Chester Lake Snowshoe Trail

Snowshoeing to Chester Lake is one of our favorite snowshoe trips in Kananaskis. It’s scenic, a great workout, sees plenty of snowfall, and travels through very safe terrain, rated as Simple – Class 1 terrain by Alberta Parks. That rating is the avalanche risk on the established snowshoe trail to Chester Lake. Exploring around or above Chester Lake is significantly more risky, and not recommended.

The trail starts at the Chester Lake trailhead. After crossing Chester Creek (about 1 minute from the parking lot), watch for the orange snowshoe sign on the right indicating where the snowshoe trail diverges from the ski trail. From here, the trail meanders through forest, climbing gently and weaving through old sections of logging road for less than 0.6mi. After this section, the true ascent starts, and it is very steep! Keep marching on and fairly soon you’ll find yourself on a gentler grade, emerging from trees and getting your first view of Mounts Chester and Galatea, The Fortress, and Gusty Peak. The last ascent is visible near a band of trees in the distance.

Once reaching Chester Lake, continue along the SW (left) shore until the trail ascends left through trees towards the Elephant Rocks. Within 10 minutes you’ll arrive at your viewpoint; total time from the parking lot, about 1.5 hours at a slow but steady pace; 2 hours if you take breaks.