Mount Lady MacDonald

Duration: 7 hours

Elevation: 1200m

Location: Canmore (Park in the cougar creek day use area at the top of Elk Run Blvd: it does not look like a typical day use area!)

There is no way that Lady MacDonald (wife of Sir John A MacDonald) ever summited this mountain. Which is too bad for her because if she had, she would have seen the most beautiful birds eye view of Canmore and the mountain range surrounding the town. All the way from the Three Sisters to Mount Yamnuska.

Tips:

The entire hike is steep elevation
If you are going on a less busy day it is essential to bring bear spray as there is a wildlife corridor adjacent to the path
There is a section of climbing through very large boulder type rocks where you must be very cognizant of where the trail markings are
If you hike beyond the helipad you will need extra water and sunscreen as you are at high exposure to the sun

To start the hike you’ll follow cougar creek towards Mount Lady MacDonald. There is a large sign on your left with helpful cougar and bear safety tips. Before you pass the wire dam you’ll turn into the trees to your left and find the trail head with the trail map. From here on you’ll start elevating quickly and you’ll begin to see views within 10 minutes. Continue on to the helipad and try not to get discouraged by the people that choose to run the mountain.

Edge of the Helipad

There are a variety of choices for where to end your hike. It seems that the majority of people end their hike at the helipad which seems quite reasonable to me because it is a full day hike just to get to the helipad. The helipad also offers amazing views. Now if you choose to hike beyond the helipad like we did, thats where things start to get complicated.

You can see the helipad in the photo, centre-left (very small on the small lower landing). This is from part way up leading towards the ridge. You will need to use your hands to climb up to the ridge in order to stay balanced. Some people prefer to use hiking poles. We stopped once we reached the ridge because we weren’t quite daring enough to do the ridge walk. The ridge walk to the final peak of the ridge is just a doorway sized walk way with a shear drop on both sides leading to the highest point of the mountain. As you can see in the picture below.