[GGG]

For Larches how long of hike.

The best Larch hike is Larch Valley / Sentinal pass. This year with no shuttle to Moraine lake it will be not very busy. Normally in Larch season it’s wall to wall people. The problem this year will be parking as it’s already almost impossible to get and will get worse for latches. Essentially you need to show up 1/2hr after sunrise and get a spot as the sunrise photographers are leaving. There are also private shuttles which might be a better option for a date.

Option 2 is sunshine meadows. Rock Isle Lake or Citidel Pass. This can be as easy as a 3-5 km loop or medium 16k round trip to citidel pass or a 22k rock isle lake, then hike over to Healy pass then out Healy Creek. The problem with all of these is that it requires a Gondola ride up to sunshine meadows ($40) and I believe it was closed for Covid this year. The Gondola gains you 500m of elevation putting you at Larch elevation when you start the hike with it closed none of the above opinions are easy.

Healy pass and Bordeau lake /Harvey Pass are both 20k round trip / 700-900 elevation gain trips d St o are full days and start with 2hrs of forest. Larches are fantastic for both but you are making a full day hike commitment

Gibson Pass between Shadow lake and twin lakes might be the most under visited Latch pass. You could start hiking at highway 93 Arbica lake trailhead and hike 24k 700m round trip past twin lakes and arnica lake to get there. Or what I am doing this year is bike up the red earth creek trail 9k one way 300m elevation. It’s reasonably graded fire road, a bit of a slog but not technically difficult. Then you have another 6k 400m or so one way to get to Gibson Pass. So 18k bike 12k hike. (I haven’t done this as a bike / hike yet but have hiked and bkiked all of the trail involved as separate trips)

Lake Ohara Alpine circuit plus Opabin plateau. Amazing Hike / Logistically difficult. Normally you have the impossible to book bus to deal with but this year that’s closed so you have the gravel access road to go up 12k one way just to get to the start of the hike so any hike totals 30+k so a really long day. It’s a must do some time so watch in January when they open up the bus lottery for next year.

The above are all really amazing Larch hikes where you walk through yellow forests. They all have logistical or physical challenges that Make them not as ideal.

For okay Larches but not amazing but way easier.

Ptarmigan Cirque - 6km loop in k country
Chester lake 5 km one way
Arethusa cirque / little Arethusa- 2-5k one way depending on how far you go up. 2-3k for larches.

These will all be crowded but great hikes and in the easy to moderate range if the date is an infrequent hiker. Normally I’d recommend sunshine meadows and paying for the Bus / Gondola but with that out not sure. I think throwing money at the Larch Valley problem and booking a private shuttle from lake Louise would get you the best hike for a date. Really depends on how much hiking you want to do.