Horseshoe Loop

Dogs Unknown

E-Bikes Unknown

This is one of the older singletrack loops in Canmore. It's a multi-use trail so expect to see hikers and horseback riders. Over time, various game trails have become preferred route options, so there are dozens of intersections that can seem confusing. However, the main trail is the most defined and usually the variations will rejoin the main route. As a basic route finding tool, remember to keep the summit to your left shoulder and the valley to your right on the way out and the reverse on your way back.

Start at the Cougar Creek parking lot on Elk Run Blvd. Follow the right side of the creek upstream to the trail into the woods. Continue up, past minor junctions until the main trail takes an obvious turn to the right, away from the creek.

You'll be at a junction here, both go the same place, but the left route is tough. It's best to continue straight, ignoring junctions, and go up the manufactured switchback trail.

At the top of the switchback, continue straight (yes, ignoring offshoots and junctions!) until the trail t-junctions. Take the climb to the right, this is the main uptrack of the outbound Horseshoe.

Follow this uphill and outbound to the East, using the 'left-shoulder/right-shoulder' orientation previously mentioned; there's junctions, of course, but the main trail is obvious. There are a few tech challenges for intermediate riders to try to hop up large roots, etc, but for the most part, this will just be steady uphill. It will eventually flatten out, then start to descend and you can enjoy the fruits of your labour with fast, occasionally bumpy singletrack.

Eventually, you'll have to swerve around a fallen tree; 50 metres ahead the trail will T-junction. Take the right turn for more fun, fast descent for a few hundred metres. Watch out for the right turn partway down, though - it's easy to miss! If you're zigzagging through three tight trees, you probably just blow by it. If you find yourself in the bottom of a gully, either backtrack or continue out of the gully, turn right and eventually rejoin the main trail.

Continue to follow the main trail. You'll pass around the lip of a gully overlooking town, then through some rooty, occasionally muddy terrain to a short boardwalk. Cross it and continue straight down the rooty terrain, following the main track to the top of the manufactured switchback trail you climbed early in the ride. Follow this route back out to the parking lot.