Updated for 2024!

I’ve lived in Northern Virginia for over 10 years. I’ve had a chance to explore the iconic hikes near Washington D.C many times. And when I say near D.C., I mean around 2 hours or less.  The DMV is a majorly sprawled metropolitan area; so aside from one hike on this list, I recommend taking a drive to get to some really beautiful hikes.  I’ve tried to keep this list short and sweet, with some photos from the hikes as well as links to more information about each of the hikes.  

These are my personal rankings for the best hikes near Washington D.C. from a local:

8. Sugarloaf Mountain, MD – 1 hour away

 Starting off the list is Sugarloaf Mountain in Maryland.  Sugarloaf has some great views, but the crowds are what put this hiking area at the bottom of the list. It only requires about a .25 mile steep climb for anyone to reach the top of the mountain from the closest parking lot.  Luckily, there’s several trails to get away from crowds and make a custom loop, depending on how much length is desired.  I recommend making a loop out of the blue, green, and red trails to see both the top of sugarloaf, as well as an alternate lookout point at White Rocks that is much less crowded will equally great views.

7 . Catoctin Mountain, MD – 1.25 hours away

 Catoctin is up near the Pennsylvania border and a very similar hiking experience to Sugarloaf. However, it’s less crowded and has more views/features, including several lookouts and a beautiful cascading waterfall. Catoctin is on NPS land however no longer requires an entrance fee!  I’d recommend hiking the full 8.5 mile loop CCW (yellow-pink-red) to see all the major sites in the park.

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6. The Shenandoah Shorties (Stony Man, Dark Hollow Falls, Hawksbill Mountain), VA – 2 hours away

 So the Shenandoah Shorties aren’t an actual term, I just made it up haha. But these three hikes are some of the best short and sweet hikes in Shenandoah NP! They’re all about 1.5 miles in length and easy to moderate in difficulty.  Hawksbill Mountain and the Stony Man circuit both provide beautiful views of the Shenandoah Valley. Dark Hollow Falls is a very popular hike to a pretty cascading waterfall. The only reason these hikes are lower on my list is because they are all so short.  However, since they’re all near each other, I’d recommend trying to knock them all out in one session! Keep in mind, that parking is limited on Skyline Drive. These hikes all have an entrance fee unless you are an NPS annual pass holder (I recommend the $80 annual pass for the best bang for buck,  plus supports our parks!)

5. Harpers Ferry, VA MD WV – 1.25 hours away

 Harpers Ferry is where Virginia, Maryland, and West Virginia all meet and you can see the confluence (where 2 rivers combine) of the Shenandoah River and Potomac River.  There’s two great hikes here and I can’t really decide which is better since they are both moderate in difficulty and view the same area from two different perspectives.  Loudon Heights Trail to Split Rock is a 6 mile there and back on the VA side, and Maryland Heights is a 5 mile loop on the Maryland side. Can’t go wrong with either!

4. Raven Rocks, VA WV – 1 hour away

The Raven Rocks trailhead is in VA, with the viewpoint in WV. It’s a 5.3 mile strenuous out and back with a roller coaster of ups and downs and a net elevation gain of 1600 feet. There are some pretty nice views at the end, and you could run into some Thru Hikers on the AT or some rock climbers at the viewpoint.

3. White Oak Canyon – Shenandoah NP, VA – 2 hours away

White Oak Canyon is a 9.5 mile there and back with 6 waterfalls along the way. From the lower parking lot up to Skyline Drive is about 2800 feet of elevation gain, but unless you have 2 cars, it’s not worth doing the entire hike after you’ve seen all the waterfalls.  The trail can be customized depending how many waterfalls you want to see as well as how strenuous of a hike is desired.  I’d say the lower falls are the best of the bunch, and only 2 miles in from the lower parking area. The lower falls also have an excellent swimming hole area for the summer months. This hike has an entrance fee unless you are an NPS annual pass holder.

