A hiking vacation is just about the simplest means to discovering the Rocky Mountains’ magical natural world. It’s also one of the most satisfying. Bubbling creeks, melodious birdsong, mountain breezes gently rattling aspen leaves and shockingly bright wildflowers are among the wonderful discoveries awaiting you along Canadian Rockies hiking trails spanning thousands of kilometres.
While several million people visit the Rockies every year, a minute percentage actually venture beyond the TransCanada Highway to the abundant hiking trails. Those who do veer off the beaten path discover the Rockies’ true essence – a “three dimensional living museum,” as it’s been coined. If hiking is a new pursuit, hook up with an experienced, certified guide. More than hiking tips and hiking maps -- you’ll be lead from the most gentle valley bottoms to still glacier-fed lakeshores where you might listen to a loon. Or you might go for a stiff upward march to a mountain pass above the tree-line where bright fuchsia-coloured moss campion and dazzling blue alpine forget-me-nots light up rocky scree slopes.
Aboriginal guides offer interpretive outings that include native legends. Guides can teach you how to navigate using a map and compass and help you to identify the various tree species, birds, flowers and bushes. Free interpretive guide services are also available, through which naturalists teach you about the Rockies’ natural, human, geological and animal history. They can help you spot a bald eagle nest or tell the difference between a wolf, wolverine, elk, moose, pine martin, grizzly or black bear track. Guided hikes can last two and a half hours or they can keep you enthralled with your wilderness surroundings until sunset – which in mid-June is almost 11 p.m. Custom tours can be arranged for singles, families, teens, seniors or large private groups. Many include transportation, guides, water bottles and trail snacks.
Hiking doesn’t have to be limited to wooded or sub-alpine trails either; you can sign up for a guided walk on a glacier and look down mill wells and crevasses as you learn how the glacier was formed over millennia. Geology buffs won’t want to miss the Burgess Shale in Yoho National Park, one of the world’s most important fossil discoveries. This hike is open to guided groups only, to protect the fragile fossils, and participants must register in advance. In 1885 the Dominion of Canada created a special 25.9 square kilometre (10 square mile) reserve near the Banff town site, designed to protect the Sulphur Mountain Cave and Basin hot springs from commercial despoliation. The reserve eventually became Banff National Park, Canada’s first. Today, five mountain parks – Banff, Yoho, Kootenay, Jasper and Waterton Lakes – occupy more than 20,000sq.km (7,722sq.mi) of Rocky Mountain wilderness.
