Having passed the place many times on previous holidays in the Canadian Rockies, in 2004 we decided to spend a few nights at Mount Engadine Lodge. And what a good decision that turned out to be!
As it was early in the season, we were the only guests for the 3 nights we were there, so we had the entire place to ourselves. We spent many hours sharing Canadian wildlife adventures with manager Jennifer and cook Val, watching the moose, elk and deer walking by and feeding in the mud pool behind the lodge. The highlight was on our last evening, when we witnessed a fight between two bull moose from our room. The one that lost left and was replaced by a cow moose, that actually started kissing the winning bull!
Although near to Banff and the rapidly growing town of Canmore, Kananaskis Country is still an awesome, quiet place, pretty much ignored by the big herds of tourists. Let's hope it will stay that way so the wildlife will not be disturbed too much.
As for the Lodge: we wished we would never ever have to leave again. The food was to die for, the company and service better than you could wish for, and the setting, well, just take a look at the pictures! We recommend Mount Engadine Lodge to all those that truly appreciate good food and company, and spectacular scenery and wildlife, and will definitely return to the Lodge during our next holiday in the Canadian Rockies.

We stayed at Mount Engadine Lodge from August 7-11, 2005. We sandwiched it in between Banff Springs Hotel and Chateau Lake Louise. We cannot wait to come back here next summer. We will only be staying here.
It is a very nice set up. The lodge is all by itself and is on a nice meadow with a huge mountain range on the other side of it. We stayed in the Whiskey Jack Cabin. The beds are very nice and comfortable. A non-chain lodging establishment can cheap out on these but they were great. It was also nice to really do whatever we wanted. Some days we would just hang out at the lodge and relax and on other days we would go out hiking.

This is a very nice family place. We have a ten year old boy and a nine year old girl and they had fun. I cannot resist turning on CNN if there is a television and it was nice not to have one. The kids quickly adapted to playing the games in the main room, reading and playing outdoors. I felt my blood pressure go down by the minute. Since it is so small it would be very easy to have real young children here.

Most of the guests were married couples around 50 to 70 years old but they were more active than we were. The staff and the other guests would fill us in on all the nice hikes in the area. The staff had maps to give us for the hikes. They also like to go along if the schedule permits. At first I thought that they were offering to go just to be nice but then it became apparent that they enjoy going on a hike with anybody even if they were going with a slug like me. Their outgoing pleasantness was contagious.

It is on a gravel road but any sedan will have no problems driving here in the summer. I cannot comment on the winter driving.

The contrast between here and Banff and Lake Louise was staggering. At those places we were in constant comptetion for resources but here we could just relax. It also cost less for the entire stay here than for room and board for just one night at the other places.

The staff rotates in and out on 7 to 10 day shifts so it is very easy to get to know them. Natalie, Jennifer, Tom and Brad were there during our stay and made it a wonderful time.

Our Oregon Nordic Club Chapter members have returned to Engadine Lodge & Kananaskis Country for the last 5 years. Engadine Lodge is a best value combination of great skiing, scenery, hospitality, food and lodging in an accessible by car but remote location. X-C ski opportunities include groomed track with skating lanes at Mt. Shark, groomed striding track at Peter Lougheed, and many backcountry skier set trails.

We stayed at this lodge for a weekend last summer, and have already made reservations for this comming summer. Great food, very hospitable service, you feel welcome the whole visit. Area is beautiful, lodge is comfortable.