2. Billy Goat Trails – Great Falls,  MD – 20 minutes away

The Billy Goat trails in Great Falls are the closest hiking spot to D.C. and also one of the best in the area! There are three billy goat trails that hike along the Maryland side of the (occasionally raging) Potomac River.  Section A is the hardest (and most fun), followed closely by section B, and then section C is fairly moderate. The reason they’re called the billy goat trails is because there’s lots of rock scrambling but no rock climbing experience or equipment necessary on the trails (with section A having the most scrambling and occasional need for using hands, followed by B, then C). For more information on where to park and how to get to the Billy Goat Trails check out the NPS website, these trails can frequently be closed due to rainfall.  This hike has an entrance fee unless you are an NPS annual pass holder.  Just a reminder, these trails are on the Maryland side, you can’t get to the Billy Goat Trails from the VA side!

1. Old Rag – Shenandoah NP, VA – 2 hours away

Old Rag is hands down the best hike in Shenandoah National Park.  This hike is in my top 10 hikes of all time. Not only are there great views at the top but there is also moderate boulder scrambling for the last mile, which makes this hike really fun and unique.  You don’t need any special gear for the scrambling, just shoes with a good grip. (I wouldn’t recommend this hike for anyone who has poor balance or doesn’t want to occasionally use their hands to climb up rocks.) To make this trail a loop I recommend going up the Ridge Trail (which has the boulder scrambling and is much easier to do climbing up then down) and then hiking back down to the parking lot via the Weakley Hollow Fire Road. This turns Old Rag into a nice 9.5-mile circuit hike. More information on Old Rag can be found on the NPS website. This hike has an entrance fee unless you are an NPS annual pass holder.

Backpacking from Tenaya Lake to Yosemite Valley is one of the premiere multi-day hikes in the United States, and also one of the most sought-after for permits. Throughout the hike you get to walk among towering granite rocks, feel the mist of several of Yosemite’s majestic waterfalls swim in alpine lakes, and smell the fresh coniferous forest, all while mostly hiking downhill (if starting from the North).  While on the hike, you’ll get to experience multiple Yosemite bucket list locations including Clouds Rest,  Half Dome (from multiple angles), Vernal Falls, and Yosemite Falls (if you return to the backpacking campground).

This trek also allows you to summit Half Dome “the easy way.”  Well…, not exactly the easy way, you still have to climb it haha,  but adding Half Dome to a multi-day Tenaya Canyon trek drastically reduces the intensity of reaching the top of Half Dome. Half Dome as a day hike is 16 miles and 4,800 feet of elevation gain.  However, if on the route we did backpacking from Tenaya Lake to Yosemite Valley, you could camp at Sunrise Creek 2 weeks and do a one day 5 mile, 1,400 feet elevation gain hike on one day of your multi-day trek (or many other customizations if that’s too short). 

This was my third attempt backpacking this epic route in Yosemite National Park. 

In 2018 wildfires canceled my trip to the park at the last minute. Then in 2019, my friend Charlie and I made it to Yosemite, but there was record snowfall which changed our plans. We ended up backpacking the Hetch Hetchy loop, which was similar to Yosemite Valley, except purposefully flooded, to supply San Francisco with water.  Hetch Hetchy turned into much more of an adventure than we anticipated because we got lost in unexpected massive snow drifts.  But if you’re interested in a more secluded, less traveled backpacking loop in Yosemite National Park, I recommend giving that trip report a read.

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Permits

The permit system for Yosemite National Park is a bit more complicated than standard for NPS permits due to the extreme popularity of many of several of the hikes within Yosemite. 

The major points to consider for Yosemite Permits are:

1. Day Hiking Half Dome and Wilderness Backpacking are 2 different permits
1. Although, you can combine Half Dome with a Wilderness Permit (like we did)
2. Half Dome Day Hiking Permits open up for preseason lottery for the entire month of March before the hiking season.
3. Lotteries for scoring wilderness permits open up 24 weeks before your anticipated start date. 

Our Experience with applying for permits

Our goal was to score permits to combine Half Dome with a backpacking trek through the canyon.    

