Prairie View Viewpoint

Ever since we have been coming to Banff we have been hearing about how beautiful the Kananaskis area is and about its spectacular hiking. Sharing a boundary with Banff National Park, it lies to the southeast of Banff and was developed as a multi-use recreation area, created in 1977 to "alleviate congestion in the National Parks.

Since we have been in Banff for over two weeks we have enjoyed many of moderate day hikes, and although we still have a few to hike in Banff, we thought we would check out the Information Center and get some advice about appropriate trails in the Kananaskis area. We stopped in the Information Center in Canmore and the "team" there came up with a list of about 10 hikes. We hiked one today.

Lunch spot at the Prairie View Viewpoint - from the right and...

lunch spot from the left.

Lunch view of Barrier Lake. The water level, which is controlled by a dam, is low because they are working on the earthen dam.

Lunch view to the right and...

to the left. The hike up to the Viewpoint was through this thick  forest.

Today's hike:

Length - 6.74 miles

Duration - 3 hours, 17 minutes

Elevation gain - 1,356 feet