Arethusa Cirque

July 19, 2021. A hike with kids to a picturesque cirque near the Highwood Pass. Region: Kananaskis Country. Traditional territory of the Tsuu T’ina, Stoney Ktunaxa, and Blackfoot First Nations Distance: 4.9 km loop Elevation Gain: 270 m Elevation of Objective: 2427 m Total Time: 2h 31m There are 3 cirques clustered around the Highwood […]

Rawson Lake

February 8, 2020. A popular all-season hike to a gorgeous lake in Kananaskis Country. Distance: 7 km round-trip to and from the nearest part of the lake Total Ascent: 292 m Elevation of Objective: 1997 m Total time: 2h I have visited Rawson Lake a few times over the years. It’s the first “real” hike that my wife and […]

Troll Falls & Marmot Creek Upper Falls

February 7, 2020. A trip to K-country’s most famous accessible waterfall, followed by an exploration of a new trail to the less frequently visited Upper Falls. Region: Kananaskis Country. Traditional territory of the Stoney-Nakoda, Ktunaxa, and Blackfoot First Nations. Distance: 5.4 km round-trip Total Ascent: 100 m Elevation of Objective: 1,538 m Hiking time: 1h 30m Virtually every hiking […]

Headwall Lakes

July 22, 2019. A fantastic Kananaskis hike featuring high mountain lakes and waterfalls. Distance: 15.9 km round-trip* Elevation Gain: 475 m Elevation of Objective: 2350 m Hiking time: 5h 46m *The 3 apps I was running to track this hike gave 3 different values for the distance. This was what my Garmin InReach tracked. Published trail descriptions give a […]

Pocaterra Cirque

July 21, 2019. A hike with kids to a lovely but lesser-visited cirque just across the highway from one of K-country’s most heavily trafficked trails. Distance: 3.67 km one-way Total Ascent: 415 m Elevation of Objective: 2435 m Hiking time: 2h 13m ascent Pocaterra Cirque is accessed from the same trailhead as the massively popular Ptarmigan Cirque, but draws […]

Sarrail Falls and Hidden Lake

July 20, 2019. A rainy day hike hike to one of Kananaskis Country’s most popular waterfalls and one of its lesser-visited lakes. Distance: 1.1 km one-way to Sarrail Falls; 6.1 km one-way to Hidden Lake (this seems to be the distance most closely matching the Gem Trek map, another app on my phone said it was […]

Guinn’s Pass via Galatea Creek

August 22, 2018. A long hike in smoky weather to a picturesque pass in Kananaskis Country. Distance: 19.2 km round trip Total ascent: 991 m Elevation of objective: 2443 m Hiking time: 5h 49m I had a free day to go hiking without the kids during our Kananaskis vacation, so I decided to explore the Galatea […]

Black Prince Cirque

August 21, 2018. A short hike with kids to a rocky cirque in Kananaskis Country. With summer holidays approaching their conclusion, the family and I have once again had a chance to spend a few days in K-country. Looking over our hiking options, it struck me that over the preceding years we’d hit most of […]

Grass Pass to “Sheep Summit”

January 5, 2018. A solo, moderately challenging snowshoe trip to an unnamed high point in the Highwood region of Kananaskis Country. Southern Alberta is about one week out from its most recent major snow dump. I spent most of December 30, 2017 shovelling snow off various driveways. Actually, I can’t ever remember spending so much […]

Chester Lake & Three Lakes Valley

July 10, 2017. A solo hike to high mountain lakes in Kananaskis country. Region: Kananaskis Country. Traditional Territory of the Stoney, Tsuu T’ina, Ktunaxa, and Blackfoot First Nations Distance: 15.6 km round-trip Total Ascent: 600 m Elevation of Objective: 2460 m Total Time: 4h 31m This post was updated July 27, 2021 with some map improvements to more closely match […]