Our ideal route was winning the lottery to hike from Cathedral Lakes to Little Yosemite Valley (the entirety of Yosemite/Tenaya Canyon) while throwing in Half Dome on the second to last day.  

We applied to the lottery 5 times. 

We lost 2 lotteries and were successful (ish) 3 times.  

2 of our winning lotteries weren’t exactly what we wanted. 

One was just day hiking Half Dome. The other was the route we wanted, Cathedral Lakes to Little Yosemite Valley, but from Monday to Friday, which was going to be a PTO killer and not ideal.  We purchased both permits in case we couldn’t get anything better. 

On the last attempt, we lucked out and scored permits from Sunrise Lakes to Little Yosemite Valley over Labor Day Weekend!   Sunrise Lakes is one trail entry point closer and shaves off about 10 miles from the overall trek.  The big win here though, was that we would be hiking over a 3-day weekend.  We canceled our other 2 permits, and they went back into the reservation system.

Cancled and unclaimed permits can be reserved on a first come first serve basis.  You can also use a service like Outdoor Status to get automated notifications when sold-out permits become available. If your dates are flexible, you never know when a popular permit could randomly open up

Transportation

Backpacking Tenaya Lake to Yosemite Valley is a point-to-point hike with different entry and exit points.  Therefore, if you don’t have 2 cars, you will need to use a taxi or bus service.

If driving, there is a parking lot at either end of Tenaya Lake, and roughly halfway along it.  There’s also some additional parking along the shoulders of the road.  The ideal parking spot is at the south end of the lake, closest to the Sunrise Lakes Trailhead.  

In Yosemite Valley, there are many more parking options, but you will need to make sure to camp in a designated overnight parking area near the backpacker’s campground. 

A few weeks ahead of the trip, we booked tickets on the Yosemite Tuolumne Meadows Hiker Bus. It picked us up in the Yosemite Village at 8 am and took about 2.5 hours to get to the Tenaya Lake Trailhead.

Another option is the YARTS 395/120 E Bus. Tenaya Lake is not an official stop on the route, but is possible by request.    

The last option is hitchhiking, which is fairly uncommon/popular in the US, but doable.  You might just be waiting a while for pickup.  

Day 0 – Flying into Fresno

We arrived in Fresno in the evening and got a hotel in the area before getting last-minute supplies (fuel + snacks) and heading out to the park in the morning. Whenever you’re in Fresno gearing up for some major hiking, some restaurants I highly recommend are Dog House (get the tri-tip steak sandwich) and House of Juju (in my personal top 5 burger list). I try to go to both every time I visit.

Day 1 – Picking up Permits in the Yosemite Valley

With our permits we couldn’t actually start backpacking until Sunday of Labor Day Weekend, so we had time to sleep in, grab some breakfast, and get our last-minute shopping in. 

We arrived at Yosemite National Park Saturday afternoon via Tunnel View and it was hazyyyyy and hot!   There had been a lot of wildfires and accompanying smoke in the area. And it seriously smelt like a campfire and BBQ outside.  

We picked up our permits and then headed to the backpacker’s campground.  The backpacker’s campground is available for one night the immediate day before and after your wilderness permits (not including Half Dome Day hiking permits), which is clutch since it’s about a 3-hour drive back to Fresno from the valley. It costs $8 per person in cash, which we didn’t realize upon arrival, but we luckily had to make it work.

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Day 2 – The Trek Begins from Tenaya Lake!

The hiker bus picked us up in the Yosemite Village at 8 am and took about 2.5 hours to get to the Tenaya Lake Trailhead. We finally started hiking at about 11 am. 

It was a very moderate and peaceful hike to start.  We made it to Sunrise Lakes in about an hour and a half and then stopped for lunch.  While shuffling some of my packing around, I accidentally left my stove behind… Luckily Ian had his and we made lunch. 

Sunrise Lakes looked like an awesome spot to camp,  but it was so close to our starting trailhead, and not on our timeline for this trip. Maybe next time from a Cathedral Lakes start!

