Snowshoe Trails

The Smith-Dorrien area with its ample snowpack has some of the best snowshoe trails in Kananaskis Country with something for everyone. Here I am featuring the Chester Sawmill Snowshoe Trails, suggesting four loops varying from the popular 5.1 km Sawmill Loop to a 13.3 km Grand Tour.

Yesterday we headed down to the Sheep River area west of Turner Valley for a change of scenery. There is substantially less snow down there than around Bragg Creek and the Elbow. We parked in the Sandy McNabb skating rink parking area and walked down the trail to the Sheep River opposite Coal Creek. After crossing the well-frozen [...]

W e were back on the High Rockies Trail, this time doing a very short snowshoe between Sparrowhawk and Spencer creeks with a detour in the middle to look at Forbes Creek Grotto (see map). Would it harbour an icefall in winter? The answer is no, but it’s nevertheless an interesting place to visit. Snowshoes are a [...]

Recently we’ve checked out the High Rockies Trail between Goat Creek and Three Sisters Dam. It’s more open than the trail farther south and is one of the few stretches of the High Rockies Trail suitable for skiing, though perhaps more suitable for winter walkers, fat-tire bikers and, after fresh snow, snowshoers.

It was a beautiful sunny day up at Spray Lakes yesterday and there was lots of activity. We walked the well-packed section of the High Rockies Trail between Driftwood day-use area and West Wind Pass trail to the accompaniment of yipping sled dogs running on the other side of the reservoir. To introduce you to the trail we have developed a Guide to the High Rockies Trail.

This is the story of two trips to Highway 549. The first was to check out reports of well roads being gated in an effort to stop Pengrowth’s well sites being used as shooting ranges. And it’s true. Gates have been installed by ministerial order (am I the only one who dislikes that term?) on the Mesa [...]

Description of Elk Pass snowshoe trail in Peter Lougheed Park.

This is the little summit at the south end of The Tower with a great view. In his snowshoe book Andrew describes a route from the Rummel Lake trail with moderate avalanche risk. We were looking through Matt Clay’s website  and discovered he’d been up from the north side via Engadine Creek, a route  with no [...]

Now that the snow has arrived, it's time to check out Snowy Owl and Snowy Shortcut, two new snowshoe trails at West Bragg Creek. Built by volunteers from the Greater Bragg Creek Trails Association this addition brings the total trail network at West Bragg Creek up to 106 km. Snowy Owl trail makes a large [...]