Lake Minnewanka Loop is a short, scenic road ride. In 2021, Parks Canada is piloting a 4 day/week vehicle free road cycling option during shoulder season.
Tag: Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep
Hiking Banff National Park – Beyond Rockbound Lake
A challenging hike of more than 20 km, the bench above Rockbound Lake provides stunning views of emerald green Tower Lake, navy blue Rockbound Lake and the sheer walls of the "back side" of Castle Mountain. Larches around the lake turn golden in September, wildflowers and mushrooms offer botanical interest along the otherwise boring front section. And since this is not a highly recommended trail, you may just go most of the day without encountering anybody else!
Cycling Highwood Pass
Many of our favourite hikes are up in the Highwood Pass area of Kananaskis Country: Arethusa Cirque, Pocaterra Cirque/Ridge and Grizzly Ridge, to name a few. The area is closed to vehicles from December 15 through June 15 each year. But it's not closed to bicycles! With our teenage son joining friends for the better …
Hiking Banff National Park – Mount Bourgeau
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.
A Scenic Drive through Kananaskis
We've never just gone for a drive along Highway 40 in Kananaskis Country. But that changed the first Friday in June, when we ended up enjoying a leisurely drive from Canmore to the Interlakes parking lot. We stopped several times along the way, cameras in hands, with the aim of sharing some of the scenic …