When we picked up our permits, the park ranger told us that water was scarce and most creeks were dry. They recommended packing more water in than we usually did.  Many of the waterfalls in the park also had unusually low flow for this Labor Day Weekend. 

As we passed day hikers that had gone to Clouds Rest we asked them how the water situation was. They all confirmed there was one trickling stream that would be hard to fill up on.

Because of water concerns, we decided to cook our dehydrated meals ahead of time at lunch and eat them cold later on, just in case we never saw water again.  We took our time at Sunrise Lakes, enjoying a nice view with lunch followed by a chilly alpine swim.  

After lunch, we pushed on to Clouds Rest.  And it was intense, just like camping 😉

The 360 views from Clouds Rest were incredible.  Laffy Taffy Granite waves in every direction. 

We stayed at the top for about 2 hours, watching the sunset. 

As it darkened, we could see forest fires in the distance. 

We poorly judged the time it would take to descend down the switchbacks to our campsite and ended up hiking about half of it in the dark with headlamps.  Also, unfortunately, Molly sprained her ankle while hiking down.

Day 3 Part 1- Hiking Half Dome

Molly’s ankle got more swollen overnight, and unfortunately, she made the tough decision to skip out on Half Dome to not make her ankle worse. After all, we still had a big hike to get back to civilization without Half Dome. 

We didn’t find out until we got back several hours later due to no cell service, but while the rest of us were hiking to Half Dome, 2 small black bears came and wandered around our camp while Molly was in her tent.  We had all our food properly stored, and after a few minutes of sniffing around, they left.  Molly said it was a scary experience. 

We set off for Half Dome shortly after sunrise, around 6 am, to beat both the summer heat and the crowds. 

Transferring to our light daypacks filled with water and snacks for the Half Dome hike, we flew down the first part of the trail.  We got to the base of the initial Half Dome ascent about an hour later.

The stairs reminded me of the hike up to Mordor but with much prettier scenery and golden hour light shining down. 

We arrived at the cables portion of Half Dome around 7:30 am. The crowds were light and the weather was beautiful,  not too hot yet.  

We put our gloves on (BRING GLOVES) and began the ascent.  The cables can be slippery and hard to get a good grip on, even with no moisture in the air or precipitation.  There’s also a pile of leftover gloves people leave in case you forgot some, but you might be risking getting some nasty hand fungus, who knows how long those have been there and how many terrified sweaty hands they’ve touched. 

The cables section was not what I was expecting physically.  It was much more of an arm workout than a leg workout.  Because of the large spacing between the footholds, you pull yourself up the mountain with your arms rather than climbing steep steps.  I had to rest many times on the way up because my arms were burning out. 

But eventually, we made it to the top and the views were incredible! 

We hugged it out and cracked open some breakfast celebratory beers.

The hike down was lot easier than the way up, but also scarier in my opinion.  I flipped back and forth between my descent strategy depending on the steepness (going face first or in reverse (most people go in reverse the whole way).  It had also gotten much more crowded by the time we were descending, and so we did a lot of passing people on the way down, which was the worst part.  

Just take it slow!

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Day 3 Part 2 – A change of plans 

When we got back from Half Dome to our campsite from the night before, the sky was orange and smelled like a potent campfire from the nearby forest fires.  We packed up camp and pushed on toward our last campsite in Little Yosemite Valley.

The remainder of the hike from Half Dome back to the valley was almost entirely downhill.  This is why we chose to backpack from the northern part of the canyon down.  You shave a ton of elevation off of doing Half Dome as a day hike, and also mostly descend the backpacking trail once past Clouds Rest (and if you add on Half Dome). Backpacking the other way around would be brutal, and not enjoyable for the average backpacker in my opinion. 

By the time we got to the Little Yosemite Valley Campsite, Molly’s ankle was really hurting.  She wanted to finish up the hiking today and get it out of the way, rather than having it potentially swell up even more overnight like it did the night before.  We discussed splitting the group in 2 with Ian and Molly heading down a night early and Mike, Taylor, and I sticking with the original plan, but we did not want to split the group up.

