Banff – Cirque Peak

June 18, 2023

Lisa, Brandi and I

Cirque Peak via Helen Lake Trail – 10 miles

I found this hike I wanted you to do. The trail starts at Bow Lake and immediately starts climbing. The trail ran through a forest for a good long while. There are some views of Bow Lake with the mountains in the back. It is so breathtaking. The blue color of the water in Banff come from fine particles of rock flour that come from glaciers rubbing against the bedrock. The particles reflect the sunlight creating this color. It is surreal.

As you round each turn there are views of the Dolomites. In pictures the colors of these are amazing. It is June and they are for the most part, covered in snow. They sky was crazy, the weather was crazier. It is June and we are walking in the snow. Sometimes we were hot and took off our jacket and gloves.

The trail rounds around a large Dolomite to the left then comes to a ridge line with nothing but impressive Dolomites on the right with a valley in between. The sky looked like we were walking into a snow storm but we kept going. There was one creek crossing that had a bridge made out of a log. Then the home stretch to Cirque peak. We made it to the lake below the peak and sat and had lunch. It was stunning. This was the only lake we saw that did not have that amazing blue color to it.

At this point we encounter our first people. They had caught up to us. I would assume this trail would be very popular if not for the weather. Cirque peak sat in front of us all covered in ice and snow. We decided not to climb it. We turned around and started back to the trail.

On the way I saw some tiny feet prints then noticed 2 marmots in the bushes. Shortly after it started snowing on us. A little farther down we saw a black bear roaming around on the hillside. We walked through rains, snow, sleet, sun, foggy, cloudy in both hot and cold on this hike. It was 8 miles (since we didn’t summit Cirque Peak) and about 2000 foot elevation.

If I could use one word to describe Banff it would be INCREDIBLE.