The High Rockies Trail Contents Introduction 2 Maps & GPS 4 High Rockies North Map 5 High Rockies Centre Map 6 High Rockies South Map 7 Goat Creek to Spray Lakes West 8 Spray Lakes West to Sparrowhawk 10 Sparrowhawk to Buller Creek 13 Buller Creek to Chester Lake 16 Chester Lake to Canyon 18 Canyon to Boulton Creek 21 Boulton Creek to Elk Pass 23 Camping along the High Rockies Trail 25 Distances from Access Points to HRT 26 Introduction The High Rockies Trail, which connects Goat Creek at the Banff Park boundary to Elk Pass on the Alberta B.C. boundary, is the westernmost section of the The Great (Trans Canada) Trail in Alberta. The project’s proponent, Alberta TrailNet, envisions the trail becoming a world-class destination trail through Kananaskis Country, with shuttle busses transporting trail users between trailheads — this may take a while! Contrary to its name, most of the trail keeps to the valley bot- toms, hardly “the Jewell in the Trans Canada Trail Crown” as touted. A mixture of old and new trails, the High Rockies Trail heads south from Goat Creek along existing trails west of the Spray/Smith-Dorrien Highway (742). It passes Goat Pond, crosses Three Sisters Dam and heads down to Driftwood day-use area where it crosses to the east side of the highway for the remainder of the way to Lower kananaskis Lake. Between Driftwood and the start Trail under construction in mossy forest. of the Buller avalanche slopes the trail winds through predominantly mossy forest. The plan was to route the trail 200–500 m uphill from the highway to catch the best views through open areas, but you don’t get much in the way of views until the trail breaks out across the scree slopes of Mount Buller. Now follows the most scenic section of the High Rockies Trail heading around Mount Buller to Chester Lake trailhead. Short con- nectors have been built to access existing day-use areas along the highway. From Chester Lake trailhead the HRT makes use of the old Sawmill ski trails, now designated as snowshoe trails, although the new bridges are wide enough for grooming and tracksetting in the future. This section is not particularly good for 2 hiking. Trail runners and mountain bik- ers will probably make use of it. One ad- vantage is that there are several possible loops for those who only have one vehi- cle and don’t want to walk back the way they came. The rest of the way to Lower Kananaskis Lake is mostly through trees with a surprising amount of height gain as a result of the designer’s efforts to find interesting creek crossings and maxi- mise the limited views. The suspension bridge, the showpiece of the trail, is on this section between Black Prince and the Lower Lake. After reaching Lower Kananaskis Lake the trail passes through Canyon campground then turns south along the power line, crossing the park road to Elkwood and on past the end of Marl On the way to Buller Creek Lake using existing paved trails. The The pointed peak is Eon Mountain final section heads south on a paved trailto Boulton Trading Post, a potential supply point for through hikers or bikers. It then follows dirt trails along Boul- ton Creek and up Fox Creek to Elk Pass on the power line where a kiosk will be erected. In winter much of the route is on groomed ski trails that are closed to fat bikes. The number of snowshoers attempting to through hike (snowshoe) the HRT in winter is likely to be very small, and they will have to snowshoe the ski trails. A group of students from BC has erected a carved cedar log portal on their side of the border welcoming visitors to the Elk Valley. The section between Goat Creek trailhead and the bridge over Buller Creek was completed summer 2015 to a very high standard. The next four phases be- tween Buller and Lower Kananaskis Lake were built in 2016. The approximately 80 km-long trail was finished before Canada’s 150th celebration in 2017. The trail caters to hikers, trail runners and mountain bikers. It remains to be seen how much the trail will be used in winter by snowshoers, skiers, winter