Popular Day Hikes: Kananaskis Country – 2nd Edition

By Gillean Daffern

Popular Day Hikes is a series of bestselling books written for visitors and locals looking to hike scenic trails from well-established staging areas.

This new edition of Gillean Daffern’s bestselling, full-colour guidebook has been completely updated to include new trails, fresh photographs, and revised access information for one of Alberta’s favourite destinations for outdoor enthusiasts.

Located on the eastern slopes of the Canadian Rockies, Kananaskis Country is just a short drive west of Calgary. The areas of Canmore, Bow Valley, Peter Lougheed Provincial Park, Highwood, Elbow, Kananaskis Valley, Smith-Dorrien, Sheep and Jumpingpound all offer a wide range of choices for those day trippers looking for unique and irresistible views throughout this world-renowned mountain range. From easy, short day walks to ridgewalks – with a pitch or two of easy scrambling – there is something in this volume for everyone. Some of the trips included are:

Ha Ling Peak

Barrier Lake Lookout

Ribbon Falls

Upper Kananaskis Lake

Ptarmigan Cirque

Burstall Pass

Picklejar Lakes

Mount Burke

Nihahi Ridge

Each hike includes:

detailed directions to trailheads

colour maps and photographs

seasonal information

round-trip distances

trail commentary

difficulty ratings

• Language: English
• Publisher: RMB Rocky Mountain Books
• Release date: May 17, 2022
• ISBN: 9781771605526

Gillean Daffern

Gillean Daffern has been exploring Kananaskis Country for decades and understands its landscape and history intimately throughout every season of the year. She has also been writing and publishing bestselling trail guides to Kananaskis Country for over 30 years and is the author of the renowned five-volume series Gillean Daffern’s Kananaskis Country Trail Guide, which is now in its 4th edition and has sold well over 100,000 copies since it was first published in 1979. She also travels to mountain areas outside of Kananaskis Country, and in particular enjoys visiting countries off the beaten tourist path. Gillean is the co-founder of Rocky Mountain Books and, along with her husband, Tony Daffern, was awarded the Banff Mountain Festival’s Summit of Excellence Award in 2006. She lives in Calgary, Alberta.

Book preview

1 Grassi Lakes

Two exquisite blue lakes, views of mountains and waterfalls, interpretive signs and plentiful benches make this everybody’s favourite short day hike.

DISTANCE: 3.8 km return

HEIGHT GAIN: 244 m

HIGH POINT: 1670 m

FAIRLY EASY

LATE SPRING, SUMMER, FALL START: Canmore. Follow Spray Lakes Road (Hwy. 762) past the Canmore Nordic Centre. At the next road junction turn left onto a road signed Spray Residences. Turn first right into the trailhead parking lot.

COMMENTS: A good, well-marked trail to the lakes with one short moderately steep section with steps.

From the biffy a short trail leads to the TransAlta access road (alias Upper Grassi Lakes trail). Turn right. Shortly turn left off the road onto Grassi’s trail.

The trail traverses pine hillside, all the time gradually climbing. Cross a number of springs just before reaching a viewpoint with interpretive signs. Look down on Rundle Canal and across to Ha Ling Peak.

The trail turns right and zigs uphill. To your left is a view of the waterfall below Lower Grassi Lake. Higher up, the trail surmounts a weeping wall by resorting to stone steps safeguarded by a wooden railing. At the top is a bench. Another zig leads into a long traverse to the left. At its end you bridge the creek from the lower lake and join the TransAlta access road at a T-junction.

View of the waterfall from 3.

At 2 carnivorous butterworts grow in profusion around the springs.

Turn right on the road. Just before recrossing the creek, turn left onto the trail continued.

The trail follows the shoreline of the lower lake to a junction. Keep left and in a few minutes arrive at the upper lake. The trail follows the shoreline to the far end, where the good trail ends.

Return to the previous junction between the lakes. Turn left.

The trail bridges the creek between the two lakes. On your right is the plaque honouring Lawrence Grassi, who built the original trail in the 1920s. At a T-junction turn right (bench to left) and arrive back on the TransAlta access road.

To return, turn right, cross the creek, then turn next left onto Grassi’s trail.

