This was a delightful walk with some off trail travel to a small ridge just north of Commonwealth Peak in Kananaskis which offered surprisingly good views. 

We started from the parking lot near Engadine Lodge just after 9.00am walking south on a wide old road past the turnoff to Tryst Lake then swinging left (east) to join a smaller trail which led us to beautiful Commonwealth Lake. Our objective was visible from here.

Commonwealth Lake and Pig's Back

The trail now thinned as we progressed upwards side hilling to gain the col between Commonwealth Peak and Pigs Pack where we stopped for an early lunch break out of the wind. Then over rough ground to the summit of Pigs Back where things looked rather familiar. I had been here before, in fact just one year ago in rather cooler conditions. Arnold had also skied the route with other Ramblers a few years back. Click on any photo to enlarge.

David, Cathy, Damian and David on the summit of Pig's Back

North from Pig's Back

Damian and David on Pig's Back with Commonwealth Peak behind

Cathy, David, Arnold and Damian admire the view from the summit of Pig's Back

We took another photo break before heading back to the col and turning North West down a gully to the valley floor. From time to time we picked up a trail, but some bushwhacking was inevitable before we reached the good trail along Commonwealth Creek “under” the Fist. We followed this trail back to the cars reaching them about 3.30pm for a leisurely 6.5 hours day. Very pleasant in the company of Arnold, Damian, Cathy and David plus dog Spektor.

The drive back to Calgary was uneventful but with heavy traffic on highway 1. This trip is actually in the Rambler database under the name of “Commonwealth loop with col 163281 & Pig's Back” trip G620, but I got the info from Bob Spirko’s website which gives the stats as 14.2km with 564m of elevation gain. Thanks to Damian for downloading the GPS track, but actually much of the route is on trail. C&S David.