There are a set of recreational trails on the east side of the Rocky Mountain Trench southeast of Invermere.   The Swansea Mountain Recreational area has hiking trails, mountain bike trails, and a base for paragliding and hang gliding using the Swansea Forest Service Road.   We hiked from the lowest parking area to the summit of the mountain, a round trip distance of 11.25 km with a climb of 824 m (2703 ft.).   We chose the steep route to the top up the bluffs and looped back on a more gradual route by the Ridge Trail.

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From the open ridge on the west side of the mountain we had views over to Windermere Lake with the Purcell Ranges beyond.

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In early May wildflowers were blooming along the way.

 

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The mountains on both sides of the Columbia Valley were still blanketed in snow but most of Mount Swansea at 1675 m (5500 ft) was dry, except for lingering snow drifts on the sheltered northeast summit area.   We had to carefully make our way down on icy trails to wind down the north side,

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On the Swansea Ridge Trail we had views to the north toward Radium and beyond to the wide Columbia River Valley surrounded by the Dogtooth Range on the west and the Beaverfoot Range on the east side.

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Mount Swansea makes a good early season summit hike when the higher mountains are still shrouded in snow.  We were able to avoid the mountain bike traffic by picking steep hiker-only routes up and down.

Our plan is to head back to the Radium area in September to hike some of the higher mountain routes in the Rockies and the Purcells,