Today was Chester Lake … it was such a beautiful day, a little overcast and a bit windy, but gorgeous none-the-less. For the first couple of kilometres, it was straight up and that was tough. I had just recently purchased snowshoes (got an amazing deal) but I think they were for men (however, I was told they were unisex). My feet kept sliding out as they were not tight enough. I had to compensated too much going up that my legs began to really hurt. Once I figured out how to really tighten them, it was too late. I ended up going back while Kathy and Shannan kept going. The trail was very well-travelled so I wasn’t worried about getting into trouble. When I got home, I fixed them so they would tighten up much better on my feet, hopefully, this won’t happen again. Regardless, the hike was so very beautiful and such a great day to do it.

I copied this from the web …

Distance: 7.4 km
Difficulty: Moderate
Elev. gain: 315 meters (right at the beginning)
Time required: 2 – 4 hours
Bikes permitted: No
Dogs permitted: Yes

Directions to trail head
Drive west of Calgary on Highway #1 approximately 60 kilometres. Turn south on highway #40 and drive 50 kilometres. At the intersection of highway #40 and Kananaskis Lakes Trail turn right (west) onto Kananaskis Lakes Trail and drive approximately 2.3 kilometres and turn right again onto highway #742 (the Smith-Dorrien/Spray Trail). Drive 18 kilometres to the Chester Lake Parking Lot. The other option is to leave from Canmore and drive south on Highway #742 approximately 45 kilometres to the Chester Lake Parking Lot.

Hazards on trail
Water. I used Garmin Mapsource during this hike and to generate the topographical map. You cannot trust that the location of the boundaries of the lake or creek are accurate. Be cautious near the water.

Hike Description
The Chester Lake Snowshoe Trail is well-marked. Both the trailhead and waypoint #002 is on the Chester Lake hiking trail. The snowshoe trail leaves this path at waypoint #003. The snowshoe trail is marked with little fluorescent signs with snowshoe prints on them. This trail is very popular. For the most part when hiking this winter in Kananaskis I probably never saw more than 5 or 6 people on any given trail. On this trail I probably saw at least 20 people.

Check out the pics …