Alternatively, on reaching the TransAlta access road you can turn left and follow it all the way out to the parking lot. It’s a boring walk in the trees, the only point of interest being the ruins of a log cabin at the halfway point.

The Steps at 3.

Lower Grassi Lake, looking toward EEOR (the East End of Rundle).

Upper Grassi Lake at 5.

View from O1 of climbers on the Golf Course, so named because of the abundance of holes in the rock.

The steps up from the canyon at O4 onto the face of Whitemans Dam.

Going Farther: to the dam

DISTANCE: add on 0.9 km return

HEIGHT GAIN: add on 90 m

A very much rougher trail up through the canyon to Whitemans Dam with steps fashioned out of rock and wood. Grades are occasionally steep and the footing loose on scree and boulders.

From the far end of upper Grassi Lake a steep climber’s trail ascends the left side of the scree chute into the canyon above.

After the trail levels, look for the large pictograph boulder on the right. The paintings of a man and a caribou are roped off and interpretive-signed.

Pick your way over rocks where you might spot a pika.

Suddenly the canyon is blocked by the earth wall of the dam. Climb steps alongside the right-hand crag, then follow the winding trail up scree to the top of the dam. Ahead is Whitemans Pond (reservoir).

Pictograph at O2 believed painted more than 1000 years ago by ancestors of the Kootenai, likely as part of a vision quest.

Oregon trail at O4. This was the route taken by early nineteenth century travellers journeying between the prairies and Oregon. From the Canmore area it climbed to Whitemans Pass, followed the Spray River a way, then crossed over White Man Pass into B.C.

In late spring, Yellow Sparrows Egg orchids grow in profusion under the powerlines.

Optional Descent: via Riders of Rohan and the powerline

DISTANCE: 3.4 km to trailhead

From the dam, Riders of Rohan trail enables you to make a 5.8 km loop back to the parking lot. The route is occasionally marked and has moderate downhill grades easing off to flat. Near the end is a short uphill climb to a powerline.

Turn left and walk along the dam. To right is Whitemans Pond and a view through the gap of the Goat Range. The road curves left past the penstock and ends.

Turn right, and on a short stretch of trail climb uphill into forest. At the T-junction with Riders of Rohan turn left. (Trail to right heads for the reservoir.)

The trail descends under the north face of Ha Ling Peak to a T-junction. Go straight. (Trail to left leads to the end of the TransAlta access road.)

Continue descending past the junction with Highline trail. The grade moderates lower down where you cross runnels of scree and it flattens out before reaching the powerline (signpost). Turn left.

Follow the powerline access road, ultimately winding down a hill to cross the bridge over Rundle Canal. To your left is the Spray hydro plant, to your right the controversial wildlife bridge. Reach the hydro plant access road.

There is the option of turning right and simply walking along the road to the parking lot. I prefer to cross the road onto a trail.

Shortly the trail joins another powerline access road. Turn left and climb straight up a steep hill to the powerline right-of-way. Turn right and follow it out to the parking lot.

2 Ha Ling Peak

A muscle-aching grind up the west slope of Ha Ling Peak, the prominent mountain overlooking Canmore and a fabulous viewpoint. From the col between Ha Ling and Miners Peak, both summits are accessible.

DISTANCE: 8 km return

HEIGHT GAIN: 810 m

HIGH POINT: 2474 m

STRENUOUS

LATE SPRING, SUMMER, FALL

START: Hwy. 742 (Smith-Dorrien/Spray Trail) at Whitemans Gap. Park in the Goat Creek parking lot just south of Whitemans Pond.

COMMENTS: In 2018/19 the Matt Hadley trail to the col superseded the old Trailminders trail that had become badly eroded. The new trail has easy switchbacks and rock steps and cable ladders up the steeper parts. The final ascent requires some route-finding on scree.

Cross the highway, walk up the signed trail to the canal, turn right and cross it via the bridge.

At the tree edge is a large boulder with plaque dedicated to the mining community that worked beneath this mountain.

The trail rolls through forest, making three long zigs. The fourth zig introduces you to yeti steps cut in a slab. After traversing a rock cut, the trail climbs more steeply to the fifth zig, which has more yeti steps. Come to a