After hearing about my hike to Rummel lake earlier this summer, Cheryl was excited to check it out, so along with Caroline, we headed up to this picturesque mountain lake yesterday.
My Gem Trek map indicates that it’s 4.3K one way. Gillean Daffern’s Kananaskis Country Trail Guide says 5K. My GPS gave me a reading of 5.3K. The elevation is 396m.
When you reach the 4K mark, you’ll come to a bridge over Rummel creek. Don’t take it – that’s the winter route. You can take it on the way back down. I highly recommend taking the summer trail, or you’ll miss a lot of the best features of this hike. The summer trail follows the creek with two sets of cascades, open meadows and wonderful views. You’ll even get to negotiate your way along a narrow ledge above the creek. There is a bypass if you find this too intimidating. Read the description of this trail in Gillean’s book before going.
If this hike wasn’t enough, we encountered a huge, almost-black grizzly bear on the way home along the Spray Lakes road. He was eating berries in the ditch, but stopped and stood up to have a look at us. He was enormous and his hair had the tell-tale silver tips which showed up so well against his dark fur. A magnificent and impressive sight to behold!
Is half of rummel out side the park? I have half of ppl I asked say it is and the other half saying it is
Looking at my Gemtrek map, the main trail and southernmost part of the lake are in PLPP, the rest is in Spray Valley PP