Calgary 
Chester Lake is a moderately challenging hike you may want to tackle this fall.
It is located in a year-round accessible area of Kananaskis Country, meaning you can explore this hike during any season (bring snowshoes for winter!).
The Smith Dorrien Trail is a great scenic drive for fall colours in general, but places like Chester Lake offer a much-sought-after Alberta view: the golden fall larches.
The larch trees in the park and other parts of Kananaskis are unique in that they are not evergreen conifers, but rather their needles change colour each fall along with the deciduous trees. And when you place hundreds of golden larches around a place like Chester Lake, in the Rocky Mountains, and 9km away from the crowds, you get a picturesque fall scene found in a few other places in Alberta.
The hike to Chester Lake takes about 3 hours over 9.3km in total.
You’ll begin from the Smith Dorrien Trail at the Burtstall Pass, an area which offers plenty of parking space, picnic areas, and washrooms. The trail is on an incline for the first half, but it is a nice and gradual climb that is suited for kids.
Much of the trail is forested and shaded but has some open grassland areas and comes to an end at the beautiful yet small Chester Lake. It is a stunning landscape in the fall, with the shoreline spotted with the gold of the larches and deep evergreen colours from other trees backdropped by the sheer gray face of the rocks. The turquoise water, the gold leaves and needles, and, if you’re lucky, a bright blue sky make for a fantastic photography location, too.
Once at Chester Lake, you can set up a picnic on the shores, continue a short trail by the side of the lake or head to Elephant Rocks to get a fantastic view of the lake surrounded by the beauty of the larches.
Trip Planning – Chester Lake
Chester Lake Trail is a 9.3 km round-trip trail with 300 m elevation that leads through an alpine meadow to a stunning lake.
Best time to go: before the end of October for the best fall scenery, but the Chester Lake Trail is open year-round.
How to get there: Chester Lake Day Use Area/Burstall Pass Day Use Area with parking lots on either side of the Smith Dorrien Trail (AB-742) in Kananaskis Country.
Chester Lake Day Use Area is approximately 2 hours drive (145 km) from Calgary, 1 hr 45 minutes (130 km) from Cochrane and 45 km from Canmore.
For more information
Peter Lougheed Provincial Park
