This was our second hike on a weekend of hiking in the Rockies north of Lake Louise – the fantastic Peyto Glacier and Cauldron Lake hike. It’s another unmaintained and unofficial hike, and a bridge over the Peyto River is washed out so it is likely that you’ll need to take boots off and paddle across. The best thing about hike is that you really feel that you got off the beaten path and entered another world – one caused by the glacial moraines and washout river flats of the massive Peyto Glacier.
The trail starts at one of the busiest spots on the Icefields Parkway – the Bow Summit viewpoint of Peyto Lake. The hike starts by dropping a few hundred metres down to the glacial washout flats above Peyto Lake. From here the route follows the river south to a climb up the lateral moraine on the west side of the river, whereas the old trail followed the east side of the river and a bridge crossed the river much further south. With no bridge, it’s important to cross to the west side of the river as soon as possible, where the channels are braided and you might not need to take your boots off to cross.
As you start to climb the moraine, the views become increasingly impressive. The steep-sided glacier valley and views down to Peyto Lake are fantastic. As we climbed, we could see the steep cliffs and waterfall, above which is the precarious route to Cauldron Lake. Having climbed the moraine, we decided to have lunch at the dilapidated mountaineering huts in front of the Peyto Glacier. Fabulous views, but unfortunately we realised that the developing haze was from forest fires in British Columbia, as so the photography was not as good as it could be.
After lunch, we picked our way up the moraine towards the clifftop trail to Cauldron Lake. Our guide book warned us that this is trail where you need to be careful, and that’s certainly true. In one section of about 20 metres, one slip and you’re dead. We decided to cut a few meters higher up on the scree slope to stay clear of the sheer drop – it is safer to hike this way. Going to Cauldron Lake is well worth it – simply stunning and a great place to hang out and there appears to be lots to explore. Unfortunately, we needed to head back and brave the trail above the cliffs, and drop back down the moraine to Peyto Lake. We accidently followed the old trail on the way down the moraine, when meant we ended up scrambling over lots of boulders to get back to the new trail.
This is one of our favourite hikes so far in the Rockies.
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