Prairie View Mountain Bike or Hike

Trailhead: Park at the Barrier Dam picnic area located off the Kananaskis Trail Highway. 50 minutes west of Calgary. Bow Valley Provincial Park.

Description: Prairie View Mountain is considered an intermediate to advanced Mountain Bike or a moderate hike on foot. During bike season hikers may want to avoid this trail as they will be completely bombarded by Mountain Bikers.

Head west across the dam towards a gravel fire road. Follow the fire road avoiding left and right turn offs as it steadily climbs up Prairie View Mountain. You can almost ride a bike to the top. The last 30ms you’ll need to carry your bike up a steep rocky section. Easy on foot but a little trickier with a bike in your arms.

Views from the summit are very nice. Barrier Lake below glistens in the afternoon sun. Views to the north east open onto the prairies. Prairie View Mountains name becomes an obvious choice. Don’t confuse Prairie View Mountain with Prairie Mountain to the southeast of here. From the summit you can see a scree trail drop down the south side of the mountain. Several sections of the trail leading down can be steep and narrow along with log bridged streams.

Continue on down the trail until you finally reach another fire road that runs through grass fields along Barrier Lake then back across the dam to the parking lot. Barrier Lake holds Bull, Cutthroat and Brook Trout. You’ll need a fishing license to try out your luck.

Bow River Corridor Map PDF

Spray Valley Map PDF