Rockbound Lake, Aug 28 | Trip Reports | Kananaskis Outdoors Forum

While it was a full parking lot this morning, we didn't actually see that many people on the trail up to Rockbound today. The trails a bit muddy in spots just past the end of the "road" section at the 5 km mark but nothing that causes problems. Saw lots of tracks of wolf and various cats (I took pictures of cougar & bobcat tracks, plus a huge 14 cm long wolf footprint).

While we were considering climbing higher towards Helena Ridge or Stuart Knob, it took a lot longer to get to Rockbound than I anticipated (just over 3 hrs). It's also longer (9.25 km vs Patton & Robinson's 8.4 km) and higher (820 m vs their 760 m) according to the two altimeters and the two GPSs that I carry. So while we left the trailhead around 10:30, it was 1:30 pm by the time we got to Rockbound, and 5:20 pm by the time we got back to the car. Going higher was out of the question.

The best view on this hike comes from the short walk to the top of the dry waterfall leaving Rockbound Lake. Today, you could easily see the smoke from the Buller Creek prescribed burn that was happening — and we chose to come here to give the smoke a wide berth today.