Little Lougheed Hike

Where:

• Little Lougheed

 

When:

• August 31, 2024

 

Who:

• Ed, Craig, Oak, Erin, Carolyn, Neil, Dave

 

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:

• 765 meters of elevation gain
• 6.2 km round trip
• 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 a marking on it, and turn up into the forest
• after about a half hour from the start of the trail, you leave the forest and reach a boulder field where the trail steepens significantly and is straight uphill from there
• the last 100 meters involve a steep scramble to a beautiful summit
• there are many areas through the rock fields that are steep and tricky footing
• the hike took us four hours

 

 

Interesting notes:

• there are spectacular views of Spray Lakes and the surrounding mountains at various points along the trail when you are not in the forest
• the rock formations halfway up and at the top are amazing
• at the end of the hike, there was a cold pool of water in the stream that Dave and I had a nice soak into

• 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