#8 of 14 sights in Peter Lougheed
Sight · Peter Lougheed Provincial Park
Keep going past Chester Lake for a boulder scramble.
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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
Chester Lake: A Half-Day Hike“You're approaching the Chester Lake trailhead, for a hike to an alpine lake beneath Mount Chester's steep rock wall.”
Plays as you drive up to Elephant Rocks in the Parkwolf Peter Lougheed Tour Guide.
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“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
Elephant Rocks is a pair of large, pale boulder piles in a small meadow beyond Chester Lake. If you have hiked to the lake, keep going: this short extension lets you wander among the rocks with Mount Chester behind them. It turns the outing into more than a walk to the lakeshore.
Start at Chester Lake Day Use on the Smith-Dorrien Trail (Highway 742). The Chester Lake Trail is 4.6 km each way with about 300 m of gain to the lake; that distance stops there, and the rocks are farther on. Follow the west shore, cross a small log bridge, then take the left fork onto Three Lakes Valley Trail. The rocks are roughly another 300–500 m beyond the lake. Whole-route estimates vary around 9–10 km round trip, so allow about half a day.
The two separate piles sit in an open meadow below Mount Chester. Walk around the rocks and scramble over the lower boulders if the footing feels comfortable. In autumn, the surrounding larches turn gold, usually from late September into early October, though the timing shifts each year. For a photo, frame the pale rocks against Mount Chester and leave a few golden larches in the edges.
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
ModerateChester Lake Trail9.2 km · 3.5 hr · 3.2 km awayA steady climb through larch meadows to a high alpine lake.
ChallengingHeadwall Lakes Trail13.7 km · 5.8 hr · 3.2 km awayTwo alpine lakes and a waterfall reward the long approach.
ModerateChester Lake Snowshoe Trail6.8 km · 3.5 hr · 3.2 km awaySnowshoe through forest to a lake beneath a wall of peaks.
ChallengingThree Lakes Valley Trail12.2 km · 5 hr · 3.2 km awayThree tarns and a cairned climb below Gusty Peak.
ChallengingBurstall Pass Trail14.8 km · 5 hr · 3.3 km awayLarch meadows lead to a limestone pass above the Spray River Valley
ModerateBurstall Lakes Trail7.2 km · 2.5 hr · 3.3 km awayFind the lakes in the flats before the pass climbs steeply.
EasyHogarth Lakes Loop4.3 km · 1.5 hr · 3.3 km awayAn easy winter loop among forest lakes and Commonwealth Peak views.
EasySouth Sawmill Loop3.7 km · 1.5 hr · 7.7 km awayA gentle winter loop on Mount Kent's forested west slope.
Sight · 0.4 km awayChester LakeThe mountain lake is worth the climb, especially when larches turn gold.Picnic area · 3.3 km awayBurstall Pass Day Use AreaMud Lake and mountain views before the Burstall Pass hike.
Picnic area · 7.7 km awaySawmill Day Use AreaA useful break for views of Mount Murray and Kent Ridge.Parkwolf’s Peter Lougheed ranking
The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.
