Gap Peak Hike

Where:

• Gap Peak

 

When:

• July 18, 2026

Who:

• Ed, Dave, Neil, Erin

 

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
• walk along until you get to the Baymag plant where there will be a large rock bed on the right with a gate
• go past the gate across the rock bed and into the trees on the other side onto a dirt path that is marked with flagging tape
• turn right up the mountain on what is an easy to follow path

 

 

Degree of difficulty:

• 525 meters elevation to where we turned around at the first viewpoint and the top is closer to 1100 meters
• 5 km round trip
• 3 hours total time on the trail
• the trail starts out flat for about a km and then turns up Gap Mountain on a moderate climb
• there are a few scree areas and scrambles that are a bit tricky to navigate through

 

 

Interesting notes:

• this was our first time doing this hike and we only went partway but hope to get to the large cliff band just above the tree line the next time we do it

• the trail offers panoramic views of Fable Mountain, Mount MacGillivray, Heart Mountain, Pigeon Mountain, Grotto Mountain, Gap Peak and many others
• the name Gap Peak was coined by prominent mountaineer and author Alan Kane as it describes the peak’s proximity to the rugged canyon known as Exshaw Gaps which separates it from nearby Grotto Mountain