Elk Lakes Cabin, hiking adventure with the family



Elk Lakes Cabin, BC

 First time hiking to an ACC Hut !! what a great way to spend May Long weekend.

This year is a the year of exploring some of the most amazing facilities in the wilderness of the Canadian Rockies !! ACC (Alpine Club of Canada) has several huts available in Alberta and BC. I got a membership this year so that I can explore some of them with the family.

The first adventure was on May Long weekend, we planned to spend one night in BC at Elk Lakes Cabin. The approach is an easy 10kms hike, parking at Upper Lakes Kananaskis in Peter Lougheed park.

Trailhead

We began the hike at around 12:00pm on Saturday May 20th. The hike has two options, a hydroline trail (wide and open) that goes all the way to Elk Pass and the single track trail that goes parallel to it. We decided to stay in the single track to keep it fun ! There was a lot of snow and water this time of the year, but once you get your feet wet there is nothing to worry about.. The first 5kms were fairly easy, nice ascend of 200mts with a few creek crossings. Once at Elk Pass we took the single track that takes you to the cabin. There were sections covered with snow and lots of water on the trail.. some had nice planks and the others not much choices. Beautiful scenery and mountain views along the way.  









  






Maria was a bit nervous, not knowing the trail and conditions, but she was able to sort all the obstacles.

Once we got the the Cabin (3:30 hours) we took off our shoes and cooked some lunch. 

We went for a short hike down to the Lower Elk Lakes, only 1 km from the cabin, the views are great and it was nice to check out the campsites that are available at the lake. 



Lower Elk Lakes






 By 9:30pm after supper we were ready to call it the day and went to sleep. It was a warm night and we didn't even need to use the sleeping bags. 

Next day, we woke up around 8:30, and after breakfast and some water filtering we were ready to hit the trail back to the car. We decided to go on the same single track trail as supposed to the boring hydroline... The hike back felt a bit shorter, perhaps because we knew the trail already.
We didn't see any wildlife this time. We had a few snack breaks and were able to made it back in under 3:30 hours.

The kids had a blast staying in the cabin and overall a nice hike. Next trip is to Asulkan Hut in Rogers Pass late in September !!! Stay tune for a summary of that trip !!

















 

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