Trail to Peak: The Adventurous Path
Hiking, Exploring, Travel & Adventure
Tracking Down Those Three Sisters
Those of you who know Canmore know those iconic mountains, the Three Sisters, that loom over the townsite. Originally, simply called “The Nuns,” they were named after three Catholic Sisters, because of their shapes, and have been given the nicknames of”Faith, Hope and Charity” by some. The Three Sisters lie outside our back door and taunt us with their proximity. Their unique profile graces many an artist’s canvass and haunts many a photographer’s lens.
There are three hikes that lead up to two accessible vantage points: one, a long and rather cumbersome trudge up the backside of Middle Sister to her peak; one, a shorter scramble up a creek bed from the drainage basin in the Spray Lakes area that tops out at Three Sisters’ Pass and can be done in half a day; and one that is not a trail so much as a “suggested route” on a gem trek map that involves some bushwhacking and a lot of route finding, from the north side of the pass.
We have been bound and determined to find our way from our back door, out and up over the pass from that north side, and yet that enticing bushwhacking route still evades us. We’ve attempted it three times now, with pre-flood Gem Trek contour maps in hand, and we have yet to get all the way up there without reaching something that is impassable (like a tall, steep and crumbly creek bed slope or a massive cliff face of a rock feature that the locals affectionately call the Ship’s Prow). So recently, we decided to approach it from the back side, up in the Spray, and see what our route might look like from from its destination, above.
With a 600m elevation gain, that backside way was a fun scramble up a dry creek bed. I love walking up giant pieces of slab, past small pools, and scrambling through little canyons with the creek appearing and disappearing under foot. In the fall, it is mostly dry, making for an easy and accessible route. And the beauty of this trail is that it is little known, and there is no official trail head or parking area for the tourists, so there’s a good chance you can have it all to yourself.
We wound up high in a windswept, grassy, slightly snow-filled meadow with the peak of Big Sister looming 500m above us to the east.
Up at the pass, we found ourselves perched on the easternmost edge of a massive alpine cirque that cradles the slope of Mount Lawrence Grassi, with the majestic ship’s prow of the Nakoda Massif off to the right of the photo below. From that vantage point we poked around a bit, trying to see the best route up from the backside (it would come up from the far right of this photo). 
We think we’ve got it figured out… but with the recent snows, and rapidly decreasing day lengths, we’ve run out of season so we’ll have to wait until next summer to complete our adventure.
Ah well, it’s important to always have something to reach for! A quest of sorts. Wish us luck!
Click here for more terrific hikes in Kananaskis Country (Canmore Area). And check out more hikes from Canada and our adventures around the world here.
10 Comments on “Tracking Down Those Three Sisters”
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Trail to Peak: The Adventurous Path 
Gorgeous! I bet you can’t wait to see if the rest of your route will work. A nice challenge to have tucked away for next season!
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Most definitely! 🙂
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Impressive country up there. You folks must be pretty fit to make those climbs.
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It definitely gives us motivation to stay fit… so we can play the way we like to play here (without it killing us or leaving us sore the next day)!
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What incredible shots and I’m impressed at these mountains you are hiking! Happy to follow you.
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Excellent! I’m so happy you stopped by. There are more to come. 😉
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Beautiful photos and landscape. What a spectacular walk. Thanks for sharing it with us.
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Thanks for stopping by. I’m glad you enjoyed them. The mountains here are our favourite place! There’s so much to explore.
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