Hiking Mount Hoffman in Bluerock Wildland Provincial Park

Mount Hoffman is a moderate, out-and-back trail in the less frequently travelled Sheep River area of Kananaskis Country. It is a summit hike, but with manageable elevation thanks to its location on the edge of the foothills and the Rockies. Mount Hoffman trail is a great spring hike because the lower elevation makes the peak accessible earlier in the year than higher peaks.

Mount Hoffman Hike Summary

• Difficulty: Moderate
• Distance: 9.3 km round trip
• Elevation: 532 metres
• Trail type: Out-and-back
• Time: 3-4 hours
• Trailhead: Indian Oils Day Use Area

Finding the Mount Hoffman Trailhead

To get to Mount Hoffman trail, drive south from Calgary and connect to Highway 22X, then turn south on Highway 22 before Priddis. Continue on Highway 22 until you reach Diamond Valley, then turn right at the four-way stop by Royaltie Millennium Park (across from the Esso) and connect with Highway 546. This road will continue through Blue Wildland Provincial Park and Sheep River Provincial Park. You’ll reach Indian Oils about 30 minutes after passing through Diamond Valley.

Park at the Indian Oils Day Use lot. From there, it is a short walk to the Sheep River bridge. Admire the gorge and the rushing water of Sheep River before crossing the bridge. Then, follow the signs left for Mount Hoffman trail and begin the gentle ascent of the first 1.5 km.

Detailed Trail Description

After 1.5 km, you will reach the switchbacks and another sign for Mount Hoffman trail. At this point the trail narrows from a road’s width to that of a sidewalk and the trail gets steeper. It maintains a similar grade for the rest of the trail. There is a small off-shoot trail around kilometre 3 to a mountain viewpoint that brings hikers out of the forest for a moment. Then the trail continues up to the final switchbacks and the alpine meadow.

Around kilometre 4 you will break out of the treeline. Here, the path leads through a small alpine meadow. When we did the hike in spring, the meadow was filled with different wildflowers including crocuses. Make sure to stay on the trail to protect the fragile alpine plants here (part of the leave-no-trace principles). Continue through the meadow and up the final ascent to the rocky plateau at the summit.

The summit was very windy, but opens up to views of Gibraltar Mountain, Highwood Peak, and Mount Burns to the west. Sheep River and Sheep River Road are visible below. We ate lunch at the top and then made our way back down.

The descent was swift, with us taking around 1 hour and 45 minutes to get to the top and an hour to get back down. After the hike we stopped by Sheep River Falls and Diamond Valley before heading back to Calgary.