So we pushed on.  It was all downhill back to the valley, so couldn’t be too bad, right?

The distance really took a toll on all of us. Our feet and knees were hurting. We weren’t originally planning on having a 14-mile day (including Half Dome no less).

As you approach Nevada Falls, there are 2 trails you can take to get back down to the valley, John Muir and the Mist Trail.  The Mist trail is more direct but is much steeper and can be slippery from the waterfall mist, which didn’t sound great for descending.  Taking the John Muir Trail instead adds an additional 1.5 miles, but is much more moderate.  

I felt this section of the John Muir Trail was one of the most scenic parts of our entire hike.  We were gifted with beautiful views of Half Dome and Nevada Falls from a side vantage point at Clark Point.

Once at Clark Point, there’s again a trail divergence with 2 ways to get down to the Valley.  One way leads down to Vernal Falls but includes over 600 steep and uneven steps, whereas the other direction continues down the John Muir Trail with 10+ switchbacks.   Since Vernal Falls was reported to be a trickle, and Molly’s ankle was hurting, we continued down the John Muir Trail. The difference in distance between the 2 routes is about .5 miles. 

We eventually made it down and crushed some pizzas in the village. 

Summary

Hiking Tenaya Lakes to Little Yosemite Valley with the Half Dome Valley is one of the premier backpacking routes in the US National Parks.  By starting at the north end of the canyon, once passing Clouds Rest (and not including Half Dome), almost the whole trek is downhill through the beautiful Yosemite/Tenaya Canyon.  The permit lottery is very competitive, but once secured, there’s a lot of flexibility and customizations you can make to this route.  

With more time you may consider starting at Cathedral Lakes and camping there one night, and then Sunrise Lakes one night.  With even more time, you could add on Illiouette Falls via the Panorama Trail to your descent back down into the valley or as a side day trip. 

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Outside of the main Yosemite Valley region lies a hidden gem for hikers, backpackers, and nature lovers looking to get away from the crowds of Yosemite: Hetch Hetchy (HH). This valley was converted into a reservoir in 1913 and supplies the bulk of San Francisco’s water.  Many say that before the valley was filled with water, it was even more beautiful then it’s more famous neighbor, Yosemite Valley. However, even with the valley dammed up, it’s still a very beautiful and picturesque area to explore and is filled with great hiking and backpacking opportunities. The most popular multi-day route in the region, The Hetch Hetchy Loop, provides backpackers with nonstop granite cliff views, cascading waterfalls, and lush forests, all while following the path of the Tuolumne River.

Map of Hetch Hetchy Loop Trail

Permits

If camping overnight, this hike requires wilderness permits from Yosemite National Park from May-October. Yosemite uses a reservation system for most of its popular backcountry routes, including Hetch Hetchy.   60% of the spots for any given trailhead are reservable, and the rest are available on a “first-come, first-served” basis.  Reservations are available 24 weeks in advance on Recreation.gov and the permit processing fee is $10 per application.

The “first-come, first-served” permits have changed for Yosemite National Park since COVID.  Rather than being a walk-up permit, they are released on Recreation.gov seven days in advance of the desired start date at 7AM PDT.

The ideal Entry Point for permits on this hike is Rancheria Falls or Beehive Meadows, depending on which direction you do the loop. I did the loop Counter-Clockwise so we got Rancheria Falls permits.

When using the online permit application system, You only need to select the start date of your hike. Later in the application process you specify how many nights in the backcountry you will be and rough estimates of where you plan to camp.

The permits must be picked up in person at a wilderness center one day in advance (8AM to 5PM) or on the same day (8AM-11AM).  The easiest place to pick up the permits for Hetch Hetchy is at the Hetch Hetchy Entrance Station.

