Chester Lake

Trip Date: September 2015

Chester Lake is a popular multi-use trail in Peter Lougheed Provincial Park, which is part of the Kananaskis Country system of parks.  The trailhead is located along the Smith Dorrien/Spray Lakes Road, approximately 145km southwest of Calgary.  The Chester Lake Trail is 9.2km round-trip with 300 metres gained in elevation, most of which occurs at the beginning.

As previously mentioned this is a very popular trail and this day was no exception.  The parking lot was almost full when we arrived and we continuously passed by other hikers throughout the day.  It's easy to see why this trail is so popular.  It offers incredible mountain views with a very picturesque lake and the effort required to reach them is quite minimal.  Even though the trail was busy and the threat of rain was always present, the fantastic scenery and wonderful company more than made up for it.

Mount Galatea as viewed from the trail

Mount Chester with a light dusting of snow

Tough to beat this scenery!

The clear water of Chester Lake

The lake sits below Mount Chester

There was a small waterfall at the far end of the lake

Reflections on the lake

 As we were driving back to Calgary we spotted this mother Moose and her calf.  They were very tolerant of us snapping a few photos and then the calf ran over to suckle from it's mother.  This was the most aggressive display of feeding I think I've ever seen!  The photo below doesn't even come close to doing it justice.

Mama Moose

Moose Calf

The calf suckling from its mom

Goofy Moose!