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January 27, 2024 In Outdoor Edventures

Little Lougheed Hike

Where:

  • Little Lougheed

 

When:

  • January 27, 2024

 

Who:

  • Ed, Dave, Jeff, Neil

 

Trailhead:

  • the trailhead is on Spray Lakes Road and is 16 km south of the Goat Creek parking lot, and 4.4 km south of the Driftwood parking lot
  • it is the same trail as the Spencer Creek trail
  • the trailhead is not marked, and this trail is not in the guide books or on the trail maps
  • look for a large washed out creek bed on the left (east) side of the road and the trail is on the left side of the creek bed
  • if you get to the Sparrowhawk parking lot you have gone too far, so retreat 2 km back towards Canmore

 

 

Degree of difficulty:

  • 725 meters of elevation gain (we did 650)
  • 6.3 km round trip (we did 5.8 km)
  • the trail is well marked and maintained despite not being a well-known trail
  • after a short distance (350 meters), the trail crosses the High Rockies biking trail, and this is where you turn left
  • continue until you see a tree on your right-hand side with the letters LL carved into it, and turn up into the forest
  • after about a half hour, you leave the forest and reach a boulder field where the trail steepens significantly and is straight uphill from there
  • we were able to follow the trail despite being wind-blown in spots, and it was mostly packed down until further along, where we had to break through some snow, which was challenging given the steepness
  • the last 100 meters involve a steep scramble, but we were too spent from trudging through the snow to finish this part of the hike
  • the hike took us just under three hours

 

 

Interesting notes:

  • we were celebrating (if you call not breathing on the way up) the occasion of Jeff’s second 24th birthday
  • there are beautiful views of Spray Lakes and the surrounding mountains at various points along the trail when you are not in the forest
  • Little Lougheed is the baby sister of Mount Lougheed, which is the towering peak beside it
  • the Lougheed Mountains were named after Sir James Lougheed, who was a prominent lawyer, politician, senator, and cabinet minister

 

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