Easy Hikes in Peter Lougheed Provincial Park

Chester Lake, 4.0 km

Trailhead - East side of the Smith-Dorrien Trail (Road 742), 44 km south of Canmore

Lakes abound in the limestone high country of Kananaskis. Many are set in remote valleys. This well-beaten path through forest and meadows leads to a beautiful tarn in a more open setting. It’s a great hike for birding and for botany. The wild flower displays of early summer can be superb, especially the blooms of glacier lilies near the lake.

Rawson Lake, 3.9 km

Trailhead - In Peter Lougheed Provincial Park, at the Upper Kananaskis Lake Day Use Area

Two lakes bookend this outing; one a massive reservoir, the other a jade gem nestled in a deep limestone pocket. Between them you climb through a tract of dense subalpine forest. Split log boardwalks span wet areas as you near the lake shore. Snow can linger until mid-July - which makes this a great place for wildflowers that prefer the cool and damp: white globeflower, alpine buttercup, and evergreen violet. Mt. Sarrail (3174 m) is the backdrop at the lake.

Photo courtesy of John Den Hoed

Elbow Lake, 4.0 km loop

Trailhead - East side of Kananaskis Trail (Hwy 40), 61.7 km south of Hwy 1

Elbow Pass is a gentle break in the ragged limestone wall on the east side of the Kananaskis Valley. The road-width trail makes a quick ascent, crossing the pass to where you make the circuit of Elbow Lake. Mt. Rae (3225 m), named for a 19th century Arctic explorer, rises to the southwest. Listen for the calls of all three of the Rockies’ thrush species: Swainson’s thrush, hermit thrush, and varied thrush. You may also hear white-crowned sparrows and yellow-rumped warblers.

Ptarmigan Cirque, 4.4 km loop

Trailhead - West side of Kananaskis Trail (Hwy 40), in Highwood Pass, 66.9 km south of Hwy 1

It is a miniature version of hundreds of other glacial valleys. Plants and animals cling tenaciously to life; the hallmark of ice is everywhere. The bedrock reveals the fossilized remains of lifeforms that lived in ancient seas. Walk north from the parking area on a gravelled path through Highwood Meadows. Cross Hwy 40 and climb through a subalpine forest. A cirque is a bowl-shaped valley eroded by a glacier. The white tailed ptarmigan (TAR-mih-gan) is a ground-dwelling grouselike bird. Its feathers change colour to white in winter.

Photo and Story By: Graeme Pole