Canmore makes an excellent base camp for hiking adventures, with several lakes, trails and summit hikes within a 30-minute drive. Kananaskis Country is a huge outdoor recreation area that lies between Calgary, Canmore, and Banff National Park. Kananaskis is home to 9 provincial parks and thousands of hiking trails to discover.
Many of the trails in Canmore and Kananaskis are unofficial, meaning they will not have facilities or clear trail signage, so its best to research the route before heading out.
Note that any hikes accessed via the Smith Dorrien Trail (Highway 742) require driving on a gravel road. Also note that Highwood Pass is closed from December 1 to June 14 each year. You need a Kananaskis Conservation Pass to hike in K-Country, which can be purchased here.
A separate page for hikes in the Elbow Valley and Sheep Valley can be found here .
Hiking Trails
Arethusa Cirque
- Difficulty: easy
- Distance: 4 km
- Duration: 1 to 2 hours
- Elevation Gain: 270 m
Birdwood Lakes
- Difficulty: hard
- Distance: 16 km
- Duration: 6 to 7 hours
- Elevation Gain: 600 m
Blackshale Suspension Bridge
- Difficulty: easy
- Distance: 6 km
- Duration: 1.5 hours
- Elevation Gain: 330 m
Burstall Pass
- Difficulty: moderate
- Distance: 16 km
- Duration: 5 hours
- Elevation Gain: 450 m
Cat Creek Waterfall
- Difficulty: easy
- Distance: 3 km
- Duration: 1 hour
- Elevation Gain: 145 m
Centennial Ridge and Mount Allan
- Difficulty: hard
- Distance: 16 km
- Duration: 8 to 10 hours
- Elevation Gain: 1430 m
Chester Lake
- Difficulty: easy
- Distance: 10 km
- Duration: 2 to 3 hours
- Elevation Gain: 320 m
Elbow Lake and Edworthy Falls
- Difficulty: easy/moderate
- Distance: 10 km
- Duration: 3 hours
- Elevation Gain: 300 m
Grass Pass
- Difficulty: moderate
- Distance: 7 km
- Duration: 3 hours
- Elevation Gain: 420 m
Grassi Lakes
- Difficulty: easy
- Distance: 4 km
- Duration: 1 to 2 hours
- Elevation Gain: 203 m
The Green Monster
- Difficulty: easy except for the chains
- Distance: 11 km
- Duration: 4 hours
- Elevation Gain: 200 m
Grizzly Col
- Difficulty: moderate
- Distance: 10 km
- Duration: 4 hours
- Elevation Gain: 518 m
Grotto Canyon
- Difficulty: easy
- Distance: 4 km
- Duration: 2 hours
- Elevation Gain: 100 m
Ha Ling Peak
- Difficulty: hard
- Distance: 8 km
- Duration: 4 to 5 hours
- Elevation Gain: 810 m
Jura Canyon
- Difficulty: easy
- Distance: 2 to 6 km
- Duration: 1 to 2 hours
- Elevation Gain: 60 to 250 m
Lillian and Galatea Lakes
- Difficulty: moderate/hard
- Distance: 12 to 16 km
- Duration: 4 to 7 hours
- Elevation Gain: 450 to 700 m
McGillivray Creek Canyon
- Difficulty: moderate
- Distance: 4 km
- Duration: 2 hours
- Elevation Gain: 190 m
Mount Lipsett
- Difficulty: moderate
- Distance: 13 km
- Duration: 4 to 5 hours
- Elevation Gain: 700 m
Old Goat Glacier
- Difficulty: moderate/hard
- Distance: 10 km
- Duration: 4 hours
- Elevation Gain: 680 m
Picklejar Lakes
- Difficulty: moderate
- Distance: 12 km
- Duration: 4 to 5 hours
- Elevation Gain: 500 m
Piper Pass
- Difficulty: hard
- Distance: 20 km
- Duration: 6 to 8 hours
- Elevation Gain: 1000 m
Pocaterra Cirque
- Difficulty: easy
- Distance: 7 km
- Duration: 2 to 3 hours
- Elevation Gain: 200 m
Pocaterra Ridge
- Difficulty: hard
- Distance: 9 km
- Duration: 6 to 7 hours
- Elevation Gain: 900 m
Prairie View Trail and Yates Mountain
- Difficulty: moderate
- Distance: 12 km
- Duration: 3 to 4 hours
- Elevation Gain: 500 m
Ptarmigan Cirque
- Difficulty: easy/moderate
- Distance: 4.5 km
- Duration: 1 to 2 hours
- Elevation Gain: 210 m
Rae Glacier
- Difficulty: moderate/hard
- Distance: 9 km
- Duration: 4 hours
- Elevation Gain: 425 m
Raspberry Ridge
- Difficulty: moderate/hard
- Distance: 10 km
- Duration: 4 to 5 hours
- Elevation Gain: 650 m
Rawson Lake
- Difficulty: moderate
- Distance: 8 km
- Duration: 3 hours (6 for Sarrail scramble)
- Elevation Gain: 320 m
Read's Ridge
- Difficulty: hard
- Distance: 6 km
- Duration: 3 hours
- Elevation Gain: 600 m
Sparrowhawk Tarns
- Difficulty: moderate
- Distance: 12 km
- Duration: 5 hours
- Elevation Gain: 700 m
Troll Falls
- Difficulty: easy
- Distance: 5 km
- Duration: 1 to 2 hours
- Elevation Gain: 120 m
Warspite Lake
- Difficulty: easy
- Distance: 4 km
- Duration: 1.5 to 2 hours
- Elevation Gain: 90 m
West Wind Pass and Windtower
- Difficulty: moderate/hard
- Distance: 5 to 10 km
- Duration: 2.5 to 6 hours
- Elevation Gain: 390 to 1000 m