The trail up to Bourgeau lake starts down by the Bow River, this photo was taken at about the halfway point. You can see Mount Cory in the background on the other side of the valley. The hike starts about 10 km West of the town of Banff, right next to the Trans Canada Highway. This is a popular and challenging hike being about 15km -20km there and back with 725 - 100 0m of vertical depending when you want to call it quits. If one really wants they can hike for weeks from this trailhead.
Don't feed the bears! There is a sign at the bottom and a gate you pass through to stop wildlife from getting on the highway. You can read about why the mountain is called Bourgeau, in short he was a Botanist on an early expedition into the Canadian Rockies 165 years ago.
The way up is a grind. There is only one spot with a great view and you cross a couple of mountain streams. You're in the forest most of the way just going back and forth up switchbacks. The trail is simple to follow and there is no way anyone would lose it during the summer time.
Whenever you're on a hike up to a lake and you see a waterfall like this, you know there's more work ahead. This is the only spot we took a brief break on the way up as I was hiking with an experienced group of local weekend warriors. One thing that makes living in Calgary so great is being able to easily find friends who want to go hiking on a Saturday. It's close by, relaxing and good exercise.
The trees don't have much to root into up here. They frequently blow over, making a nice shelter for those in need. Trees up here are also older than they look as the growing season is short up two kilometers above sea level in Canada.
You don't need much of a bridge to cross this little brook. Whatever they build would just get washed away anyway so rocks in cages make the most sense. This is not the stream draining lake Bourgeau and looked like more of an avalanche shoot.
Once the trail opens up you know you're getting close. This place would be covered with a few meters of snow in the winter. Sunshine Village Ski Resort is just on the other side of the peak.
And there you have it, between the crack of the boulder, Bourgeau lake. Harvey pass is on the other side of the lake from here for those who wish to carry on. But, those clouds looked nasty and it was starting to rain just as we got there.
Next time we might hike up through the pass and up on to the mountain peak. It's just better to admire from down here when the weather is bad and to be fair it's a good enough workout just getting up to this point. Most people would turn around.
Speaking of turning around, here is the lake in its full glory. Because it was raining we didn't explore and opted to quickly eat lunch under the boulder and go back down.
Just had to get one last look at lake. This is a hike we will definitely do again. While it is rated hard for difficulty, I'd put it closer to medium if you are just going up to the lake. It's not a must do hike if you're in Banff, being rated a 4.5 but overall I'd give it a solid 4.7. The lower rating is due to the small parking lot. Frankly speaking, if you're embarking on such a hike, you can park on the grass at the side of the highway and walk an extra hundred meters.
Thanks for reading
All photos taken on an s20 phone and are unfiltered
