Grassi Knob Hike

Where:

• Grassi Knob

 

When:

• July 6, 2024

 

Who:

• Ed, Dave, Craig, Oak, Peter, Lisa, Roger, Erin

 

Trailhead:

• from downtown Canmore, take Three Sisters Drive, turn right onto Peaks Drive, left onto Lawrence Grassi Ridge until it becomes Wilson Way, and park at the end of the street
• start on the Highline trail
• once crossing the footbridge over the first creek, you go about 100 meters until you see the sign showing the Highline trail branching from east connector to east Highline and west connector
• take the east Highline route to Three Sister’s Creek, which is actually the trailhead
• you will soon come to another creek and bridge, and just past the creekbed, the trail is on the right-hand side
• this section is very steep for the most part, all the way to the top
• once we got to the top, 6 of the group descended a path on the east (Three Sisters) side that is gentler than the trail up and loops back into the Highline trail where you want to turn left (west) once you connect to it and 2 of us descended the same way we went up
• Craig and I also continued another km up to the base of Ships Prow
• I would recommend using a GPS map such as All Trails the first time you do this trail as it’s tricky to find the route until you turn off the Highline trail

 

 

Degree of difficulty:

• 800 meters of elevation gain (950 to the base of Ships Prow)
• 8 km hike (9.5 km to Ships Prow)
• very steep hike
• there is a fun scramble section just below the summit, but there is a trail on the left where you can circumvent this more challenging portion
• the hike took us just under 4 hours

 

 

Interesting notes:

• the hike starts right in Canmore, which allows for easy access

• Grassi Knob is a great cardio and leg burner workout with great views at the top
• at the top, you feel like you can reach out and touch the Three Sisters mountains

• there are also great views of Ships Prow, Mount Grassi, and across the valley of Lady MacDonald and Grotto Mountain
• the naming of Grassi Knob relates to Mount Grassi which is named after Lawrence Grassi who was a local miner that was well known for his passion for the mountains

• this trail is not well known despite its proximity to Canmore
• it’s worth it to tack on the two more minor summits that take you to the base of Ships Prow for some additional amazing views