South Buller Pass Hike Guide in Kananaskis

South Buller Pass may be the most underrated trail in all of Kananaskis Country, as it is well-built and the views from the pass summit are surreal. Granted, it may remain relatively quiet given its further location along the Smith Dorrien Highway and frequent bear activity.

The elevation gain through the forest and subalpine zone is gradual, making for pleasant hiking. It’s not until the final push towards the pass’s summit that the trail gains notable elevation. For those who like larch hikes, the subalpine leading up to the pass is full of larches, so it may be worth saving this one for your fall hikes.

It is possible to make the trail a large loop connecting the more northern Buller Pass with South Buller Pass. It’s an amazing hike, but it does require some route finding as it is not an official trail. The trail up to Buller Pass is also not an official/maintained trail, so it’s much rougher.

---

Route Description

The trail begins at the Mount Buller Day Use Area and crosses Highway 742, and begins the journey up to Buller Creek. A short distance into the forest, the trail intersects the High Rockies Trail and continues along the same route for about 800 meters before branching off along Buller Creek.

Take care not to miss the fork which heads along Buller Creek, it should not be too hard to miss as it’s just after a bridge over the creek. Over the next 3 km, the trail ascends the valley, crossing various sections of burnt forest. It provides some nice variety to the approach, and there is a healthy amount of wildflowers in peak summer.

At about the 4 km mark, there is a small waterfall before a fork in the trail. The official trail goes to the right, which is South Buller Pass. This section of the trail is well-built and well-maintained. It’s also where most larch trees grow along the trail.

We chose to keep the option of a loop hike open, so we went to the left after the waterfall towards North Buller Pass. The trail from here narrows to a much smaller singletrack and becomes rough at times as it is not an official trail. There are multiple sections as you reach the edge of the alpine, where the trail disappears in a creek bottom or talus field.

There’s also a great waterfall on the trail to North Buller Pass, which is right around the start of the alpine. It’s around 3 km to the top of the pass from the fork in the trail. Along the trail, we saw a large herd of bighorn sheep that frequent the area. We also had a notable encounter with a large grizzly bear while ascending the pass.

Halfway up the pass, the bear came over the other side of the pass and quickly spotted us. At two hundred meters, it was close enough for us to freeze and pull out our bear spray. We slowly began our descent back down, but, feeling cornered, the bear quickly outpaced us, circling us in the cirque before descending ahead of us into the valley.

It was the first time either of us had seen a grizzly in full sprint, which was humbling to say the least. With an agitated grizzly down the valley, we believed our best option was to continue along the loop hike and hope we would not cross paths on the other side as we made our exit to the trailhead. This is also why this report is a little light on photos compared to our normal posts.

At the pass summit, the trail provides views down the Ribbon Lake and the vast alpine meadow of rolling hills. From the top of the pass, we made a brief descent to a large alpine meadow before heading south towards South Buller Pass. The trail here is very ill-defined, with the occasional section of goat trail and other sections with no obvious route.

Anyone attempting the loop, we highly recommend you have some sense of route-finding and a topo map downloaded to your phone or GPS. The two passes are around 2 km apart, and it’s pretty quick to connect them, but the route finding does make for a slower-than-average pace.

As we came around to South Buller Pass, we got great views down to Ribbon Lake and Guinn’s Pass. In general, the views from South Buller Pass are better, as we even caught a glimpse of Assiniboine to the west in the distance from the top of the pass.

The trail from the pass is steep shale and a series of switchbacks down to the valley bottom. From there is a well-defined single track trail that is much better suited to hiking than the route up to North Buller Pass.

It passes through a series of alpine meadows and larch forests that were just beginning to turn during our mid-September hike. The two trails converge near the waterfall, and the exit is the same way no matter which pass or route is taken.

---

Best Time To Hike Buller Pass

It’s best to hike Buller Pass from late June to October. July is the best chance for wildflowers in bloom, and late September is the best opportunity to see the golden larches. We think the South Buller Pass makes for a great undiscovered larch hike.

---

Trip Notes

We recommend most stick to the classic South Buller Pass summit. As the meadow is a prime habitat for grizzly bears and a large male is frequently spotted here, we did have an interaction with him at the top of North Buller Pass.

Due to this, we highly recommend checking with Alberta Parks for any trail notices and reporting any grizzly interactions. While we love a good loop hike, it may be best that most hikers stick to the classic South Buller Pass hike and give the wildlife space. It may be worth considering another trail if you like to hike with your dog.

---

Our Thoughts on Buller Pass

The hike had been on our list for a couple of years, and we really wish we had gotten to it sooner. What a gem of a hike that is completely undiscovered in terms of crowds. On the day of our hike, we saw not one other person on the trail; we were vastly outnumbered by the wildlife.

South Buller is a wonderfully built and maintained trail with the occasional deadfall that’s easy to navigate around. It’s a great option for those seeking a full-day out in the mountains with a decent distance of 15 km.

While we completed it as a loop, we can’t fully recommend the route for most hikers and suggest most evaluate their plans accordingly.