Coral Ridge Hike

Trailhead: Park at the Coral Creek parking lot located on the north side of the Cline River near Abraham Lake next next to the David Thompson Highway. 196kms west of Rocky Mountain House. 4.5 hour drive from Edmonton, 3.5 hours from Calgary. If you’re traveling from Calgary the route through the National Parks is shorter than heading through Rocky Mountain House.

Description: Follow a well worn horse trail west that runs parallel to the Cline River for approximately 4kms. For better views you can hike along the top of the Cline River gorge until you reach the Coral Creek lookout. Both trails will end up at the Coral Creek junction.

Once you reach Coral Creek keep going past the lookout on your left until you arrive at the top of a short incline. Find the trail on your right just before the main trail starts to descend steeply down again towards Coral Creek. It took me a couple of attempts to find my way until I realized there is no defined trail other then keep going up. Coral Ridge see’s only a few hikers each season.

Work your way up over several grass covered ledges while staying right towards the south face of Coral Ridge. Along the way you’ll locate a hint of a trail here and there however expect some bushwhacking. Continue on until you reach the top of the south ridge. From the ridge the going gets much easier.

Views of the Cline River valley below you will recharge your enthusiasm for the final grind to the top of Coral Ridge. Follow the ridge east then start climbing an open scree slope that supposedly holds coral fossils. I spent several hours scouring the ridge for fossils and only found a couple that were of very poor quality.

To my surprise, near the ridge top you’ll find a large memorial bolted to the rock face that is dedicated to Henry Stelfox. There is really no trail to get to this point so finding a substantial memorial did seem somewhat unusual. Views from the top of the ridge towards Abraham Lake and the valley below are absolutely stunning. One can understand why they placed Mr. Stelfox’s memorial at this location. You are in bear country

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