Epic Travel → North America → Canada → Banff National Park → Plain of Six Glaciers

Location: Lake Louise area, Banff National Park, Alberta

Distance: 15 km/9.5 miles roundtrip to/from Abbot’s Pass Viewpoint (19.5 km/12 miles as a loop trail with Big Beehive and Lake Agnes)

Elevation Gain: 420 meters/1375 feet (905 meters/3000 feet)

Time Required: 4-6 hours (add time if returning via Big Beehive and Lake Agnes)

Red Tape/Notes: The Plain of Six Glaciers Tea House is open 9am – 5pm, from early June to mid October (Canadian Thanksgiving), and is CASH ONLY. The most critical thing to know about this trail is that you must arrive early to get parking at Lake Louise, otherwise you’ll have additional distance to hike or will need to take a shuttle. Also, the trail is crowded, so an early start will help with the crowds as well. You can avoid the parking problem by staying at either the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise, or Deer Lodge. Entry into Banff requires a daily fee of about $10 per person (or ~$20 per family/group); alternatively, you can buy a Parks Canada Discovery Pass if you’re staying for an extended time.

What’s Nearby?: Lake Louise, Lake Agnes Tea House, Peyto Lake Viewpoint

This is a really great hike. You get better views along the shore of Lake Louise than on the Lake Agnes Tee House hike, because the trail heads up the valley at the back of the lake. Once you leave the lake, the trail heads steadily upwards with sloping fields of wildflowers in the summer and sweeping views of the mountains. The glacier moraine is impressive, and a little bit sad – it must have been amazing when the glaciers extended all the way down the valley. Although steadily uphill, it’s never too intense or too sustained of an incline. The hardest part is just before reaching the tea house, which has a super cute Swiss Chalet feel to it. It’s worth going the extra mile (or 1.2 miles in this case) to the lookout. It’s relatively flat, and you get better views of the glaciers. We stopped at the tea house for a break, and the chocolate cake was delicious (the raspberryade…not so much).

From here you can go back the way you came (easy downhill cruising), or you can combine this trail with the Lake Agnes Tea House by taking the Big Beehive Trail (head left at the trail junction on the way back). The route to the top of Big Beehive is an unrelenting series of seemingly endless switchbacks. I think it’s better going up this way (compared to ascending from the Lake Agnes side) because you can’t see the trail and ignorance is bliss. There are some nice views occasionally, but it’s mostly trees. You pop out on a sparsely vegetated hill rather suddenly and then it’s a quick walk along the top of the Beehive to the viewing area at the far side. The views from the little pergola structure aren’t particularly good, but if you hike past it, there are lovely views from the edge of the cliffs. Canoes dotting Lake Louise look like ants on the surface of the milky blue water and the cliffs drop sheer away down the side of the Beehive. Side note – if you’re wondering why this is called the Big Beehive, you’re on top of a mountain that looks like a Beehive. This is not apparent from the top, but is quite obvious from the trail below Lake Agnes.

Speaking of Lake Agnes, it’s harder to see it from the top of the Beehive, but it’s really easy to see it from the trail down. People with bad knees might prefer to go up to the Beehive this way…I really prefer to go down it. This series of switchbacks is steeper and dustier than coming up from the Plain of Six Glaciers Trail, and you can see exactly where you’re going and how painful it’s going to be. Coming down the trail from the Beehive, you have beautiful views of Lake Agnes as you get closer and closer. The trail drops you at the back of the lake, and then you’ll hike around it to reach the tea house and continue on your way.

Epic Travel → North America → Canada → Banff National Park → Plain of Six Glaciers