How To Get There

Hetch Hetchy is located outside of the main Yosemite Valley area to the north and not directly reachable from the valley.  Hetch Hetchy is about an hour and a half drive from Little Yosemite Valley and requires exiting and re-entering the park at the Hetch Hetchy Entrace Station.  The gates to the Hetch Hetchy road are open from 7AM to 9PM on May 1- Labor Day.  For dates outside this window and road conditions click here.

Overnight parking is located at the Wapama & Rancheria Falls Trailhead for free to backpackers. Also, backpackers are able to use the backpacker’s campground for one day before and after their trip for $8 per person for each night you use. The backpacker’s campsites are first-come first-serve and on the honor system for paying the fees with the provided envelope (bring exact change!).  The campsites in the backpackers campground include a food storage locker and picnic table, with water about a 10-15 minute walk away.

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Trip Report

I did this trail with my friend Charlie on May 27-29, 2019, but have recently updated this post to be more thorough and include the latest permit information.  The snowpack in 2019 was at record levels and changed our original plans from backpacking Mineral King in Sequoia National Park to instead backpacking the Hetch Hetchy Loop. 

When we picked up our permits from the Hetch Hetchy Entrance Ranger Station, the Park Ranger told us to expect up to 4 feet of snow and jokingly asking us if we brought our galoshes (rubber rain boots). Or maybe he wasn’t joking, because they would have been nice as you’ll see later on in this post!  We bought trekking poles and microspikes before the trip in preparation for potential snow hikes. The trekking poles were an excellent investment and I don’t know if we would have made it through safely without them, but we never used the microspikes. Microspikes are good for hard packed snow and ice, which we were expecting, however we were the first ones to do the Hetch Hetchy Loop after some decent snow a few days earlier, so the snow wasn’t packed at all. 

Day 1

Yosemite Valley is somewhat on the way to HH so we stopped there first to check out a few of the iconic sites, pick up our wilderness permits and rent a bear canister.  

HH was about an hour drive from the valley.  We did some last minute packing and divvying up the food (cheez-its were our nectar) and then we were ready to begin our 3 day trek!

The backpackers parking area is a decent walk to the start of the trail, maybe 3/4 of a mile and all downhill.  When we got to the dam, we had nice views of the reservoir and a few waterfalls. Wapama Falls was deceivingly far away. I thought it’d be a quick hike to get there, but it was 2.5 miles away and took over an hour.

Once we got there, the falls were raging and the mist was refreshing.

After stopping for a quick lunch before leaving the reservoir area we met some trail friends, Jeremy and Becky. We hiked together for a few miles but then split up after Rancheria Falls, which was around 5.5 miles from the trailhead.  

Rancheria Falls had lots of nice campsites, and sleeping next to the sound of rushing water would have been great. However, after examining the map, Charlie and I decided to push on to knock out some elevation gain for day 2. Looking back, both of us are really happy we made this decision, especially after a challenging day 2 with lots of snow trekking.

We climbed over 1000 feet in a mile and a half after the Rancheria Falls and entered the clouds. It was exhausting and we were desperately looking for anywhere to camp.  We ended up finding a flat spot in a boulder field off of the trail and near a creek. It didn’t look like anyone had camped here before (so no fires), but it was a pretty cool spot.

We set up camp, ate some dehydrated Fettuccini Alfredo with Chicken from Backpackers Pantry (which was surprisingly good) and called it a night pretty early.  I got up around 1am to pee, and the clouds had dissipated and the milky way was bright! I also saw a lot of meteors! I ended up waking up Charlie so he could see it as well and persuaded him to help me do some astrophotography.

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Day 2

The next morning we gave our gear a chance to dry out before departing.  It didn’t rain, but all of the moisture from the clouds made it damp.

Our next landmark was Tilltill Valley, about 1 mile from where we camped on night 1. We were very glad we brought sandals to switch into because the trail went through a large boggy area with water up to our knees.  I’m not sure if it’s always this boggy, but I feel like it probably is.

Next was the big climb for day 2.  About 2000 more feet to get to the high point of the loop, 7650 feet.  We were definitely starting to feel the air getting thinner as we ascended because we both  live at sea level elevations. As we approached 7000 feet, the snow was starting to become a lot more prevalent.

And soon, we lost the trail…

The 4 feet of snow estimate from the park ranger turned out to be a massive understatement —  we were hiking on snow drifts up to 10 feet tall. We were also sinking into the snow at least a foot with every step. Snowshoes would have been great to have, but instead we had cold soggy hiking boots.

It was interesting trailblazing through the snowfields constantly looking for signs of a trail.  I don’t know why the NPS doesn’t have trail markers on this section of the loop, because they do on most of the day 3 section of the loop.  

I have an app on my phone called Topo+, which is topographical maps synced with your GPS, and I downloaded the HH area for offline use for the trip.  It’s practically a modern orienteering device. The app saved us multiple times when we wandered off trail in the snow. We actually followed deer and bear tracks frequently through the snow because they seemed to be following the trail. The animals probably do follow the trail considering the forest is pretty dense and the trail is a nice footpath for animals.

We took turns leading in the snow and the person behind would step in the other’s footprints to save energy.  A big struggle of hiking through the snow drifts was avoiding postholes (loose snow near fallen trees or above melt areas).  Snow around the fallen trees would collapse under our weight and our legs would fall through, up to hip deep at times. We would use our poles to poke around ahead of us to check if the snow in front of us was packed enough to walk on.  It was an ACL/MCL spraining nightmare but we managed to escape with no knee injuries. Charlie did however fall through a posthole and got scraped by a tree branch which turned into a massive bruise; luckily the stick didn’t pierce through his leg. I also had some very tender Achilles tendons the next morning, and was limping around for a few days after completing the loop.

Snow trekking also required us to have to cross some snow bridges over creeks.  Both my legs fell through, but my backpack stopped me from falling all the way through.  It was very terrifying and I ended up crawling out on my belly very quickly.

After about 3 miles wandering around in the snow we finally found  a section of solid ground where we could rest. Charlie let out a primordial grunt when we made it: “OOGA BOOGA!”, and that became one of our catch phrases for the rest of the 2 week trip.  I also unfortunately left my favorite pink Nalgene water bottle at the rest site. I’m guessing we were pretty far off the actual trail so I wonder if anyone will ever find it.

After leaving the rest spot, the snow disappeared rapidly and we made our way to a very rocky area. We spotted a large solo cairn off in the distance and were finally back on a trail!  That cairn is definitely the most helpful and happiness inducing cairn I’ve ever come across on a hike.

We were once again in a cloud, and camped on the northeast side of Lake Vernon. I would say the north side has better views and campsites then the south side near the main trail but they’re both nice. The south side has the advantages of being near the creek, and not having to hike an extra half mile.

On night 2 we ate meat lasagna from Mountain House, and threw some of the cheez-its in for a delicious meal on night 2. We also split a dehydrated ice cream sandwich, which tasted just like a normal ice cream sandwich, but super crunchy and not cold. As we were eating, the clouds opened up a bit and we got some nice cotton candy looking clouds around the lake. A curious mule deer also wandered into our campsite and we had to shoo it away.

While we were setting up camp a  boy scout troop arrived and set up camp in the same area.  After chatting with one of the group leaders, we learned they got lost in the same snowdrifts and ended up finding our footprints and that’s how they made it to the lake.  They were confused when they saw 2 of us but only one set of tracks haha. Charlie and I definitely felt like some true wilderness explorers.

Day 3

The next morning we had damp gear again due to the low clouds and let our gear dry out while eating breakfast near the lake.  We saw a lot of salamanders near the shore and they were very entertaining to watch. It was like natural television out in the backcountry.

Day 3 was very chill and almost all downhill.  It was about 11 miles back to the campsite and we did it in under 6 hours.  We pretty much only stopped for lunch and to filter our water from creeks a few times. The last 4 miles on the beehive trail were quite steep and had a lot of switchbacks.  While descending, we passed some people about 2 miles away from the main trail and they looked exhausted and still had a long way to go. It would be a very strenuous endeavor to do the loop clockwise and make it all the way to Lake Vernon on Day 1.

