Family Adventures in the Canadian Rockies: Wind Ridge, Kananaskis - Family Hiking and First Summits in the Canadian Rockies

Wind Ridge is one of the prettiest ridge walks in Kananaskis and I've added it to my "I'd happily do this hike every summer" list - which is actually a very short list because we have so many amazing hiking trails here.

Expect steep hiking, some optional scrambling near the summit, and beautiful views over the Wind Valley on this uncrowded trail near Canmore.

Wind Ridge! One of the prettiest trails near Canmore

Stats for the Hike

Distance: 14 km return

Height gain: 950 metres

Time it took us to complete the return hike: It took us 6.5 hours (3.5 hours up, 30 minutes at the summit, and 2.5 hours down.)

I did the hike with two youth ages 10 and 12.

Best time to do this hike: We did this hike at the beginning of July and everything was vibrant and bright green (almost glowing green!) I'd choose to do it early season again for this reason. I'd expect the grass to be more yellow/brown later in the season.

Note that there is a wildlife closure for the area between December 1st and June 15th each year.

Also note that it is named Wind Ridge for a reason. Choose a calm day. And should you choose to hike in the "green season," bring all the bug spray!! We were eaten alive by black flies once we got out of the trees higher up on the ridge. If you don't like bug bites, consider hiking later in the season.

One tip though if you are hiking in bug season, go early in the morning! The bugs got worse as the day got warmer. Fortunately they were fine while we were climbing so we were able to take rest breaks. On the way down we couldn't stop at all.

Rating: This would be considered a difficult hike due to the steepness of the trail. There is also a cliff band near the summit that you must scramble up and down. Recently a bypass route has developed around the cliff band but it's not much better. (We did use it on descent though to avoid down climbing the cliff.)

Prerequisite hikes could include Ha Ling Peak, Sarrail Ridge, or King Creek Ridge.

Best Guide Book: Kananaskis Country Trail Guide, Volume 3, Gillean Daffern - Amazon affiliate link

All Trails Link - Wind Ridge Trail. I recommend using the All Trails app so you know where to park near Dead Man's Flats. By downloading the app you'll also be able to make sure you're heading in the correct direction the entire time because the Wind Valley trail system can be confusing.

Note to download the map, you'll need to have a premium paid subscription. I find it to be worthwhile, even just so I can see how far I am from the summit every time somebody asks "how much further?"

Looking over the Bow Valley from Wind Ridge

Finding the Trailhead for Wind Ridge

You'll be starting from a large parking lot near the hamlet of Dead Man's Flats just beyond the Banff Gate Mountain Resort. You can see the Google Maps link to the parking lot here.

You'll pass Dead Man's Flats as you drive from Calgary out to Canmore on the TransCanada Hwy. It is just 10 minutes east of Canmore.

This is also the parking lot for the Skogan Pass and Centennial Ridge Trails if you want to through hike them from Kananaskis Village. (Each one has a trailhead at the other end near the village.)

You'd also park here to climb Pigeon Mountain. (Read: First Summits - Pigeon Mountain)

Looking over the Wind Valley from Wind Ridge

Hiking through the Wind Valley to the Wind Ridge Trail

There is a fairly large trail network through the Wind Valley and you'll want to make sure you're heading towards Wind Ridge and not climbing up the Skogan Pass or Centennial Ridge trails. For this, we found the All Trails map to be very useful in the first hour!

You'll be hiking on old roads and wide flat trails for the first 45 minutes (that honestly could be traveled by bike.)

At your first junction out of the parking lot you'll want to head west towards Canmore rather than going straight up the Skogan Pass Trail which follows the power lines. Cross the bridge that you'll come to over Pigeon Creek.

The West Wind Valley is a delightful forest walk

At the second junction you're going to continue heading west (right) rather than turning on to the Centennial Ridge Trail.

There are signs at the junctions so it's fairly obvious as you continue to follow roads to the SW. You'll cross a second bridge over Wind Creek as you get on the main exploration road through the West Wind Valley.

At another junction you turn to the north to follow the West Wind Creek Trail which climbs steeply up to the ridge where you turn to the west again.

Hiking through the Wind Valley was very beautiful

And again, if you're already confused by the directions, pay for the subscription to All Trails, download the map, and follow the blue dot. Hiking has gotten a lot easier over the years thanks to technology!

We actually really enjoyed the hike through the West Wind Valley and felt like we were walking through a magical fairy forest at times with vibrant green moss and the peaceful creek.

