Day 2 - Hiking in Lake Louise

Day 2 Hiking in Lake Louise

Today we drove to Lake Louise about 81kms (1km = .62miles) from Canmore. We had to purchase a park pass on the way which ran $20 per day or $138 dollars for a year pass. Needless to say we did the math and we are now the proud owners of a pass to all Canadian parks for a year. We reached the parking lot of the famous Fairmount Hotel at about 9:00 am. It was about 40º with a little light rain, and snow. This was supposed to be the nicest day of the week. We decided to hike the Saddleback Loop. The Saddleback circuit takes you from Lake Louise to a scenic pass studded with majestic alpine larches, and then down through Sheol Valley to Paradise Valley, returning to Lake Louise by a forested trail.

After taking in the spectacular views of Lake Louise, and a few pictures, we started our hike and found the trail for Saddleback; it’s just to the left of the entrance to the Fairmount canoe rental path. The trail to the Saddleback is 3.5 km and has an elevation gain of 600 m. The trail goes through some avalanche paths, forested areas and open meadows. About 3 km later with many switchbacks and elevation gain we reached the Saddleback junction from here you can go left onto the Sheol Valley Trail that leads to Paradise valley or right to Fairview Mountain. Our intention from the beginning was to go on to the Sheol Valley trail; however, we came upon a sign at the split that prohibited from hiking in some areas due to grizzly activity.

The sign read: By law, you can only hike in a tightly packed group of four or more. Fine for violation $5000 (not to mention being mauled).
Moral of the story here….

Don’t Leave Home without it……Bear Spray that is! We were the only ones on the trail today without bear spray. We figured the area was so heavily traveled there would be no bears. Big mistake! We will not hike without it again.

What to do, the trail to Fairview Mountain is not clearly defined. The trail is full of switchbacks up a steep slope made up of loose scree. The 1.5 km trail gains an elevation of 444 m. At the summit, you will be 1 km above Lake Louise and have great views of Mt. Temple and Mt Victoria. It looked so big and so hard to climb we weren’t going to do it. FYI- This Mountain is also nicknamed "Overtime Mountain". Many people try to scramble down the northeast side as a shortcut on the way back. This is a sure way to spend the night on a ridge and be billed for a rescue the next morning.
A few kms back on the trail we had stopped to talk to a group of hikers from Calgary, nice group, and after exchanging picture taking we went on our way. They reached the junction just after us (they were smarter and took a break just before reaching us). They talked with us about the bears in Paradise Valley, bear spray must have, and the fine that we will for sure get if we take that route. They encouraged us to climb the Fairview Mountain with them. The last part of the trail has a 30% grade which means for every 100 feet you travel horizontally, you gain 30 feet vertically. It was very steep, breathless going up, sliding on scree on the way down.

We did it, we made it, and the views were worth every ounce of pain we will feel in the morning. Thank you Canadians for your encouragement!




Total mileage roundtrip: 10km or 6.1 miles (felt like 100, miles or km, you pick)
Total elevation gain: 1044 meters or 3425 feet, Total meters above sea level: 2745 or 9006 ft

Total time roundtrip: 5 hours including a half hour at the top, eating lunch and many stops to catch our breath.