Tag: tarn

Yoho-Iceline

Hiking Yoho National Park – Iceline Trail in Autumn

On By GeoKsIn Yoho NP3 Comments

Cooler autumn temperatures and a bit of precipitation finally put out most of the forest fires in BC and Alberta. As the skies cleared and the summer crowds thinned out, we closed out the 2017 conventional hiking season with an up and back hike to the high point along the Iceline Trail in Yoho National Park. The majority of the trail is across barren landscape that was covered by glaciers just a hundred years ago. Pioneering alpine shrubs added touches of warm, fall colour to the rocky terrain - a beautiful contrast to the icy pools of turquoise glacier melt.

Arethusa-Cirque

Hiking Kananaskis Country – Arethusa Cirque

On By GeoKsIn Hiking, Kananaskis6 Comments

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.

Mount-Bourgeau

Hiking Banff National Park – Mount Bourgeau

On By GeoKsIn Banff NP, Hiking3 Comments

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.

Hiking Kananaskis Country – Pocaterra Ridge

On By GeoKsIn Hiking, Kananaskis6 Comments

On September 9, @Albertaparks tweeted that Highway 40 was open at the winter gates, allowing access to the summit of Highwood Pass. Normally, these gates are open from June 15 to November 30 each year. Alberta Parks, highway crews and volunteers have been working hard to re-open all of Highway 40 and Kananaskis Country since …

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