Rainy Summit Ridge | Trip Reports | Kananaskis Outdoors Forum

Post edited 2:45 pm – August 5, 2011 by Bob Stebbins

After two attempts a few years ago to reach Rainy Summit Ridge, we managed on 5 August to succeed, thanks to the description of this trail in Daffern, vol. 2, 4^th ed. The purpose of this note is simply to add a few pointers. One, from the trailhead walk, as indicated, to the survey marker, and then keep heading south paralleling the highway to the grassy old logging road (there is also a road to the west). Two, don’t expect to find such artefacts as car door handles, tire rims, and hubcaps. The cairns are still there, but an apparently well-meaning clean-up campaign has cleared away these unnatural features. Their absence is no problem. The trail is good, marked with plenty of blazes, flags, and sawed branches.

We made it up the ridge in an hour and 20 minutes, culminating in an elevation gain of 305m. Coming down we missed the turn off at the junction with an old trail. We followed the latter, which shunted us off in a north-easterly direction, resulting in a longer but much more gradual descent than had we stayed on the ascent trail. The old trail, as clear as it is, eventually deteriorates into a set of minor paths going hither and yon. Helped by a compass and our knowledge of the geography of the Rainy Creek area, we reached the highway a 150m or so north of the trailhead.