The Story
This weekend I had a 25km run on the plan. I’m five weeks out from the Sinister 7 100 mile race in July so I wanted to find a decent stretch of trail to simulate some of what I will be running at Sinister. I also wanted to find something new-to-me and High Rockies did not disappoint! This trail had a little bit of everything I love in a trail. Mountain views, lake views, pine covered trail, creek crossings and even a waterfall.
I did Ha Ling on Thursday and a triple run day on Friday (10km am, 5km noon, and 10km pm) so I wasn’t looking for excessive elevation gain.
Michelle and I crossed the High Rockies last year on our hike up to Rummel Lake, so it has been on my radar for a little while. I plotted out the route on Gaia GPS to get a sense of distance and elevation before driving out to Spray Lakes. If you would like a tutorial on how to do that drop me a note in the comments and I will see if I can make it happen!
Getting There
The trailhead was about a 30-minute drive out of Canmore. We drove up past the Nordic Center and up Spray Lakes Road. Past Grassi Lake and the Ha Ling trail head. I parked at the North end of the Spray Lake reservoir. The trail head is well marked and easy to see. Google Maps Directions Here.
Runnability
This one was very runnable except for a couple of reasonable short climbs. Stronger runners could likely run the whole thing without too much trouble.
The first three kilometres ran along the reservoir, then took a turn up and across the highway. The grade was very runnable for the most part and the trail is very well maintained. There are several bridge crossings along the way and you could easily get twice the distance I did if you needed a longer run in.
This one will definitely be a go-to for me in the future. The views were amazing, and the trail was gorgeous.
