Highline Trail

The Highline is an easy network of trails through a sheltered, mixed-wood Wildland Park near Canmore, Alberta. It is the perfect place to act like a local on a rainy day. My raincoat was not Gortex, but I was perfectly happy sporting this life-hack that kept me warm and dry on today’s wet adventure.

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If you drive west on Highway 1 from Calgary, the Three Sisters Parkway
exit into Canmore will leisurely wind you between million dollar chalet homes and the protected wildlife corridor full of Highline trails. We were headed down the parkway to the Ha Ling Peak Trailhead, our original, intended destination. But, a full mountain closure posted at the Canmore Nordic Centre stopped us in our tracks. There is a lesson for those with limited time to spend in the Rockies: check the trail reports before you head out.

We had sniffed out a breathtaking meadow at the base of Mount Lawrence Grassi, just a few clicks before we had reached the Nordic Centre and its banner of bad news. Turning back, we found that the meadow is the entrance to the Canmore off-leash area and Quarry Lake Park. From the large parking area here, you can choose your own adventure onto the Highline Trail connectors. The east and west connectors are accessible from the parking area in which we now found ourselves. Additional access into the Highline trail network begins elsewhere: at the Three Sisters entrance and the Riders of Rohan entrance. Riders of Rohan entrance? (Will add that to the adventure book.)

Implementing plan b, we walked from the parking area toward the gentle slope of Mount Lawrence Grassi. If you’re heading toward the power lines, you’ll know you’re going in the right direction to reach the Highline Trail’s east and west connectors. We took a left down the Powerline trail, away from the power plant, and walked for about 1 km before we found the sign for the Highline Trail east connector.

Heading upward at the marker, it was only a few hundred metres before we ran into a small family of deer who welcomed us to the entrance of a Wildland Park. This designation means dogs are not permitted to terrorize the gentle woodland families protected here. After losing a short-lived game of tag with our ruminant welcome committee, we leashed up before entering the park.

There was still snow and ice pack on a good portion of the trail, even at such a low altitude in mid April. You won’t gain more than 300 m in elevation on the Highline. The trails through this peaceful and enchanting forest are well kept with interesting boardwalk features. The moist soil and cedar and pine needle carpeting are soft on my paws. There are rocky sections as well, bordered by large moss-covered boulders (no doubt the shells of old trolls from centuries past).

About 3.6 km from our sign there is a junction for the Three Sisters Creek. The creek is another 2.6 km into the park. We only got about 100 m up toward the creek before deciding to save it for another day. There was rain on the ice on the trail to the creek and we had left our skates in the car.

It was at this junction that we instead followed the loop back toward Quarry Lake Park, about 1.7 km to the parking area. The trail is transected by several gullies that were still filled with snow and ice. In another week or so, I’ll bet these drainage channels will be rushing with melt water. While crossing each gully you will get a different view of the city of Canmore. Since we skipped the Three Sisters Creek, our journey was about 5.3 km total around the loop. Well kept signage will allow you to choose your own adventure in this network of trails and increase or decrease the length of your hike as your time allows.

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Our path allowed us to finish in about 2.5 hours at a leisurely pace, leaving us time to travel back to town centre. A sophisticated cappuccino from the Bicycle Cafe on Main Street warmed our wet noses. We saved an uncommon bottle of South African Syrah from the Canmore Wine Merchants for further investigation.