This will be my first proper, alpine backpack trip of the season this year. I’ve chosen the Egypt Lake/Citadel Pass/Sunshine area in Banff National Park for its beautiful scenery. This will be a four and a half day, four night, 60 plus kilometer hike through the area that promises lots to see along the way: alpine forest, meadows, lakes and stunning views. At this time of the year, I expect some alpine wildflowers as well. The plan is as follows:

Friday July 5: Depart Edmonton at 4:30pm for Banff. Stay at the Banff HI Hostel.

Saturday July 6: (Shadow Lake Re14) Drive out to trailhead and set up car pool since we will start at one point and end up at another along the highway (approx. 15 km apart). Hike in along the Red Earth Creek with little elevation gain.

14 Km / 300 m gain

Sunday July 7: (Egypt Lake E13) Hike south and east past Haiduk Lake and around Pharoah Peaks.

12 Km / 400 m gain

Monday July 8: (Howard Douglas Su) Hike up through Healy Pass, past Healy Lakes and Simpson Pass, and towards Citadel Pass.

16 Km / 600 m gain

Tuesday July 9: (Brewster Creek Bw10) Hike towards Citadel Pass and veer north around Fatigue Mountain. This will involve some ups and some downs as we traverse some passes. Fairly flat for remainder of way to campsite.

13 Km / 400 m gain, 600 m loss

Wednesday July 10: Hike out towards the highway and drive back to Edmonton.

12 km / 200 loss

Feel free to Google for a trail description as well as some photos along the way.

If you are interested, please reach out to me with some background and some of your backpacking and hiking experience in the past, and we can go from there. I'm pretty easy going, relaxed and flexible and ideally looking for the same!