It's SPRING in the CANADIAN ROCKIES, Hiking up the Heart Creek Trail

April 6/2024 Spring Hike, Alberta Canada
In this video we are in the Bow Valley, and we will be hiking up the Heart Creek Trail. This is a beautiful little hike. It was a Winter Wonderland hiking in and an awesome Spring Day hiking out. The trail was 4.6 kilometers (2.9 miles) with an elevation gain of 144 meters (472 feet).
The parking lot is located on the South side of Highway 1. If you are traveling West, take the Lac des Arcs turnoff to get to the parking lot. The parking lot is a pretty good size. There were only a few other cars here when we arrived.
The trail starts out taking you into the trees heading East. Highway 1 will be on your left. There had been a few people on the trail before us, so the trail was partially packed. For this portion there is a gradual uphill. Soon you will arrive at a viewpoint looking back over Lac des Arc. Now the trail gets a little bit steeper. Just under .4k the trail will descend a little bit. Back into the trees you go. At just over .6k the trail opens up again and you will get a great view of Heart Mountain if it is not covered by clouds. Now you will start and head into the canyon. Shortly you will come across a sign and you want to continue going straight. Just under .8k you will arrive at Heart Creek. There are a few Interpretive Signs along the trail. Now you will be hiking up alongside the creek. There are numerous bridges along the trail as you work your way up the canyon. As we continued the snowflakes were getting bigger and bigger, it was magical. Just shy of 1k the trail will open up a little bit. We didn’t have much for views though as the mountains were hiding in the clouds. The trail will narrow again as you move forward with high canyon walls on your right. At 1.5k the trail opens up again for a short time. Now we were going to have to work a little harder. The packed trail was gone and only one other person had made the trail in front of us. The snow was well up to our knees here. Soon we came across an open section on the trail with a beautiful view of the canyon ahead. Pillows of snow everywhere and high canyon walls on both sides of us. Just over 2k we arrived at a frozen waterfall, which was mostly covered in snow. Just over 2.2k we came up on the creek and there was no obvious trail in front of us, so we decided to call it here. We enjoyed a snack and decided just to hike up the creek a little bit further. Now the sun was starting to peak through the clouds. Now it was time to start heading back. As we made our way back down the canyon the clouds were opening up and the weather was getting better and better.
What an awesome fun little hike. I highly recommend this trail to everyone. It wasn’t too long and has minimal elevation gain. We weren’t done yet though. We decided to head across the Bow Valley and hike up a portion of Jura Creek into a beautiful slot canyon. We also made it up to a cave. Part 2 of this outing will be in the next video.
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Thank you,
Cary Mason
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