The Frank Slide
Type:
Hike, Area, Tourist Attraction, Roadside Stop
Summary:
A large area of boulders where Turtle Mountain collapsed on the town of Frank.
A large area of boulders where Turtle Mountain collapsed on the town of Frank.
Quick Info:
Difficulty:
From easy to hard. The trail by the interpretive center is pretty easy. Exploring the slide off trails can be a little harder.
Best Time To Go:
The light on Turtle Mountain is beautiful in the early morning.
Difficulty:
From easy to hard. The trail by the interpretive center is pretty easy. Exploring the slide off trails can be a little harder.
Best Time To Go:
The light on Turtle Mountain is beautiful in the early morning.
In 1903, at 4:10 in the morning, half of Turtle Mountain collapsed and rumbled down to cover part of the town of Frank in the Crowsnest Pass area. The slide covers 3 square kilometers and some of the boulders are huge. There is an interpretive center on the north side of the highway which is pretty interesting, and a couple of short trails through the slide that give you a feeling of the magnitude of it.
There is a little road south of the highway that winds through the slide closer to the Crowsnest River. This is a great place to just park the car at the side of the road, and hike through the boulders for a while. Just be careful, there are no trails down here that I saw, and it would be easy to sprain an ankle or something. That being said, it is a beautiful little hike down to the crowsnest river, with lots of huge boulders to make your way around or over.
One of the best parts of my Crowsnest trip was to sit on a boulder in the Frank Slide, beside crowsnest river with the sun warming my back, contemplating life while watching some deer make their way through the boulders.
There is a little road south of the highway that winds through the slide closer to the Crowsnest River. This is a great place to just park the car at the side of the road, and hike through the boulders for a while. Just be careful, there are no trails down here that I saw, and it would be easy to sprain an ankle or something. That being said, it is a beautiful little hike down to the crowsnest river, with lots of huge boulders to make your way around or over.
One of the best parts of my Crowsnest trip was to sit on a boulder in the Frank Slide, beside crowsnest river with the sun warming my back, contemplating life while watching some deer make their way through the boulders.