Home»All Photographs»2012 Hikes»North and South Kananaskis Pass 08-04-12

This was a monster hike. Clayton was with me today as we biked 8km and hiked 37km with 1800m of elevation gain. We rode our bikes (to gain a bit of time) for the first few km until Invincible Creek, where no bikes are allowed past. The day was a 14-hour endeavour (18 hours with drive time...4:30-10:30) that rewarded our efforts with much fantastic scenery. The weather was perfect for this outing...lots of blue sky all day with no worries of bad weather coming in.
I had eyed this trip quite a while ago while studying the Kananaskis Lakes map, and wondered if it was do-able in a day. In the guidebook, North and South Kananaskis Passes are described as separate trips, and the book doesn't recommend doing the B.C. connector segment that joins the two passes, which are both at different locations along the continental divide. Some of the bushwhackery made me understand why this route would not be widely recommended. Along the way, we found a mudslide chute that was a blessing in disguise. It allowed for a quicker, easier and even shaded ascent of a steep slope, where the alder-whacking was getting laborious.
The first section of trail was well-maintained as it is still in Kananaskis Country. At Turbine Canyon, there is an interesting slot canyon that the stream plunges into. West of North K. Pass, one must lose 600m down a steep trail into B.C.. The trail was not bad, but some avalanche debris required a few detours. Then the section described above follows, and above the mudslide chute, you pop out into a rocky basin headed to Beatty Col. This is a grunt too, but you can see where you are going and the views are fantastic. Once you ascend to Beatty Col, the southward hike to South K. Pass was my favorite section all day. For this, the second half of the B.C. leg, you are wandering through verdant meadows with toothy peaks all around. Then, at South K. Pass, we went back into Alberta and on to Three Isle Lake. I took a dip here...it felt great. Then about two and a half hours of hiking along a nice, gently descending trail, and that ends a great day!
Obviously, the advantage to this length of daytrip is seeing all of what we did. The downfall is that if you don't want to use your headlamp, you have to limit your time in even your most favorite spots. I could have spent another two hours at Beatty Col. From there to South K. Pass is one of my favorite sections of hiking that I've ever done.