Etherington Creek Trail

Dogs Leashed

Features Commonly Backpacked · Fall Colors · River/Creek · Views · Wildflowers · Wildlife

This is Kananaskis Country. A Kananaskis Conservation Pass is required for motor vehicle access.

An Alberta Public Lands Camping Pass is required to camp along this trail.

There are other trails along the way and junctions are not always marked. It's recommended to have a paper map of the area such as the Cataract Creek PLUZ pamphlet or Gemtrek Highwood and Cataract Creek map. Alternatively, one can take a picture with their phone, of the map on the trailhead sign.

Etherington Creek Trail starts at a large trailhead sign in the day use area. The trail is marked by "Etherington Trail" signs at important junctions. It is a wide trail also used by horses and snowmobiles.

Etherington Creek Trail gently climbs through grassy meadows and forests on its way up to the Great Divide Trail - Section B (Coleman to Kananaskis Lakes), where it ends. Its route follows Etherington Creek upstream, sometimes close to the creek, and other times further away with the creek not seen or heard. The creek is crossed a few times on sturdy bridges.

From the trailhead, the forest is entered for a short ways, a grassy meadow is crossed, and Etherington Creek is reached. Continue on this obvious wide trail as it runs along the creek for now. Follow the "Etherington Trail" signs where they exist.

Key junctions:
- 1.75 mile mark: Veer slightly right here and follow the "Etherington Trail" sign that becomes visible after a very short ways. If you end up going over a bridge almost immediately, you went the wrong way; go back to the big open area and look to the right.
- 2.2 mile mark: After crossing the bridge over Etherington Creek, look carefully for an overgrown singletrack path on the right, and turn onto it. It follows the creek closely and emerges into an open area after about 200 meters. Taking this path as opposed to the obvious wide path, avoids crossing creek side channels that aren't well marked.
- 2.9 mile mark: (not a junction) The trail crosses the creek without a bridge. This is a relatively shallow crossing, not hard. It is noted because it's the only unbridged crossing.
- 3.4 mile mark: Go right up a rather steep, but short, hill. Do not continue straight down to the creek on old trail that is washed out. The right turn up the hill takes one around the old washed out trail. After about 0.4 miles, go left, down to the creek where this bypass ends at a big steel bridge across the creek. Go over the bridge and then go right to continue on.
- 5.2 mile mark: Faced with a steep uphill ahead, there is a rocky, and somewhat wet area to the right. This unmarked rocky path to the right is the way to go. It takes one to the Great Divide Trail, the end of Etherington Creek Trail, without climbing over the hill ahead and its extra distance. The rocky trail meets the Great Divide Trail after about 200 meters.

Grassy meadows, conifer forest, summer wildflowers. Deer live here.