Picnic area · Peter Lougheed Provincial Park
Mud Lake and mountain views before the Burstall Pass hike.
Map
Plan your stop
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Peter Lougheed Tour Guide
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Peter Lougheed Provincial Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
See the Peter Lougheed audio tourRecorded for this place
Burstall Pass Day Use: Mud Lake Views“Burstall Pass Day Use Area is coming up, beside Mud Lake with a view of Commonwealth Mountain.”
Plays as you drive up to Burstall Pass Day Use Area in the Parkwolf Peter Lougheed Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Guide
Burstall Pass Day Use Area is a year-round picnic stop and trailhead on Smith-Dorrien Trail (Highway 742), with views of Mud Lake and Commonwealth Mountain. Stop for the view or a picnic, or use the lot as the start of a much longer hike. Pit toilets are available. A Kananaskis Conservation Pass is required for vehicles parked in the region; arrange it before you set out because cell service along Smith-Dorrien Trail is not typically available.
The lake and mountain views are the main reason to stop here, and you can enjoy them from the day-use area without hiking to the pass. For a photo, keep Mud Lake in the foreground with the peaks beyond the tree line so both parts of the view fit together.
The separate Burstall Pass hike starts here. It is 7.4 km one way with 470 m of elevation gain, following forest and willow flats near Burstall Lakes before climbing steeply to alpine meadows and the pass. Treat it as a substantial outing; Burstall Lakes are a few kilometres beyond the day-use area, not beside the parking lot. Bikes are permitted only on the first 3.5 km of the trail.
Wildlife
132 sightingsGrizzly BearMost seen around 8 PMSighting map
17 sightingsCanada LynxMost seen around 8 PMSighting map
30 sightingsBlack BearMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
69 sightingsMooseMost seen around 5 PMSighting map
176 sightingsBighorn SheepMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
19 sightingsBald EagleMost seen around 8 AMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Peter Lougheed. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
Keep exploring
EasyHogarth Lakes Loop4.3 km · 1.5 hr · At the trailheadAn easy winter loop among forest lakes and Commonwealth Peak views.
ChallengingBurstall Pass Trail14.8 km · 5 hr · At the trailheadLarch meadows lead to a limestone pass above the Spray River Valley
ModerateBurstall Lakes Trail7.2 km · 2.5 hr · At the trailheadFind the lakes in the flats before the pass climbs steeply.
ModerateChester Lake Trail9.2 km · 3.5 hr · 0.2 km awayA steady climb through larch meadows to a high alpine lake.
ChallengingHeadwall Lakes Trail13.7 km · 5.8 hr · 0.2 km awayTwo alpine lakes and a waterfall reward the long approach.
ModerateChester Lake Snowshoe Trail6.8 km · 3.5 hr · 0.2 km awaySnowshoe through forest to a lake beneath a wall of peaks.
ChallengingThree Lakes Valley Trail12.2 km · 5 hr · 0.2 km awayThree tarns and a cairned climb below Gusty Peak.
EasySouth Sawmill Loop3.7 km · 1.5 hr · 6.2 km awayA gentle winter loop on Mount Kent's forested west slope.Parkwolf’s Peter Lougheed ranking
The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.
