{"id":689,"date":"2015-05-05T12:38:27","date_gmt":"2015-05-05T18:38:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/?p=689"},"modified":"2019-03-16T11:46:36","modified_gmt":"2019-03-16T17:46:36","slug":"three-isle-lake-south-kananaskis-pass-peter-lougheed-provincial-park-alberta-canada-7-20-14","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/?p=689","title":{"rendered":"Three Isle Lake & South Kananaskis Pass, Peter Lougheed Provincial Park, Alberta, Canada (7-20-14)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two days\u00a0prior to this adventure\u00a0Lupe had a fabulous\u00a0day going\u00a0from Upper Kananaskis Lake in Peter Lougheed Provincial Park<\/a><\/strong><\/span> to the Turbine Campground along the Maude-Lawson Lakes Trail<\/a><\/strong><\/span>.\u00a0 Although Lupe never made it as far as Maude Lake or North Kananaskis Pass,\u00a0SPHP still had plans to for\u00a0Lupe to make an attempt at reaching South Kananaskis Pass via Three Isle Lake.\u00a0 Lupe set out for South Kananaskis Pass at 7:30 AM this morning from the same North Interlakes Day Use trailhead at the NE corner of Upper Kananaskis Lake.<\/em><\/p>\n

The wind had died down to just a little breeze overnight, and the skies were finally clear of all of the smoky haze that had been around since before\u00a0Lupe\u00a0got to the Rockies.\u00a0 By leaving so early in the morning, Lupe and SPHP\u00a0seemed to have\u00a0gotten the jump on everyone else.\u00a0 There was no activity at the trailhead and no one on the trail.\u00a0 Lupe again\u00a0started out on\u00a0the Upper Kananaskis Lake trail heading W above the N shore of the lake.\u00a0 At\u00a02.1 km, she\u00a0took the Three Isle Lake trail to the Forks Campground.\u00a0 She was having a great time sniffing around and exploring.<\/p>\n

\"Upper<\/a>
Upper Kananaskis Lake looking W from near the North Interlakes Day Use trailhead.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lupe started seeing people after reaching the bridge over the Upper Kananaskis River.\u00a0 By then she\u00a0was already getting close to the\u00a0Forks Campground about 7.1 km from the trailhead.\u00a0 This time, instead of taking the Maude-Lawson Lakes trail at Forks, Lupe stayed on the Three Isle Lake trail.<\/p>\n

Beyond Forks Campground, at first the Three\u00a0Isle Lake trail continued to be nearly level.\u00a0\u00a0Soon that changed, however, and the trail gradually started climbing more and more steeply.\u00a0\u00a0Pretty soon\u00a0Lupe and SPHP were starting a\u00a0steep climb\u00a0up a headwall blocking the way to the W.\u00a0 At its steepest part there was a stairway on the trail with a big chain anchored in the ground next to it for\u00a0something to hang on\u00a0to.\u00a0 Lupe didn’t need it, but SPHP was happy it was there.<\/p>\n

After the stairway\u00a0was a\u00a0steep section with loose rock on the trail.\u00a0\u00a0A cliff was close by just\u00a0below, so it was important not to slip and slide too far.\u00a0 Gradually the trail started leveling out again.\u00a0 After reaching the top of the headwall, Lupe followed the\u00a0trail\u00a0W down to Three Isle Lake.<\/p>\n

\"Lupe<\/a>
Lupe at the SE end of Three Isle Lake. Photo looks WSW.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Three Isle Lake\u00a0is a\u00a0beautiful alpine lake, although it wasn’t as pretty as it might have been when Lupe arrived since the water level was well below full.\u00a0 The N side of the lake was mostly forested.\u00a0 The S side was more barren. \u00a0There were gorgeous snow-capped mountains all around.\u00a0 Although it had been a bright morning, it was cool and mostly cloudy at Three Isle Lake.<\/p>\n

Lupe and\u00a0SPHP went and sat on a rock above the SE shore of the lake to admire the view.\u00a0 Soon an interpretive guide employed by British Columbia came along and hailed SPHP.\u00a0\u00a0 The interpretive guide said he was on the Alberta side of the border just familiarizing himself with the trails, and offered to answer any questions, etc.\u00a0 Lupe had none, but SPHP was interested in taking a peek at his very nice detailed map of the region.<\/p>\n

The interpretive guide’s\u00a0map confirmed that it wasn’t too far from Three Isle Lake to South Kananaskis Pass.\u00a0\u00a0The\u00a0Three Isle Lake trail Lupe had been following continued through the forest on the N side of the\u00a0lake.\u00a0 It gradually turned NW and headed on up to the pass, which was only a couple of km from the E end of Three Isle Lake.\u00a0 A much smaller lake, Beatty Lake, was another couple of km farther beyond the pass.<\/p>\n

\"Lupe<\/a>
Lupe at South Kananaskis Pass and the view NW into British Columbia.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Once\u00a0the interpretive guide\u00a0had moved on, Lupe and\u00a0SPHP went back to the Three Isle\u00a0Lake trail.\u00a0 Lupe turned W making for South Kananaskis Pass.\u00a0 Although SPHP lost the trail briefly at Three Isle Lake Campground, Lupe soon found it again.\u00a0 Before long, Lupe was at\u00a0South Kananaskis Pass.\u00a0 A sign there indicated\u00a0Lupe had reached British Columbia.\u00a0 From the pass was a view to the NW of a wonderfully green open valley with high mountains beyond.<\/p>\n

