Monday, July 27, 2009

Bourgeau Lake - Banff National Park

Bourgeau Lake - July 27

Round Trip: 15.4km
Time: 5 hours total - 2.5 hours there, 0.5 hours for lunch, 2 hours back.
Elevation gain: 747m

We stopped at the Bourgeau Lake turnout on Highway 1, 11.4km west of Banff. From here we entered the Jurassic park-like gate. Keeping the riff-raff out and the bears in. The first 2/3 of trail is gradual and follows Wolverine Creek. About 3/4 of the way, to the lake, the trail comes to a spectacular set of cascades. Past the cascades the trail gets increasingly more steep. Once at the top the trail opens into a large meadow full of wild-flowers. The lake lies on the far side of the meadow.

We took a half hour break at the lake to eat, where we were bombarded by fat, hungry, and greedy rock chipmunks (see the video).

The weather was great - hot hiking in, much sweat. On the way back it rained which was rather refreshing.






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