Grassi Knob Hike

Where:

• Grassi Knob

 

When:

• August 11, 2021

 

Who:

• Ed, Dave, Jeff, Kelly

 

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 bed (dry at this time of the year), 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, we 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
• I would recommend using a GPS map such as All Trails the first time you do this trail as it’s tricky to find

 

 

Degree of difficulty:

• 800 meters of elevation gain
• 11 km out and back
• very steep hike
• the hike took us 4.5 hours, with a half-hour stop at the top

 

 

Interesting notes:

• Grassi Knob is a great cardio and leg burner workout with great views at the top and right in the town of Canmore which allows for easy access

• the area is surrounded by the Three Sisters, Ships Prow of Mount Grassi with great views 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