Anklebiter Ridge Hike

Where:

• Anklebiter Ridge

 

When:

• May 23, 2026

Who:

• Ed, Dave, Craig, Nicole, Jeff, Roger

 

Trailhead:

• from Calgary, take highway 1 and turn off at the Seebee exit onto Highway 1X for a couple of km, and turn left (west) onto 1A of the hamlet of Exshaw for 3 km
• from Canmore, take the 1A east for 13 km (10 minutes) and the parking lot is on the left-hand side
• the Grotto Creek parking lot is on the right (north) side of the highway beside Grotto pond
• a 10-minute drive from Canmore and 45 minutes from Calgary
• the trailhead starts on the west side of the parking lot at the large Grotto Creek Trail sign

 

 

Degree of difficulty:

• 500 meters elevation to where we turned around and the top is closer to 860 meters
• 4 km round trip
• 2.5 hours total time on the trail
• the trail starts out flat for about 100 meters and then you turn right and the trail runs alongside a creek bed
• shortly after this, you turn right again and start up the south ridge of Anklebiter
• the trail becomes interspersed with sections of rock and is quite steep along with some loose scree and several scramble sections

 

 

Interesting notes:

• you can do a loop at the top in a clockwise direction down the southeast ridge

• the trail offers panoramic views of Fable Mountain, Mount MacGillivray, Heart Mountain, Pigeon Mountain, Grotto Mountain, Gap Peak and many others
• the name Anklebiter Ridge comes from the constant climb that strains your Achilles tendons and ‘biting at your ankles’