After 10 minutes at the pass, Lupe went on\u00a0into British Columbia.\u00a0 SPHP intended to go all the way to Beatty Lake, but had already foolishly forgotten exactly how far away it was from the pass.\u00a0 SPHP hiked 1.5 km, but didn’t come to it.\u00a0 Lupe was more interested in marmots and offered little help.\u00a0 Of course, coming from the pass, Lupe was losing elevation steadily.\u00a0 When SPHP came over a little ridge and saw another elevation drop, but no lake ahead, SPHP decided Lupe had gone far enough.<\/p>\n

\"Lupe<\/a>
Lupe in British Columbia. Photo looks SE back up towards South Kananaskis Pass.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At the turnaround point Lupe must have been pretty close to Beatty Lake.\u00a0\u00a0SPHP could\u00a0hear a big stream ahead that probably fed or came from the lake.\u00a0 Nevertheless, SPHP led Lupe back up to South Kananaskis Pass.\u00a0She visited Three Isle Lake again.\u00a0 The\u00a0trek down the headwall\u00a0E of\u00a0Three Isle Lake was easier, but scarier, than going up it.<\/p>\n

\"Three<\/a>
Three Isle Lake, Peter Lougheed Provincial Park, Alberta, Canada<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Below the headwall and just starting up the steep part of the trail,\u00a0was a young man who was running up the trail.\u00a0 He turned out to be\u00a0on a trail running race known as the “Death Run”.\u00a0 He was part of a relay team and had to run 38 km.\u00a0 Death Runner\u00a0seemed glad to stop for a breather.\u00a0 He patted Lupe and chatted with SPHP.\u00a0 The name of the race he was running told SPHP pretty much all SPHP really needed to know about it.<\/p>\n

At Forks Campground,\u00a0Lupe met a woman from Canmore, who was there with her son, Tristan, who might have been 8 or 9 years old.\u00a0 She had made more rice than she needed to and was going to burn it, just to get rid of it.\u00a0 Instead she fed it to Lupe and SPHP.<\/p>\n

SPHP\u00a0stayed chatting with her so long that\u00a0Death Runner came by after having gone to Three Isle Lake and turned around.\u00a0 Apparently Rice Lady\u00a0had previously talked to Death Runner, and they started\u00a0up a conversation\u00a0again.\u00a0 Stuffed with rice, Lupe and SPHP left Forks Campground shortly after Death Runner\u00a0jogged off again.<\/p>\n

\"Fading<\/a>
Fading to gray – sunset at Upper Kananaskis Lake, Peter Lougheed Provincial Park, Alberta, Canada. Photo taken at SE corner of lake near the picnic ground.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lupe and\u00a0SPHP got back to the G6 a bit before 9:00 PM.\u00a0\u00a0 It was a short drive over to the picnic ground at the SE corner of Upper Kananaskis Lake to watch the sun set.\u00a0 The sunset lacked the bright colors Lupe and SPHP were hoping for.\u00a0 Instead, everything just faded to gray.\u00a0 Lupe and SPHP sat together listening\u00a0to the peaceful sound of the waves lapping up on the shore of the beautiful lake.<\/p>\n

Another glorious day spent together in the Canadian Rockies was done.\u00a0 Happily, more were on the way!<\/p>\n

Links:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Next Adventure<\/span><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Prior Adventure<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Want more Lupe adventures?\u00a0\u00a0Choose\u00a0from\u00a0Lupe’s 2014 Canadian Rockies & Beartooths Adventure Index<\/a><\/strong><\/span>,\u00a0Dingo Vacations Adventure Index<\/a><\/strong><\/span> or Master Adventure Index<\/a><\/strong><\/span>.\u00a0\u00a0Or subscribe free\u00a0to\u00a0new Lupe adventures<\/span><\/strong><\/a><\/span><\/em><\/span>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two days\u00a0prior to this adventure\u00a0Lupe had a fabulous\u00a0day going\u00a0from Upper Kananaskis Lake in Peter Lougheed Provincial Park to the Turbine Campground along the Maude-Lawson Lakes Trail.\u00a0 Although Lupe never made it as far as Maude Lake or North Kananaskis Pass,\u00a0SPHP still had plans to for\u00a0Lupe to make an attempt at reaching South Kananaskis Pass via … Continue reading Three Isle Lake & South Kananaskis Pass, Peter Lougheed Provincial Park, Alberta, Canada (7-20-14)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":697,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[105,30,31,106,26,104,103,122,121],"class_list":["post-689","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2014-canadian-rockiesbeartooths","tag-american-dingo","tag-canada","tag-canadian-rockies","tag-carolina-dog","tag-dingo-vacations","tag-lupe","tag-peter-lougheed-provincial-park","tag-south-kananaskis-pass","tag-three-isle-lake"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/adventuresoflupe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/SDC11685.jpg?fit=1651%2C1238&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/689","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=689"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/689\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20811,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/689\/revisions\/20811"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}