Mist Ridge
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Mist Ridge is a great ridge walk in Kananaskis Country.
It starts as a fairly boring walk through the trees, sometimes beside a river. After a few hours it starts to get pretty interesting though, and once you get to the top of the ridge it is amazing. The ridge stretches on for a long ways, and is a great reward for all the effort of getting up there. Besides the distance and a fair bit of elevation gain, it is not too hard. The trail is pretty good - a little overgrown right when you turn east and start climbing. No scrambling is required.
Start from the Mist Creek day use area on the west side of the highway. From the parking area, take the Mist Creek trail north and across the highway. The trail climbs gently for a while through a couple swampy areas and mixed forest. Before the trail drops back down, take the right fork that will lead you east. It starts to climb steeply here, and is fairly overgrown at first. After a while it widens out and you start to get decent views across the valley to the north. However, you have to loose a bunch of that elevation you just gained to cross a stream before climbing back up. There are a couple long switchbacks up a grassy slope, and then you actually start up the ridge. The trail kind of peters out here, so just keep climbing. For the ridge, make sure you're climbing the east-most hill. The one to the west is an isolated hill, which may be nice, but you can't walk along the top of it for miles. Eventually, you'll get to the top. The south peak is still off to the north quite a ways. It's a fairly level ridge walk to the south peak. If you go on to the higher north peak, you'll have to loose a bit of elevation and climb back up. If you have time it's definitely worth it though.
It starts as a fairly boring walk through the trees, sometimes beside a river. After a few hours it starts to get pretty interesting though, and once you get to the top of the ridge it is amazing. The ridge stretches on for a long ways, and is a great reward for all the effort of getting up there. Besides the distance and a fair bit of elevation gain, it is not too hard. The trail is pretty good - a little overgrown right when you turn east and start climbing. No scrambling is required.
Start from the Mist Creek day use area on the west side of the highway. From the parking area, take the Mist Creek trail north and across the highway. The trail climbs gently for a while through a couple swampy areas and mixed forest. Before the trail drops back down, take the right fork that will lead you east. It starts to climb steeply here, and is fairly overgrown at first. After a while it widens out and you start to get decent views across the valley to the north. However, you have to loose a bunch of that elevation you just gained to cross a stream before climbing back up. There are a couple long switchbacks up a grassy slope, and then you actually start up the ridge. The trail kind of peters out here, so just keep climbing. For the ridge, make sure you're climbing the east-most hill. The one to the west is an isolated hill, which may be nice, but you can't walk along the top of it for miles. Eventually, you'll get to the top. The south peak is still off to the north quite a ways. It's a fairly level ridge walk to the south peak. If you go on to the higher north peak, you'll have to loose a bit of elevation and climb back up. If you have time it's definitely worth it though.