Mt Lady McDonald to Helipad

A moderately difficult day hike from the Cougar Creek parking lot in Canmore up to the helipad on Mt Lady McDonald. Part of the trail involves clambering over large rocks and it is quite steep. Thus the descent can be as much work as the ascent.

A rewarding hike since there are many great views back into Canmore and the Spray Valley beyond in one direction, and Banff and the Bow Valley to the west. It seems that until recently there was an abandoned tee house as well as a helipad part way up the mountain. As a result of surfing YouTube I found out that the debris from the teahouse were cleaned up only a few days ago. The cleanup involved the removal of 2000 lbs of trash and building supplies from the tea house near the summit on June 9, 2007. Two sling lifts and five cargo nets were required to clean up the bulk of the mess.

Here are a couple of the videos from the cleanup. The link to YouTube will allow you to review the remainder.

Enjoy the now clean Mount Lady McDonald Trail. All of the photos and GPS track are courtesy OldDogNewTrick. The full size topographical map can be viewed via flickr.

The GPS track for this hike can be downloaded via the file attached to this post. Go to the "About" page for directions prior to download or use of this data. Please submit your feedback and let me know your thoughts on the hike. If you have the the GPS data for other hikes in Alberta please send it along with a couple pictures to chris[at]hikealberta[dot]com.