East End of Rundle Hike

Where:

• East End of Rundle

 

When:

• May 6, 2023

 

Who:

• Ed, Oak, Dave, Erin, Mike

 

Trailhead:

• 10 km (15 minutes) from downtown Canmore on the Smith Dorrien (Highway 742) road
• near the end of Whiteman’s Pond, the parking area is on the left-hand side, or if this is full, you can continue for 50 meters to the Goat Creek Day Use Area
• the trail starts between two flagged power poles at the south end of Whiteman’s Pond
• the trail is marked by small pieces of tape, painted rocks, and cairns

 

 

Degree of difficulty:

• 850 meters
• 5 km
• 4 hours total time on the trail
• it took us 2 hours to get to the peak and the same amount of time to get down, with a 15-minute lunch break on the way down
• it’s a steep hike right from the start, with switchbacks through the trees at the start until you break out onto the open scree slope
• the trail is well-maintained and relatively easy to follow but becomes a challenging scramble near the top

 

 

Interesting notes:

• the trail nickname is EEOR

• the Rundle Range has seven distinct peaks over 12 km
• many offshoots and goat trails lead to spectacular viewpoints
• the trail offers sweeping views of the Rundle Range, Canmore, the Bow Valley, and Ha Ling
• the naming of Mount Rundle is for Robert Rundle, a Methodist minister. It was named in 1858 by John Palliser. Rundle was invited by the Hudson’s Bay Company to do missionary work in the area. He introduced syllabics, a written language for the Cree and only visited the Banff area twice.