Pursue your passions by matching your interests to themed hikes in the Canadian Rockies. Guides take the birders into the best view areas, the animal lovers into prime territories, the glacier watchers into dramatic landscapes, and much more.
Check out Travel Alberta holidays and read on to discover learning adventure hikes that may match you.
Fun Guided Hikes
Nadine Fletcher and Joel Hagen of Great Divide Nature Interpretation at Lake Louise, Alberta, offer guided hikes that mix fun and learning. They are both Master Accredited Interpreters who have created hikes for people with particular passions.
"Themed hikes are usually for people who want to really focus in on a particular subject or interest,” says Fletcher. “The hikes might still work for anyone, but the people who are really interested in, say, grizzlies, will get that focus – and we have a number of themed hikes.”
These are full day hikes and there are always options to customize. The hikes are for the most part in and around the Lake Louise area in Banff National Park. The hikes described below are available until the end of September.
The wide variety of wildlife that you’ll see in Banff National Park might include the Lake Minnewanka squirrel that horned into a couple’s photograph of themselves at the lake, a photo that turned up on National Geographic and quickly went viral on the Internet in August.
Following the Grizzly
The Following the Grizzly hike can be done on a variety of trails.
“We will go to a trail that features signs that the grizzlies have been around, such as where they’ve been digging for roots or scratching trees,” says Fletcher. “We are looking to see signs they have passed that way.”
Better than being face to face with a grizzly bear, this hike focuses on where a grizzly bear has been. It’s a day hike through high elevation bear habitat where you learn about bear biology and behaviour.
“You will hear the stories of particular bears that live in this landscape, such as Blondie and her daughter, ” says Fletcher. (There is a tracking and numbering system for bears).
Try Made for Each Other
You go to a little known quiet trail called Paget Lookout to learn the ‘Made for Each Other’ stories of relationships in nature. This one is great for nature lovers who like to delve deeper into the science behind it all. It is a relatively short but steep hike.
“We tell the stories about the ways to get along in nature as well as the relationships that are best described as ‘I can’t live without you,’” says Fletcher.
Consider the co-evolution of the Clark’s Nutcrackers and the whitebark pine. “The tree needs the bird to liberate its seeds and plant them, and the bird needs the tree for a rich food source through the winter so they don’t have to migrate,” says Fletcher.
Consider the Wonder of Water
The Wonder of Water hike is “a visual feast of all things water,” says Fletcher. “It’s the blue green colour of the lake, the fast moving stream over cobbled rocks, the roaring canyons, and the waterfall and the glacier above -- and it’s all open views.”
Explore Bow Lake up the Icefields Parkway and the Bow Glacier’s falls. “You’d learn how the lake gets its colour as a result of the glacial silt, how the silt got there, the ingredients of colour that includes the physics of sunlight, and much more,” adds Fletcher.
You’ll discover how water and ice have sculpted the Rockies and consider the data they include about everything from past ice ages to today’s changing climate.
Explore Mountains and Glaciers
In this hike, you’d do the classic Plain of Six Glaciers trail, which offers a great introduction to Canadian Rockies geology. Roam the high peaks and learn about the main ranges, moraines and rockslides.
“With the layers of sedimentary rock, you can see the features left behind as the glaciers melt, and the glacial features such as crevasses,” says Fletcher. It’s a medium hike and there is a teahouse at the end of it.
Golden Larches, a September Pilgrimage
This is a great hike for mid to late September, when the alpine Larch trees turn gold in the high country. “We explain the evergreen world in the Rockies and how the Larch tree breaks all the rules,” says Fletcher. “This is a tree line environment, and you’ll learn how the Larch tree stands so tall and does so well against the evergreens.”
You can find various hikes at Great Divide Nature Interpretation along with more Travel Alberta parks packages.