And as a bonus, the valley portion of the hike was a good warm up before the steep ridge climb that awaited us ahead (and a good cool down at the end.)

By the numbers:

The flat easy forest part is 3 km long (this is the part you could bike.) It took us 45 minutes on foot hiking.

The next 1.5 km is uphill but still on a wide easy trail. You wouldn't want your bike here so bring a lock if you're choosing to bike the first 45 minutes.

After that, the final 2.5 km is "real hiking" on a normal singletrack trail and this is where you gain the majority of your elevation.

Walking through the scenic West Wind Valley

Climbing the Wind Ridge Trail

As mentioned above, the flat valley bottom ends and you begin climbing gradually for 1.5 km on a wide trail where you can still walk side by side and keep up a nice conversation.

You'll know when you've reached the ridge though because the trail suddenly goes UP. It becomes very steep and much more narrow (like a normal hiking trail.)

The beginning of the climb up the ridge

Following steep switch backs up the ridge

At first you have steep switchbacks and some pleasant traversing across the vibrant green slopes. Then you get into the long climb up the ridge where you honestly just need to take lots of breaks and enjoy the views. (So choose a nice sunny day.)

The grass was almost glowing it was so green!

Check out the funky tree! (It's not called Wind Ridge for nothing.)

Wind Ridge is a great early season training hike!

We took a LOT of breaks climbing the steep slope up to the ridge where you'll gain approximately 500 metres in 2 km.

Fortunately we always had a good trail to follow and it was equally good on the way down. There is no bad scree and it was never particularly loose.

Pretty much straight up the ridge!

As you hike up the ridge, you'll get great views of Windtower and Rimwall, two hikes that we've really enjoyed.

Read: West Wind Pass and Windtower - Family Hiking and First Summits in Kananaskis

Read: Rimwall Summit (First Summits in the Canadian Rockies)

Windtower, West Wind Pass, and Rimwall Summit from the Wind Ridge Trail

Reaching the Cliff Bands on Wind Ridge

As you start to get into the cliffy section of the trail, you'll be able to bypass most of them by just following the trail that skirts around them.

There is one however that requires climbing up the cliff using a series of easy ledges. There is a bypass trail but it is steep, rooty, muddy, and unpleasant. Use it on descent if you don't like down climbing, but I'd recommend taking the cliff up.

Reaching the one cliff band that you'll climb below the summit ridge

The cliff is like a big staircase with easy to climb ledges

Fortunately this cliff can be bypassed on descent if you prefer steep roots

At the top of the cliff there is a short narrow traverse

Above the biggest cliff you can see the rest of the trail up the ridge in front of you. It's not especially comforting to see that it's still straight up at a steep angle. However, there is a trail and the only real scrambling is now behind you.

Looking up at the ridge (The trail skirts the cliff band to the right)

Hiking the upper part of the ridge

The upper part of the ridge is steep and rocky

Almost at the top of the ridge (the final baby cliff band)

Reaching the Summit of Wind Ridge

Upon reaching the top of the ridge you're rewarded with great views of the Three Sisters, the Wind Valley, and the summits of Rimwall and Windtower.

The Three Sisters as seen from Wind Ridge

You can continue further along the ridge if you want (which would require hiking down from the summit and back up to another bump further along.) There is also an optional loop that can be made by continuing to the far end of the ridge. We returned the same way which is the easiest for route finding (lest you get lost in the Wind Valley trail network.)

On the summit of Wind Ridge

Keeners with lots of energy can continue to the second bump in the background

Wind Ridge Summit

Hiking back down

We followed the same route back down and the trail was great on descent. There was no nasty scree, no loose sections, and the dirt was grippy. Any rocky sections were easily hiked down as well.

Following the ridge down through the upper rocky section

The rocky parts were easy to descend

And for music lovers, here's some fun trivia: The Pink Floyd Video for "Learning to Fly" was filmed on Wind Ridge. Watch the video (YouTube link) and let me know if you recognize the rock slabs my son is hiking down in the photo above (about 1:47 into the song)

Following the steep ridge down to the top of the big cliff band

Upon reaching the big cliff band that we had climbed up, we decided to use the bypass route that shows up on All Trails. It wasn't especially fun and was extremely steep, muddy, and loose. However, it was relatively safe. A fall would have resulted in a skinned knee rather than a broken leg.

The cliff bypass route

As you can see, the bypass route wasn't much fun!

At the bottom of the cliff, it was straight forward hiking again down the lower ridge until we reached the wide easy trail leading to the old road through the West Wind Valley.