rockbound-lake

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!

Mount-Bourgeau

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.