Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
A booklet, available at the trailhead or at the Visitor Information Centre, corresponds with
numbered posts along this interpretive trail. The highlighted stops emphasize the valley's
human history. After a short climb from a riverside parking lot below the Boulton Creek
Trading Post, the trail reaches a cabin built in the 1930s as a stopover for forest-ranger
patrols. The trail then follows a high ridge and loops back along the other side of the creek
to the trailhead.
MM
Rawson Lake
• Length: 3.5 kilometers/2.2 miles (1.5 hours) one-way
• Elevation gain: 305 meters/1,000 feet
• Rating: moderate
• Trailhead: Upper Lake day-use area, Kananaskis Lakes Road, 13 kilometers (8 miles)
from Highway 40
This picturesque subalpine lake is one of the most rewarding half-day hiking destinations
in Kananaskis Country. It sits in a high cirque and is backed by a towering yet magnifi-
cently symmetrical headwall, so it's easy to spend an hour or two soaking up your sur-
roundings once you reach the end of the trail. Snow lies along the trail well into July, and
the lake doesn't open for fishing until July 15, but it is nevertheless a popular destination
throughout summer.
Make your way to the farthest parking lot at Upper Lake (through the middle of the
main parking lot) and begin the trek by taking the Upper Kananaskis Lake Circuit Trail.
Sarrail Creek Falls is passed at the one-kilometer (0.6-mile) mark, 150 meters (0.1 mile)
before the Rawson Lake cutoff. Taking the uphill option, you're faced with almost two
kilometers (1.2 miles) of switchbacks. The trail then levels out, with boardwalks construc-
ted over boggy sections of trail, suddenly emerging at the lake's outlet. Continue around
the southern shore, past an intriguing elevated outhouse, to small meadows and slopes of
scree that disappear into the lake.
Elbow Lake
• Length: 1.3 kilometers/0.8 mile (30 minutes) one-way
• Elevation gain: 135 meters/440 feet
• Rating: easy
• Trailhead: Elbow Pass day-use area, Highway 40, 13 kilometers (8 miles) south of Kana-
naskis Lakes Road
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