Quote:
Originally Posted by hockeyhuman
I enjoy anything above 6km round trip up to 18km round trip!
The most challenging hike I've done is Hai Ling.
I'd be willing to drive up to two hours.
If it ends with a lake or waterfall that is BEST! Except I always seem to fail to find those ones haha
|
For Larch Season (last 2 weeks of September / 1st week of October) I would do Healy Pass. The Hike Starts and Ends and the Sunshine Parking lot.
Option 1 for the hike is to just hike up Healy Creek to Healy pass and back. This is about 18km round trip with 650 elevation gain. The first 5km is through boring forest though. So I recommend option 2 as the best larch season day hike.
Option 2. Take the Sunshine meadows bus up to the sunshine ski area, then hike over Simpson pass, up Healy pass, then back out healy creek. This is about 18k or so as well with a little less elevation gain. More importantly its all right at the tree line except for the last 5km. You can also add a quick tour of Rock Isle lake while you are in sunshine meadows. Bus runs during the week for $36 but if you say you are hiking down its only $30 or on weekends the Gondola runs and its $45. You have to reserve a spot as during larch season it fills up as they have a max number of people allowed to go each day which prevents the Larch Valley hoards.
For an Easy Larch hike I like Ptarmigan Cirque on Highway 40. Its only 6.5 k round trip with about 200 elevation. So only about 2hrs.
For non Larch season a great and easy hike is Bow Glacier falls, It features both a lake and a water fall. About 12k round trip with only 200m elevation maybe. It starts at bow lake on the icefields parkway. You walk around Bow Lake then climb up a canyon and hike along a moraine to the base of the falls. You can get right up to the falls. (there is also a trial up to Bow Glacier on top of the falls which is a neat hike but more difficult and has on exposed section where you cross a choke stone over a canyon.) Its about half an hour past Lake Louise so just over your 2hrs.