Mount Lawrence Grassi
With a state of emergency and wild fires all over Alberta not a lot of people expected that Canmore area would be absolutely clear of smoke yesterday. I parked at Ha Ling parking lot around 8:30 and then walked about 2 km by the canal. There is another parking by the bridge where Ship’s Prow trail begins, but Lawrence Grassi trailhead is right in the middle between them, so you have to walk about 30 min anyway, and I did not see much sense to drive extra 8 km on a dusty 742.
If you decide to go for it, have good hiking boots, poles, a lot of water, and power bank for your cell phone because reception is not very good until you reach the summit, and the phone is constantly searching for a tower like crazy. Watch for ticks – I found two a few hours after the hike. The trail is marked by a cairn, from here it climbs a bit up through the forest for a couple of hundred meters and eventually reaches a creek bed, where almost right away you can see your target at a distance of approximately 1.8 km.
Go slowly and pay attention from here because it’s very easy to miss the beginning of the actual ascend to Lawrence Grassi. It looks like a gate on the left side of the creek, marked by two inukshuks, the trail goes to the left after them and immediately begins the ascend with 35-45% grade, which does not end until you reach the summit. Same on the way back: once you descend to the “gate”, immediately start looking for the trail which goes on the right through the forest, – it’s very easy to miss it, and if you do, you end up boulder hopping in the creek bed, until you realize that it’s too exhausting for already burned legs without a good reason, and you’ll have to bushwhack looking for the trail through the forest. The forest by the way is so dry now, – my impression is that the fire may start just from a loud sneeze. Be careful! With people being scared by the fires and smoke, I had the entire mountain for myself. It’s constantly steep all way to the top, after the tree line there are a few sections with boulders or losing scree (you can chose which you prefer); before the summit the trail becomes sloppy, and your hiking boots should be well prepared for that. Simply watch your steps and avoid losing gravel on top of the rocks which works like ball bearings, and you probably won’t need to scramble a lot. There is no exposure, nothing technical, but I would say that this trail is a good introduction to scrambling. Descent is leg burner, but it’s expected.
All trouble pays off once you reach the summit. This is 360 panorama from Lawrence Grassi divided into 4 pieces to avoid image distortion:
East End of Rundle and Ha Ling
Canmore and Bow Valley
Ship’s Prow and Three Sisters
Goat Pond and Goatview Peak
Despite of fires, Ha Ling is incredibly popular:
There are Three Sisters from a unique perspective:
A few fascinating hiking reports which can inspire some ideas:
Ha Ling Pk – Miners Pk – Mt Lawrence Grassi traverse
Ha Ling – Lawrence Grassi Traverse
More photos are here: