80. Grassi Lakes

Distance: 4.2 km loop
Elevation gain: 244 m

July 25, the fourth day of our hiking holiday, Herm and I met Rachel, Naylis, Skyler, and Allie in Canmore and we hiked Grassi Lakes loop together.
The falls which could be seen from the parking lot were our first destination.

It was a real hiking trail, not an abandoned road and after the falls we had some rugged climbing to do.

At the first lake we took a group picture.

At various spots on the trail there were rocks to climb and caves? to explore.

The second lake was even prettier than the first.

Then we started a steep climb up broken rock steps to find the petroglyphs which were supposed to be above us.

Allie, Naylis and I decided to continue to the top even though the wind threatened to blow us away.

At the top we looked over the edge to see the reservoir

and back over the way we had come to see the lakes, trail, canal and Canmore in the distance.

We went down again quickly as the wind was unpleasant.

A beautiful hike almost in the middle of town.

We took the easy road back to complete the loop.

Rachel and the kids had decided to count all the different wild flowers they could spot, a game we gladly participated in.  We noted about 40 kinds. One of the most common and most special was the wood lily.

According to Allie, this was one of the best hikes she has done.