A popular viewpoint offering a picturesque look at the Three Sisters mountains is raising safety concerns in Canmore, where residents say visitors are putting themselves at risk while disrupting a nearby off-leash dog park. The location has gained attention online, with visitors parking at the Cougar Creek dog park and crossing Bow Valley Trail to reach the viewpoint near railway tracks. Residents say the increased traffic has created congestion in the parking lot, leaving local dog owners struggling to find space while pedestrians cross a busy highway — sometimes in groups — to take photographs. The Town of Canmore says the situation has escalated in recent months and it is working with other agencies to find a solution. In the meantime, it is considering changes to signage at the dog park. ‘It’s a huge safety issue’ Lorna Hartley, who has lived in the Bow Valley for 38 years, says she has watched the problem grow over the past couple of years. “It’s a hazard waiting to happen,” Hartley said. “There’s going to be a consequence to this unless something is done. We don’t want something to happen and just sit back idle.” Hartley says the gravel parking lot has become increasingly crowded, with visitors parking near or even on the shoulder of the road before crossing Bow Valley Trail to reach the viewpoint. The road is near a major interchange, and Hartley says a curve can make it difficult for drivers to see pedestrians approaching from the side. “Even me, when I walk my dogs here, I feel kind of nervous about the cars coming because it’s a blind corner,” she said. Hartley says she has seen children and elderly people crossing the highway, along with visitors who have parked nearby to take pictures. The railway tracks beyond the road add another layer of concern, she says, particularly when visitors are unfamiliar with the area and unsure where to go. Rick McGaw, owner of Canmore pet care business At Your Bark and Call, says he has witnessed near-misses involving pedestrians and vehicles. “It’s a huge safety issue and someone is going to get hurt,” McGaw said. “I’ve seen more than enough incidents here where there’s been screeching tires.” McGaw says tour buses have also dropped off groups of visitors, with people attempting to cross the road together. He says has seen drivers stop on the highway to let pedestrians cross, creating the potential for collisions involving other vehicles. “Someone is going to get rear-ended, or even worse, killed.” Dog park users losing access The Cougar Creek off-leash dog park is a popular spot for local residents, but Hartley and McGaw say the increase in visitors heading to the viewpoint has made parking more difficult. McGaw says the fenced, treed park is one of the more appealing places in the valley for dogs to run freely. “It’s highly relied upon by so many locals in town that come here on a daily basis with their dogs to give them time to run,” he said. “But just over the last, probably year or so, there’s just been hordes of people coming and they take over the entire parking lot. It’s nearly impossible to get a spot on busy weekends.” Hartley says the crowding can leave residents with nowhere to park, even when relatively few people appear to be using the dog park itself. She has also seen visitors enter the fenced area while looking for a way to reach the viewpoint, sometimes leaving gates open. Hartley says this can create a risk of dogs escaping, while the lack of public washrooms has led some visitors to use the surrounding trees as a bathroom. She has raised her concerns with the town and gathered feedback from other residents before writing to the mayor and council. Hartley says she wants the issue addressed without turning it into a dispute between residents and tourists. “I just think we have a problem here, and it’s only a matter of time before it gets even worse,” she said. “Because on social media you have several posts and groups telling people to park at this off-leash dog park and illegally cross the road or the railway tracks which is not only illegal, but extremely dangerous.” Visitors find the viewpoint through social media The viewpoint continues to attract visitors looking for photographs of the Three Sisters and their reflection in the water. Bourne Rivera, who was visiting from New Brunswick with family, said she learned about Canmore through an online visitors group and became interested in seeing the mountains after coming across photographs of the area. “There’s a lot of great pictures and when I saw this online, I wanted to get one too,” Rivera said. She said her family had been looking forward to visiting the spot, but the location was not immediately obvious when they arrived. “It’s kind of like not really a spot where you will see right away, but the Facebook group I follow took us right there,” she said. The town says social media posts and online recommendations have contributed to the increase in visitors, including people trying to take a shortcut to popular scenery. “There’s lots of beautiful places to take pictures in Canmore, but we don’t need to use this one and cross the road unsafely,” said Caitlin Miller, the town’s manager of protective services. Town exploring signage, Google removes viewpoint marker Miller says the town has known about the issue for a couple of years, but the number of people visiting the viewpoint has increased significantly in recent months. “It’s not a safe place to cross the road. There’s no crosswalk. It’s on a highway. It’s by a major interchange of another highway,” Miller said. Miller says the town is coordinating with other jurisdictions and agencies because the issue involves multiple parties. The town is considering updating signage at the dog park, including signs indicating there is no RV parking and that the lot is intended for dog park users. A longer-term solution may take time as the town works with other agencies to determine what measures are possible, she said. The railway property and land beyond it fall under different jurisdictions, complicating efforts to address access to the viewpoint. The town has previously asked Google to remove the Three Sisters Viewpoint marker from Google Maps, according to correspondence cited by Hartley. Google Canada confirmed to CTV News Calgary that it has now removed the viewpoint from Maps. The company says it regularly reviews requests involving locations that raise local traffic or safety concerns and takes appropriate action to update its maps, with the goal of providing accurate information while working with local communities and officials. CTV asked if the viewpoint’s location could be re-uploaded by other users and is waiting to hear back for further confirmation.
