Prairie View

This is an old school XC classic that's also incredibly popular with hikers on weekends. Weeknights are the best times to avoid dodging walkers.

The Prairie View trail begins at the Barrier Dam trail head, and follows a gravel road over the top of the dam and around the north side of the lake before heading up hill. At the top of the first short climb, cross the powerline trail and keep heading up the gravel. You'll eventually come to the junction with the Stoney Trail. Keep going up the very wide dirt and gravel path, and enjoy the 11 switchbacks. Side note: the last switchback is also the start of the Camp Chief Hector DH.

The first major viewpoint is not quite to the top of the mountain, but it's a good place to stop and collect stragglers. Follow the trail around to the right and ride as far as you can up the steep slope before doing the hike-a-bike up and over the top. Time to drop seats, tighten straps and check tire pressure before plunging down the other side It starts off as scree and abruptly changes to roots of all sorts. Erosion has had its way over the years, and there's plenty of root steps, loose rocks and abrupt corners [it was originally a hiking trail], all of them taken at speed. Things start to level off at the bottom, and the start of the Razor's Edge trail is on the right. The end of Prairie View is at the junction with Quaite Valley and Jewell Pass trails. QV goes north to Hwy 1, and JP goes back toward Barrier Dam via Stoney Trail to close the loop.

Open for winter fat biking:

https://www.albertaparks.ca/parks/kananaskis/kananaskis-country/advisories-public-safety/trail-reports/bow-valley/prairie-view/

Access Info

This trail is in Kananaskis Country. Take Hwy 1 to Hwy 40 turnoff, head south. The Barrier Dam trail head is a right turn off of Hwy 40 westbound.