elbow Trailhead Parking

Daddy’s little “Penny Bear” is growing up. 🐻

As August 2022 drew to a close, big changes were in store for my Penny: She was about to turn 5 🎉; She was about to start school 📚; and, last but not least, she was about to become a big sister. With so many changes imminent, we decided to spend August’s final weekend, as we often have, celebrating Penny’s birthday with a family hiking and camping extravaganza.

Sticking close-by (in case Penny’s soon-to-be little sister decided to crash her party 👶), we secured campsites at the Little Elbow Campground and decided to spend our afternoon hiking up Ford Knoll (the treed hill on the right of the above photo).

Setting off from the Little Elbow parking lot, we ventured north and soon found the well-marked Ford Knoll loop (which we followed in a clockwise direction).

LEFT: The term “Knoll” doesn’t really sound impressive but the hike still featured its share of ups!
RIGHT: Living up to its name, the Knoll also featured an itsy bitsy river ford.

Here and there, the forest opened granting views, like this one, toward nearby Forgetmenot Ridge.

Impressive Mount Glasgow and its northern outliers make cameo appearances beyond a marshy meadow.

Looking south towards Threepoint Mountain.

More cardio? Wasn’t this just supposed to be a little Knoll? 🥵

A hillside opening provided the day’s best views towards Mount Glasgow (which I have, surprisingly, still not scrambled…).

Penny’s Grandpa, Papa and Nannie continue up into the forest above the clearing.

LEFT: A short distance below the Knoll’s high point, we found a cairned clearing which seemed as good a place as any to stop for lunch. 🥪
RIGHT: “Did someone say LUNCH?!” Crux may be getting older but he’s still a shameless beggar when it comes to hiking lunches…

The lunch clearing provided fine views west towards nearby Nihahi Ridge.

LEFT: Even Banded Peak made an appearance over Glasgow’s shoulder as the dark clouds above began to rumble and spit. ⛈️
RIGHT: Brianne and her little birthday girl enjoying the break (and a treat or two)! 🥰

Following a hearty repast, we donned our rain gear and continued up, a short distance, to the Knoll’s apex.

Not the most scenic “summit” in the Rockies but this hike was more about the company anyways. At the very least, we weren’t especially concerned about the thundering clouds overhead! 😂

What goes up the Knoll, must eventually come down the Knoll…

LEFT: Nannie stops to investigate a noise in the woods… 😮
RIGHT: … The noisemaker 🙄 (Miss Mera who decided to randomly scramble up a boulder).

After an easy (but viewless) descent, we found our way back down to the parking lot. There were a couple of problems, however:
1) This wasn’t the lot we’d parked in! This problem was, annoyingly, remedied with a 0.8 km hike west towards the lot our vehicles were actually parked in.

Problem #2: a large cow blocking the hiking trail back to our cars! After our last bovine run-in on Missinglink Mountain, we elected to give this, potentially, homicidal beast a wide berth and hiked back along the road instead of the path.

LEFT: Safely on the other side of a fence, Mera and Penny stopped to have a chat with the cow.
RIGHT: Having avoided the murderous livestock and bravely summitted the mighty Knoll, we made our way back to the campsites to begin the birthday extravaganza in earnest. 🎉

Sporting glow-in-the-dark antlers (for some reason), the Birthday Bear 🐻 readies herself for CAKE! 🎂

LEFT and RIGHT: As the sun set and the cake’s sugar hit, glow sticks were distributed and general birthday silliness ensued. Let the wild rumpus begin! 🤣

The year-to-come promises to be a busy one, full of changes. One thing that won’t change, however, is how much we love our little 5-year-old. Happy birthday Penny! ❤️🥳❤️