Wheeler Bluffs is prime destination for a hike, but all routes to the top of the cliffs are long. We sometimes come up from the Tranquille area by following the road from the Mara Trailhead to Pruden Pass and then up the Wheeler Mountain Road. We have also come from Lac du Bois and from Mara Mountain, but all of …Continue reading…
Some background: Pruden Pass is the gap between Mara Mountain and Wheeler Mountain. The first homesteader in the area was a man named Wheeler in 1876. Under the Dominion Lands Act of 1872, lands were made available for homesteading. Some of the next homesteaders of the area were the Prudens (1912), the Masseys, the Harris’s, and the Damgaards. A school …Continue reading…
From Lac du Bois we hiked south along the Upper Grasslands Track past rolling hills and ponds to the (unsigned) Wheeler Mountain Road, along the double track for about 2 km, then onto a side track bearing north to the fenceline, down the fenceline corridor to Hanging Valley, then back up the double track to Lac du Bois, an 8.8 …Continue reading…
I led a small group on a complicated route above Pruden Pass. We parked at the end of the Pruden Pass Road and went up the northeast flank of Mara Mountain, working our way to the southwest summit where we had our first break. We followed an old double track down the northwest side of Mara to Massey Lake, then …Continue reading…
When the south-facing hills start to dry out, we look for scenic routes through the hills. On this mid-March day we hiked up the Pruden Pass Road from the Mara Trail(head), then took side routes out to the Guardsmen Overlook, Panorama Point, and Moby Dick before returning to the double track back to the parking area. We climbed up the …Continue reading…
We hiked from the Mara Trailhead near Tranquille up the old double track to Pruden Pass, then turned north onto the Wheeler Mountain Road. The road climbs steeply then at about 1 km up, an older-yet hard-to-see double track angles west and after about one more kilometer arrives near the top of Wheeler Bluffs. We stopped there for lunch and …Continue reading…
A loop route over the hill of Wheeler Mountain and back through Hanging Valley is a nice 7.75 km hike in the grasslands and forest. We followed the double track south from Lac du Bois, then at a clear junction climbed up the muddy double track onto a low shoulder of Wheeler Mountain. Some fall colours still remained around the …Continue reading…
We hike into Hanging Valley year round. The route starts in Lac du Bois Provincial Park right at Lac du Bois. We follow the gated (Nature Conservancy) double track along the north side of the lake as it goes through a pass between Wheeler Mountain and Opax Mountain. After 1.3 km, the track emerges into Hanging Valley which was homesteaded …Continue reading…
When we hike in the hills above Tranquille Creek, the bluffs on the west side of Wheeler Mountain invite exploration. The lava cliffs rise in stages but the most interesting section has 300 foot cliffs facing southwest. We followed backroads and then worked our way over to the foot of the bluffs. The route is off-trail and a slow-going traverse. …Continue reading…
Mount Wheeler is the middle mountain in a the north-south series (Opax, Wheeler, Mara) dividing the grasslands from the Tranquille River Valley. There are two main routes up and over the mountain, from Pruden Pass on the south side and from Lac du Bois on the northeast. We have run, biked, hiked, scrambled, and snowshoed on Wheeler, but for this …Continue reading…