Our Family Day long weekend included an inside/outside day in Banff: a morning looking at photographs while wandering the galleries at Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies followed by an afternoon making photographs while exploring a new-to-us trail just outside of the Banff townsite. We accessed the easy Bow Falls to Hoodoos trail from Surprise Corner, a tiny parking …
Continue reading Hiking Banff National Park – Bow Falls to Hoodoos Trail
Up near Highwood Pass in Kananaskis Country, Arethusa Cirque is an easy hike with a couple of options to make it shorter or longer as your fitness or schedule permits. It's a good choice for wildflower season, since the trail crosses an expansive meadow that erupts into bloom at just the right time of year. It's also a decent option for larch season. We've hiked here 8 or 9 times and are still discovering new aspects of the landscape, which includes small waterfalls and a rock field with plenty of fossils.
After 20 years, we finally made a return visit to Bourgeau Lake. This time, we opted to hike beyond the popular Bourgeau Lake, pushing on to Harvey Pass and then to the summit of Mount Bourgeau. In my opinion, the unnamed tarn about 1.2 km beyond Bourgeau Lake is the scenic highlight of this route, with the views from Harvey Pass a close second. It was worth hiking all the way to the summit (once), but I'm not sure I'd do that again. This was the longest day hike we did in the Canadian Rockies in 2015, coming in at just under 25 km in just over 8 hours, with a total elevation gain of well over 1500 meters.
The trail to the summit of Fairview Mountain is steep and short, which just about qualifies it as a conditioning hike. But two key factors distinguish Fairview Mountain from most conditioning hikes: 1) the trailhead is at Lake Louise, so you're probably looking at a bit of a drive to get there; and 2) reaching the summit rewards with outstanding views of Lake Louise, plenty of glaciers and range after range of Canadian Rocky Mountains. If you're lucky, you'll also enjoy an abundance of wildflowers and the company of a marmot or two along the way.
A visit to Moraine Lake is rated the #1 thing to do in the Lake Louise area of Banff National Park. While a quick stop will net you a selfie and a stroll by the shoreline, a few hours will get you a completely different perspective on the Valley of the Ten Peaks. Bring plenty of water, a packed lunch, bear spray and your camera!