Sheep River Valley

The Sheep River is on the south end of Kananaskis Country, whereas yesterday's location is further north and west, maybe 25 km away as the crow flies.  There is a highway here above the river on the right - and it is closed.  In fact the highway at yesterdays location was closed  too.  Why?  They are closed in the winter to take pressure off the wildlife and give them access to water and food in the valleys.  They will open again in May.

Today we walked a kilometer and a half along the closed highway to get to the trailhead and took the Foran Grade Trail.  From there we looped back along the Windy Point Trail to the Sheep Trail which follows the river.  The loop itself is 6.4 km so the total including the closed road was between 9 and 10 km.  The elevation gain is around 225 m.

The ridge in the picture on the upper right is Windy Point.  This area has a lot of sheep and there was sign, but unfortunately we didn't get to see any.  The temperature was up around 12 deg C today - over 50 deg F and a very nice day.