Adventure Hikes and Backpacking

Memorial Lakes - Kananskis Country

• Posted on July 17, 2009 at 12:53 AM
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“Memorial Lakes - Kananskis Country”

Memorial Lakes is a hike that has eluded us for a couple of years. Each time we have gone up it we were turned back by snow. It is an unofficial trail in Kananskis Country off of the popular Ribbon Creek Trail so they do not publish trail conditions either. It is in the shadow of several tall peaks on the North side so it doesn’t get a lot of sun.

The first 6 KM are a pretty straight forward march through the trees. You start on the Ribbon Creek Fall trail. At about 3.4 KM, there is a trail off to the right marked by a pile of rocks. It is a narrow, single file trail through the trees and it soon follows the North branch of Ribbon Creek.

You know you are getting close to the first memorial lakes when the trees start to thin out and you can see some peaks. You will come across unofficial camping sites at the base of a good size waterfall. The trail climbs up beside the waterfall and soon you will come upon the first lake. Well, it is really a large pond. There is a campsite on the edge of the lake that gives you a good view of another set of waterfalls that are coming from the third Memorial Lake. The trail continues along the base of Mount Bogart to Lake Two.

It is a pretty straight forward hike to the Second Lake, however there is a little bit of scrambling up to the third lake. I recommend getting Gillean Dafferns “Kananaskis Country Trail Guide Vol 1” for a good description of getting up to the third lake.

The view of the third lake and Bogart Mountain, which you have almost hiked all way around, is very grand. The third lake hangs on the edge of a hanging valley, about 350 m above the first lake. The Memorial Lakes were named and dedicated to people that were killed in three plane crashes in the Kananskis.

Gillean says you can take a short cut down the scree sleep along Bogart. We went down this way, the scree was quite inconsistent and we think it actually took us longer.

Overall it was a bit of slog, just over 16 km to do all three, but the view around the Third Lake made it very worth while.