walkers and fat-tire bikers. Note that bicycles are not allowed on any of the trails east of the HRT. The section north of Buller Creek is closed in winter because it crosses avalanche slopes. Also be aware of steep banks on some bridge approach- es that may sluff-off heavy wet snow in early spring. Take a look at the avalanche forecast before you go. 3 Maps & GPS There are three maps showing distances along the trail and connections to park- ing areas. Depending on your operating system and browser, the map will either be downloaded to your computer, or displayed on the screen—in which case right click on it (control click on a Mac) and select save or download. When printed on 11” x 17” paper the map scale is 1:50,000 • View/download High Rockies Trail Map – North • View/download High Rockies Trail Map – Centre • View/download High Rockies Trail Map – South • Download “as built” High Rockies Trail GPS track 81.9 km The High Rockies Trail lines on the maps follow GPS track logs of the actual as constructed trail. Distances in kilometers are to the nearest 100 m. Approach dis- tances in metres are to the nearest 10 m. Dashed red lines are access routes onto the trail. Trails that are in the Kananaskis Country Trail Guides are shown in purple along with the volume and trail number. For example V3–#80 is Vol 3 trail number 80. You can view more Detailed Maps (Vols. 1 & 3) showing trails described in the guidebooks. 4 610 000 615 000 620 000 EEOR Ha Ling 880 m Goat Creek 5 8 Miner’s V3–#76 Peak snowshoe trail Mount Lawrence 5 7 sled Grassi dog trail V3–#77 E H A Ship’s 6.1 km G A Prow 5 6 Y N A 5655000 K O 5 5 D A sled dog trail s 5 4 er st Si THREE SISTERS P PASS e re Th V3–#78 860 m Goat Pond e Th The 5 2 Orphan 3.8 km BOULDER PASS Rimwall 5 1 P V3–#79 2.9 km WEST WIND dog sled 620 m staging P high water PASS 5650000 area trail Spray Lakes 5 0 West campground Driftwood 2.5 km V3–#80 V3–#81 4 9 V3–#82 Spray Lakes Reservoir Spurling Creek spring 0 9 1 0 1 1 1 2 1 3 1 4 1 5 1 6 1 7 1 8 1 9 2 0 2 1 G O A T 4.1 km R A N G 4 7 “Little E Lougheed” 350 m 4 6 V3–#83 Sp en Old Goat cer Glacier 2.2 km Creek grotto 5645000 4 5 Forbes C r e ek Sparrow V3–#86 hawk V3–#85 750 m 4 4 n ew s t 1.6 km a r t t o Spray # 8 Lakes 7 S 4 3 600 m pa rr ow V3–#84 h aw k C R RED RIDGE re e ek d B a 4 2 s i n C V3–#87 r e e k 7.5 km V1–#79 4 1 winter access 4.7 km from Red Buller day use Peak 5640000 Spray This 4.7 km section is closed 4 0 Lakes Nov 1 to May 1 due to use of explosives Reservoir for avalanche control on highway 742 3 9 5 to Buller Mountain day use area 5640000 615 000 to Spray Lakes day use area 620 000 625 000 s s e c c a r e t n 7.5 km i w 3 9 o t This 4.7 km section is closed y a Nov 1 to May 1 due to use of explosives w h for avalanche control on highway 742 g i eek h Cr r n le Spray ul o B 3 8 Lakes m k Reservoir 7 . 4 V1–#77 3 7 550 m Buller Mountain 3 6 5.9 km The 5635000 Tower k e 3 5 re C viewpoint ne di ga En 3 4 Rummel Ridge R 2 km u m Rummel m e Mount l Lake 3 3 Engadine C V1–#91 Lodge re ek 3 2 V1–#83 V1–#93 V1–#95 1 4 1 5 1 6 1 7 1 8 1 9 20 2 1 2 2 2 3 2 4 2 5 2 6 6.7 km Chester Lake 5630000 Headwall 3 0 Lakes V1–#92 V1–#94 2 9 Chester Lake V1–#87 Burstall Pass V1–#90 2 7 V1–#88 V1–#96A 7.4 km 2 6 V1–#96 5625000 V1–#97 2 5 2 4 Sawmill 2 3 6.2 km 2 2 2 1 to Black Prince 6 day use area 5620000 2 0 625000 630 000 635 000 3 9 to Sawmill day use area 3 8 6.2 km 3 7 5620000 3 6 800 m 3 5 B l a 2.3 km c k Black s h V1–#99 a Prince l suspension e C bridge k . 3 4 500 m 540 m 3.8 km 1.2 km 700 m 3 3 Canyon Discovery (Info) Centre 3.7 km 3 2 5615000 2 7 2 8 2 9 3 1 3 2 3 3 3 4 3 5 3 6 37 Elkwood 3 0 V1–#55 Marl Lake 2 9 4.8 km 7 Lower Kananaskis Lake Boulton Creek 2 7 Trading Post Boulton 5610000 2 6 B o u l t o n Elk C r e 2 5 Pass e k Upper 1.5 km Kananaskis Lake 2 4 8.4 km 2 3 F o x C r e e k 2 2 Elk Pass West Elk 5605000 AB 2 1 Pass BC V1–#58 2 0 Goat Creek to Spray Lakes West A rather pleasant forest section with good views on an old road used for com- mercial dog sled touring in winter.