Grassi Lakes Trail
Two impossibly vivid emerald-and-turquoise lakes perched above the Bow Valley — Grassi Lakes is the hike that makes first-time visitors immediately rebook their trip. The trail rewards every fitness level, and the payoff at the top is genuinely jaw-dropping.
Two Routes, One Brilliant Destination
Choose your own adventure at the trailhead: the easy upper route follows a wide, well-graded gravel path with a gentle 125-metre climb that suits families and casual walkers. The harder Interpretive Trail winds steeply through forest, past the thundering Lawrence Grassi Waterfall, and delivers sweeping views of Canmore and the Bow Valley before depositing you at the same glittering lakes.
At the top, the two lakes sit side by side in a limestone bowl, their colour shifting from deep jade to electric turquoise depending on the light. Sport climbers scale the cliff walls above the water, adding a dramatic human element to an already cinematic scene.
Ancient Pictographs Hidden in Plain Sight
Just past the first lake, a short signed spur leads to a rock overhang sheltering centuries-old Indigenous pictographs — painted in ochre and grease and believed to be over 1,000 years old. They are easy to miss if you do not look for the sign, so slow down and look right as you climb the staircase beyond the water.
Resist every urge to touch them. These irreplaceable paintings have survived a millennium of mountain weather and deserve to survive your visit too.
Grassi Lakes Trail on video
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