The middle loop of the Highline trail at Canmore is in great shape for biking and hiking. The entire loop was dry as Tessa and I hiked it today.
Sign at the top of the eastern connector. 60 metres up the trail, there’s a large ice flow. You can avoid this by staying on the middle loop.
The eastern leg to Three sisters creek has an almost-impassable ice-flow, so I wouldn’t recommend that portion of it yet. We only walked up as far as the ice flow which is 60 metres above the top of the eastern connector, so I don’t exactly know what conditions are like on the eastern leg, but the trail is in thick shade so I’m guessing there may be some mud/ice/snow. The spring run-off is in full gear so all the drainages have water flowing right now. The middle loop contains four places where you’ll need to cross a creek.
View of Mt Lawrence Grassi from a drainage on the Highline trail
If you’re in the habit of taking the shortcut back to the trailhead(through the trees above the Peaks of Grassi neighbourhood rather than along the powerline), you’ll have some serious deadfall to go over. There are two large trees which have fallen over the winter, and one of them is impossible to skirt, so you have to go over it. It wouldn’t be fun with a bike.
To do the middle loop of the Highline trail, you can start at Quarry lake where there is a kiosk with a map and details. Another trailhead is at the eastern end of Wilson Way which is in the Peaks of Grassi residential neighbourhood.
The full Highline (East/West/Middle) is now clear of snow and deadfall, the only serious obstacle is the aforementioned glacier between East and Middle which can be bypassed if you are careful.