Great trail, easy near the beginning, steep and scrambly further up. As of 2023, part of this route near the beginning follows the equestrian trail which has a couple of big downed trees and slightly tricky stream crossings. If you prefer a clear trail with bridges over the streams, follow the sign for the pedestrian trail.
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Rode up spray road from Canmore. Do it early when less car traffic. A grunt but that’s the hard part. Small hills and flat the rest of the day and very little traffic (campground road)
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Mt. Bogart & Red Ridge to make this a loop with two peaks. I wanted to find a way to include Red Peak, but the connecting ridges seemed to be more that a scramble.
Mt. Bogart West Ridge. The first couple KM’s were on easy trail. Eventually this opens up to a boulder field flanked by the rock wall of Red Ridge. Route finding is straightforward to the west scree slope. From there, I noticed a few options that require consideration for any climbers above or below. It’s loose. I took a fairly direct line to the south because I wanted to test the feasibility of traversing a ridge south and then west to Red Peak. This was a ‘no go’ for a solo scramble. Especially on quartzite in the rain. I figure it could possibly be done with a rope, but I won’t bother coming back to try. I had to back track and connect with the main ascent route along the west ridge to Bogart. This was a relatively easy climb with interesting features along the way. Notably a small window and the wide ramps along the ridge. I followed a few Cairns marking deviations from the ridge that avoided tricky down climbing.
Red Ridge. I couldn’t find an easier way to connect to Red Ridge other than dropping down to the tarns and trudging up the scree slope. It was only an extra 200m of elevation, so not too bad. The ridge itself was very enjoyable trekking to the summit. After that, terrain got a little more “annoying”. Lots of talus and small boulders to walk across for 2km or so. Uneven, loose, blocky. I bent a pole, broke a pole, and my feet were hating me. Eventually I reentered the trees and bushwhacked my way to the High Rockies trail. I tried to follow paths and gps tracks, but ended up off course following some part of least resistance.
Having parked at Sparrowhawk Day Use, I went for a refreshing cold dip after.
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Sunrise hike on Ha Ling was the perfect choice for my first early morning summit. The trail was easy to find, the path leading up was in great condition. Very windy at the top but we found a place to hunker down out of wind while waiting for the sun to pop out! Then the final push to the summit.. take the photo and headed down.. perfect morning on Ha Ling!
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Lovely short hike passing waterfall, two lovely lakes, amazing rock forms and even some Indigenous glyphs. There are a fair number of stairs and you may either enjoy yourself climbing or watching others scale the rock faces. Weekday made it livable as crowds usually inundate the place.
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Trail is marked fairly well, a couple times we made it off the trail. Moderate hike, not too technical. Extremely windy (as the name says) but beautiful views
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We hiked from Dead Man’s Flats to Ribbon Creek day-use area and it was well worth it.
The views are amazing and the rock gardens are out-of-this world.
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Up and down from the highline trail UP: Ship's Prow Creek; Down to the Three Sisters Creek. Down trail is less steep and beautiful in the spring as it gets the sun.
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Its been redesigned with three sets of suspending stairs and clear steps and routes, just awesome! Go early or late to avoid crowds at this busy spot
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The wildflowers were abundant and little snow remained on June 23, 2020.
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Was definitely a challenging hike ! Not for beginners. Still beautiful and really was a journey. Really rocking with great water features. Took us 10 hours because we lost the trail being so early and the amount of snow that was still left. Last 3 kms is very steep and shaley.
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Trail is dry. Seasonal closure of West Wind Valley is in effect until June 15.
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Canmore's most popular scramble lives up to its reputation and is accessible early in the season.
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Took the Direct Route up and the ACC Route down, both are steady, steep climbs, with reasonably easy trail finding and minimal exposure. The final few hundred metres is over large talus. The ridgetop is wide and comfortable to hike along. We got caught in a short burst of heavy winds and rain on the ridgetop, where there is NO WHERE to get shelter. Check forecasts before your hike to make sure you aren't caught in a thunderstorm up high.
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