Barrier Lake Trail

7.9 km
237 m elevation
★★★★★ rating
Easy Difficulty
Pet Friendly

Barrier Lake Trail is a nice and easy trail that runs parallel to Barrier Lake in Kananaskis. From the parking lot you walk along a rocky trail to pass over Barrier Dam, before taking a left at the first main intersection to find the trail. The path itself is nice, it is a mix of forested areas and exposed to the sun. There are a lot of unique wildflowers along the trail as well if that is an interest to you. The trail can get fairly narrow and steep at times, however, the steepness is usually very short lived.

We like to find some pre-existing trails from the path to the lake to let our dogs go for a swim as well - it is nice cold water for them to cool off in, especially on a hot day.

The trail has some nice views of the surrounding mountains as well, most notably Mount Baldy across the lake, and Yates Mountain just next to the lake (if you were to continue heading up Prairie View Trail instead of turning off - see my review on Yates Mountain as well).