C-level cirque

Another close to home wander through the woods surrounded by deep mine holes and the odd old concrete structure.

Starting at the Upper Bankhead this hike gradually moves up through the forest winding past the old mine shafts – which are sectioned off so silly people don’t fall in. Up around a kilometre up there is what I assume is an old house. It is literally concrete walls, no roof, no windows or anything. From here it is constant switch backs all the way up with minimal views until you get right to the top at the base of the avalanche shoot.

At the base of the avalanche shoot there is a little hidden blue lake to the left (which I totally missed on the way up). Follow the path up to the right which is literally straight up- to which I died. At this point I was like “where is this damn view!”.

Keep going up! There is a Little Rock garden maze and finding the path is a little hard! I kind of made it up as I went following any resemblance to a path until I found the actual route.

Literally straight up! I was beyond tired at this point! The whole way up I was somewhat out of breathe (or I’m just super unfit), but steady charging up non-stop, until after the rock garden. The end point is not far up the steep climb but you will definitely be out of breathe. Rock garden part 2 makes an appearance and from here follow round to the right until you get to a large clearing where you can overlook Lake Minnewanka and Canmore. This is where I decided to slowly die a quiet death.

At this point you are actually rather high up Cascade Mountain! The elevation gain on this walk was surprising, and I would not describe it as a walk in the park thats for sure. If you have only a small amount of time – 3-4hours, but want to go for a hike and get the views in a short amount of time, this is the hike for you!