Play Outside in Peter Lougheed Provincial Park, Alberta

Hiking, biking, camping, wildlife watching – what’s not to like about Peter Lougheed Provincial Park? Toss in a few lakes and stunning mountain scenery and you have the perfect setting for outdoor adventure. So why did it take us 34 years to finally camp here? It’s a long story, read on!

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Looking Back at Peter Lougheed Provincial Park

Let’s start at the beginning. Flash back hundreds of millions of years ago or so. This area is covered by a vast inland sea. Ancient coral reefs teem with life. Over time, the sea retreats. Layers of past life become fossilized into limestone rock. Two hundred million years ago, tectonic plates move and layers of thick rock pile and break and fold to become the Canadian Rockies. Time and the elements slowly wear them away. Twelve thousand years ago, the last ice age retreats and the landscape lies in a picturesque tableau of jagged peaks and broad, u-shaped valleys. 

Humans venture into this brilliant new landscape around 8000 years ago – according to archaeological evidence. Indigenous groups including the Stoney-Nakoda, Siksika, Blood and Kootenai wandered through, camped and hunted in this area. Europeans arrive and begin to map and explore its boundaries about 150 years ago. Captain John Palliser, leader of the Palliser Expedition, named the area Kananaskis. The name comes from the Cree “Kin-e-a-kis” and was the name of a warrior who survived an axe blow to his head. 

In 1972, the Alberta Wilderness Association proposes a wilderness area that could include the Elbow, Sheep and Kananaskis Valleys west of the burgeoning city of Calgary. It is important to protect this vital watershed while still providing recreational opportunities and allowing for resource development. Bow Valley and Bragg Creek Provincial Parks are already more than 10 years old. Various levels of government become involved. In 1978, Premier Peter Lougheed officially dedicates Kananaskis Country – over 4,100 square kilometres of parks, recreation areas and multi-use land. It also includes the newly minted Kananaskis Provincial Park. In 1986, Kananaskis Provincial Park is renamed Peter Lougheed Provincial Park in honour of the retired premier.

Did You Know?

Peter Lougheed Provincial Park is home to Elbow Lake. This tiny gem is the headwaters for the Elbow River. One in seven Albertans get their drinking water from the Elbow River. One could say that the park is a source of life in this neck of the woods.

Back to Our Camping (Why it took More Than Three Decades) Story

1986 – the year Kananaskis Provincial Park becomes Peter Lougheed Provincial Park. It’s also the year that I start working for Alberta Parks on a Summer Temporary Employment Program (S.T.E.P.) in Bow Valley Provincial Park. I attend training workshops with all Kananaskis Country (a.k.a. K-Country) interpretive and information staff. It is the beginning of a 30-plus year love affair with the area. 

Brad starts working seasonally in K-Country in 1987. We both eventually become full-time employees and work up to supervisory roles before leaving in 1998. We never leave the area though. K-Country – including Peter Lougheed Provincial Park –  is our four-season backyard playground. We hike, bike, paddle, fish and explore every nook and cranny – sometimes more than once! Which is why camping in a frontcountry campground seems unnecessary; the area is so close to home and so familiar it seems odd to want to camp in our trailer. Instead we head north and take a backpack trip in the Yukon, fly across the Atlantic to explore the hiking trails of Picos de Europa or gather with friends to paddle B.C.’s Bowron Lakes Circuit.

Camping Close to Home

2020… sigh. Thank you Covid-19. No, really! We would never have looked at camping so close to home if it weren’t for this pandemic clipping our wings and making us look a little closer at the opportunities in our own beautiful backyard. 

Looking for tips on storage for your gear? Check out our post “7 Tips for Storing Outdoor Gear.“

After three months of storage, our little trailer is ready to hit the road – and so are we! We choose Canyon Campground because its proximity to hiking and biking. Without reservations (Boulton and Elkwood campground in the park are reservation-only), we cross our fingers and head out mid-week for a first-come, first-serve site. Luckily, there are plenty of open sites and we settle on the open views of B-loop, set up camp and head out for a walk along the lake.

The next day we hike from our site across the dam to the start of the South Lawson trail. The road follows the Kent Creek diversion to the flume before crossing the old creekbed and starting the climb. It’s a relatively short but steep climb up to the summit. Slow but steady, it takes us over two hours to reach the top, where we laze for an hour checking out peaks, assessing other hiking options, smelling the rock jasmine flowering in profusion and enjoying the 360-degree panorama. 

Sitting outside after dinner, we look up as calls of “bear” “there’s a bear” “watch out for the bear” echo across camp. While I wouldn’t have been as surprised to see a bear from a distance on our hike, I am a little awed at the site of mama grizzly and her two, second-year cubs sauntering through the middle of Canyon Campground completely unconcerned as people roast marshmallows, hold barking dogs on leash and kids whizz around on bicycles. Nature rules – and I start using my headlamp and packing bear spray on my trips to the loo!

On to the High Rockies Trail

When friends ask if you want to mountain bike in the Rockies – and they tell you it’s mostly downhill – I always say yes. I’m a “if it’s not too difficult” kind of mountain biker. You think by now I’d know better! The High Rockies Trail is not mostly downhill, it’s up and down and up and down again and again. 

Trail Notes

The High Rockies Trail is a portion of the Trans Canada Trail, or “The Great Trail” running 80 kilometres between Goat Creek Day Use area in Spray Valley Provincial Park and the AB/BC border in Peter Lougheed Provincial Park. 

We start the following day at Chester Lake, leaving two vehicles in our campsite and the shuttle vehicle at Burstall Pass (Chester parking lot being closed until the end of June) and meander over Headwall Creek, past the Black Prince cutoff, over the uber-popular suspension bridge and finally down to Kent Creek, continuing over the dam once again and back to camp. 

Sweat-soaked but smiling, my friends ask if I will ever want to do it again. I hesitate briefly before answering honestly… of course! Bike, hike and camp – why did it take 34 years? Because it was never the right time before. 

What are you waiting for? What adventures lie waiting in your backyard? We’d love to hear about them; be sure to leave a comment below.

When You Go

Peter Lougheed Provincial Park is located about 137 km (85 mi) – or an easy hour and a half drive – southwest of Calgary, Alberta. Campground within the park also include Boulton Creek (120 sites) and Elkwood (130 sites). Both have power/water options, but reservations are necessary. Interlakes Campground is also popular (first-come, first-serve, 45 sites, no services). The park has 12 kilometres of paved trails in addition to the mountain biking options as mentioned above. For more information, check out the Alberta Parks website or visit the Friends of Kananaskis.