Bow Valley Provincial Park is a lovely frontcountry campground close to Canmore, Alberta, in the eastern slopes of the Rockies where there is a wealth of gorgeous hiking accessible by a short drive from our campsite.   There are some serviced sites but mostly this park has unserviced sites, although there are shower facilities.   This park, as everything in the area, is extremely popular as it is close to Calgary.    Many of the hikes in this area are good to do in late June when some of the higher elevations are still snow covered.   We will keep the group small to enable us all to get campsites.   If we manage to get extra sites I will open up a few more spots.   Reservations for this campground open on Wednesday March 27th and each participant is responsible for booking their campsite.  Most sites can accommodate two or three tents so it is possible to share sites and reduce the stress of booking.

Drive day from Kamloops will be Tuesday June 25th (about a 6 hr drive) and you will need a Kananaskis pass to access these hikes.  If you do not stop in the Banff/Yoho/Mt Revelstoke parks en route you will not need a Parks Canada pass.   Hike days will be Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.  Overnight then drive home on the Saturday 29th.  So you will need 4 nights camping reservation – 25th to 28th inclusive.

The hikes proposed are two full day and one half day hike.   None of the hikes need hwb or 4×4 so we will carpool to trailheads as they will be busy and parking at a premium.   For this reason we will be making early starts each day.  As we are hiking on weekdays and before the school holidays it will not be as crazy as later in the season.   Windtower is a fabulous view hike off the Smith-Dorrien highway south of Canmore about a 30 minute drive.   This is a 10 km hike with 1,000 m elevation and the longest of our hikes.  If you Google it you will probably find only the scramble directions but we will be doing a gradual trail that encircles the scramble route and has incredible views as you ascend.   As the title suggests it is a very windy place normally at the top so there is a neat shelter in the rocks at the top.

Another hike proposed is Heart Mountain horseshoe.   This is another 10 km hike of 900 m and is only a 15 minute drive from our campsite.   A very well defined trail up and around Heart Mountain.

For our half day hike (just to give our wee legs a break) I propose Ha Ling Peak out of Canmore.  This is only a 3.5 km round trip with a well graded trail to the summit for awesome views of the Bow Valley and Canmore area.

There are many other options close to the campground for not so good weather days.  It will be cooler in the evenings here than in BC but the days will be long at this point.

** Reservation date for Bow Valley Provincial Park campground is Wednesday March 27th.  A popular campground so make sure you have an Alberta Parks account beforehand, and try to get on the booking site early.  Sites open up at 0800 Pacific standard time.