CTV News Calgary has reported:

Canmore residents say visitors seeking a photograph of the Three Sisters mountains are creating dangerous crossings on Bow Valley Trail and crowding the parking lot at the Cougar Creek off-leash dog park. People have been parking at the park, then crossing the highway and railway tracks to reach a viewpoint that has grown popular through online posts and recommendations. The town says the situation has escalated in recent months and is working with other agencies on possible responses.

Residents describe congestion in the gravel lot, where dog owners say they increasingly struggle to find space. Some visitors park near the road or on its shoulder before crossing Bow Valley Trail, which runs near a major interchange. Pedestrians, sometimes in groups, cross the busy highway to take photographs of the mountains and their reflection in the water.

Lorna Hartley, who has lived in the Bow Valley for 38 years, said 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 said a curve in the road can make it difficult for drivers to see people 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. She said she has seen children and elderly people cross the highway, as well as visitors who parked nearby to take pictures.

The railway tracks beyond the road add another concern, Hartley said. Visitors unfamiliar with the area may not know where to go, and some social media posts and groups direct people to park at the off-leash dog park and cross the road or railway tracks. Hartley said those crossings are illegal and dangerous.

Rick McGaw, owner of Canmore pet care business At Your Bark and Call, said he has seen near-misses involving vehicles and pedestrians. “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 said tour buses have dropped off groups of visitors who then try to cross the road together. He has also seen drivers stop on the highway to let pedestrians cross, which he said can put other vehicles at risk of a collision. “Someone is going to get rear-ended, or even worse, killed.”

The Cougar Creek off-leash dog park is used regularly by local residents. McGaw described its fenced, treed grounds as one of the valley’s more appealing places 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 said residents can be left without a place to park even when relatively few people seem to be using the dog park itself.

Hartley has also seen viewpoint visitors enter the fenced park while looking for a route to the scenery, sometimes leaving gates open. She said that could allow dogs to escape. With no public washrooms nearby, some visitors have used the surrounding trees as a bathroom, she said.

Hartley has brought her concerns to the town and collected feedback from other residents before writing to the mayor and council. She said she wants the problem 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.” 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.

Bourne Rivera, visiting from New Brunswick with family, said an online visitors group introduced her to Canmore. After seeing photographs of the area, she wanted to see the mountains for herself. “There’s a lot of great pictures and when I saw this online, I wanted to get one too,” Rivera said.

Rivera said her family had been looking forward to visiting the spot, but its location was not immediately apparent 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.

“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. Miller said the town has known about the issue for a couple of years, while 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. The town is coordinating with other jurisdictions and agencies because several parties are involved in the area and in any response.

The town is considering changes to signage at the dog park, including notices that there is no RV parking and that the lot is intended for dog park users. Miller said a longer-term response may take time as the town and other agencies determine which measures are possible. The railway property and land beyond it fall under different jurisdictions, complicating efforts to address access to the viewpoint.

Hartley cited correspondence indicating the town had previously asked Google to remove the Three Sisters Viewpoint marker from Google Maps. Google Canada confirmed to CTV News Calgary that it has now removed the viewpoint from Maps. The company said it regularly reviews requests about 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 Google whether users could upload the viewpoint location again and was waiting for further confirmation. The town continues to work with other agencies while considering signage changes at the dog park.