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Bow Hut

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Bow Hut is an Alpine Club of Canada Hut which is starts by Bow Lake at the Num-Ti-Jah Lodge parking lot. The hut has to be booked through ACC, and is one of the best hiking experiences of my life. The hike starts alongside Bow Lake, then follows the trail signs for Bow Glacier Falls. The hut is beyond that point, taking you through a lot of fascinating terrain and geology. It's been 4 years since this hike, so it won't be the most detailed trail description, but the experience deserves to be documented in some way. The hike is about 8km in, and 400m of elevation gain, taking 4-6 hours to hike in according to ACC's site. The hike starts relatively easy going along the lake, then you start gaining elevation. One really cool feature of the hike is crossing a chockstone bridge (aka a very big rock). This is definitely the scariest part of the hike, but it is mostly just really fun. Bow Glacier Falls itself is also quite nice, but on my trip, we ventured straight to the hut, and...
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Bourgeau Lake

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Bourgeau Lake/ Harvey Pass is one of my favourite hikes from my Banff days. I did it once in 2016 to the lake only, and once in 2017, to the pass, and with a partial attempt to the summit of Mt. Bourgeau, aborted due to very windy conditions. Also, for someone who loves hiking as much as I do, summits aren't really my thing. I love mountain passes, glacial lakes, forests of all kinds, shorelines, waterfalls, and all sorts of ecosystems, but summit pushes haven't always worked the best for me, so it depends on the hike for how much I push for that. Instead of trying to change the type of hiker I seem to be, I am trying to embrace it. Anyway, about this hike.           Length: 7.5 km one way from trailhead to Bourgeau Lake           Elevation gain: 725 m           Hiking time: 6 hour round trip           Length: 9.7 km one way from trailhead to Harvey Pass    ...
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Mt. Louie - Grande Cache, AB

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Mt. Louie is an 11km round trip with 714m of elevation gain. The trailhead is 4km south of town, parking in the Cowlick Creek staging area. The trail is estimated to take 4-6 hours. As someone who prefers starting hikes early, a 7am start time to beat the heat was great. As a bonus, even on a long weekend, there were very few other cars in the parking area, and we didn't see anyone else on the trail on our way up, only on the descent. The trail is quite steep, with much of it travelling up a northwest facing ridge with exposed, erosion-resistant conglomerate rock (no switchbacks). There are also less steep sections through forests that give a change of scenery and take you through some diverse ecosystems.  The trail starts on what appears to be an old access road (which can be pretty muddy), which  quickly brings you to a manmade canal linking  Grande Cache and Victor Lakes. This was extremely beautiful in the early morning. It was also pretty wet from the dew. There is a...
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