Lake Louise- Big Beehive

So 1 year ago exactly I did the Little Beehive at Lake Louise. I now can say I prefer the Big Beehive hike personally. Its longer, steeper parts and contains more of a hike feel.

To start you veer right of Lake Louise following the path up to the right towards Lake Agnes. From here there are looonnngggg switch backs, the first being a solid 20 or so minutes. These turn into a semi up-hill walk to Mirror Lake. This lake is surrounded by trees ad shadowed by the Big Beehive so very little ripples or movement in it- hence the name of Mirror Lake .

From mirror lake you can chose to go left to the Plain of 6 Glaciers (which would also take you to Big Beehive) or do as we did and go up to the right towards Lake Agnes Teahouse. Again this is a steady incline, nothing too strenuous. I only was out of breathe for a few moments up to this point. Below Lake Agnes there is a waterfall just before the stairs which lead you right to the Teahouse. Lake Agnes is surrounded by towering mountains – which were snowcapped when we were there. A lot of the lake is sheltered so looks like a mirror

To get to little beehive you veer right up hill after the Teahouse and to continue onto Big Beehive or Devil’s Thumb you go down the right of the lake towards the other side of the lake. That walk is a nice level steady walk (over snow for us) until you get to a almost open valley on the side of the lake with big boulders. This is a nice spot for photos and also if you do not want to carry on, a good place to stop. You keep following this path ,we went up snow towards the steep switch backs. These switch backs are probably the hardest part of this hike just as there are around 10 of them all closes packed leading up to the Ridgeline. Once on this ridge it is smooth sailing, you just follow the path to the left which will lead you over boulders and around crevices to the end of the Big Beehive which is marked by a little gazebo.

Personally I find the views on the right whilst walking towards the gazebo the best. This is where you’ll take the best photos. The lake to me looks like someone has got a crayola and coloured in the lake.

A great shoulder season hike or one for those who haven’t done many hikes and want to