The last mile of the loop had some of the best views.  Seeing the reservoir from a higher elevation was a beautiful sight after hiking through the pine forests most of the day.  

Overall this was a challenging, but fun loop. Large amounts of snow so late in the season made the hike pretty unique and it was also both Charlie and my first time backpacking in snow. The loop definitely would have been more enjoyable with snowshoes, and even more enjoyable with a lot less snow.   If you want to do the Hetch Hetchy loop I recommend doing a similar itinerary to what we did and to definitely go counter-clockwise.

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Backpacking Tonquin Valley takes hikers deep into the heart of untamed and serene wilderness in Jasper National Park. While this route can be done as a very long day hike, turning it into a multi day backpacking trip gives hikers a chance to fully enjoy the pristine alpine waters, towering peaks, and lush meadows that make the Tonquin Valley one of the hidden gems of Jasper.  Additionally, the Toqnuin Valley is the world’s second largest dark sky preserve, so the stargazing is phenomenal. This complete guide to backpacking Tonquin Valley in Jasper National Park goes over the transportation logistics of the point-to-point trail, how to secure backcountry permits, and a full trip report of my experience completing the hike. 

Map of Backpacking Tonquin Valley Trek

Are Permits Required for Backpacking Tonquin Valley?

If camping overnight, backcountry permits are required from Jasper National Park. Parks Canada uses a reservation system for securing permits. Reservations for Jasper National Park open in March for the 2024 season; see here for exact dates.  Be prepared to book for your desired dates as soon as the reservations are made available, backpacking Tonquin Valley is one of the most popular multi day treks in Jasper National Park and they can fill up in minutes. 

How to get to Tonquin Valley and Taxi Service Information

Backpacking Tonquin Valley is a point-to-point trek, so you either need to have 2 cars at the start and end or use a mountain taxi service, there is no shuttle service. Hitchiking is another option, but the road is not well trafficked, so you could have a long wait; we didn’t see anyone on the drive out.  

There are 2 main options for taxi shuttle services to Tonquin Valley: Caribou Cabs and  Mountain Express Taxi.  We used Mountain Express Taxi; they had excellent customer service and I would definitely use them again. They charged a flat rate of $100 CAD to pick us up at the Cavell Lake Parking Area (where we left our car) and shuttle us to the Portal Creek Trailhead to start the trek.

What’s the best direction to do Tonquin valley?

It really depends!  This trail is quite moderate as far as backpacking trails in Canada go.  Starting from the Astoria Trailhead gives a more gradual ascent over the first 25 km of the trail, with a final descent to the Portal Trailhead on the last day.  I did it the opposite direction starting at Portal the Portal Trailhead because I like to get elevation out of the way at the begining of my hikes when I’m fresh. 

When is the best time of year to backpack Tonquin Valley?

The official season for the Tonquin Valley is end of June to end of September. Late summer (mid-August to mid-September) is ideal to avoid the mosquitoes and black flies. Additionally from mid-July to mid-August is one of the best times to see the wildflowers bloom in Tonquin Valley (This is when we decided to go). In late September to Early October Toqnuin Valley experiences Larch Madness, where several sections of the valley transform into a gorgeous sea of yellow larch trees for about 2 weeks. 

What are the best backcountry campsites in Tonquin Valley?

There are seven backcountry campsites in the Tonquin Valley to choose from, and all require advanced permit reservations. I think Maccarib and Amethyst are best campsites for views. Each campsite has the same basic facilities: picnic tables, bear boxes for food storage, and pit toilets. Below is a brief description of each of the campsites:

Backcountry Camgrounds in Tonquin Valley 

Portal – Secluded, tucked away in dense woods

Maccarib – Nestled in the tress but with excellent views

Amethyst – Very exposed, very close to Amethyst Lake and has gorgeous views of the Ramparts Mountain Range. About the halfway point of the route

Clitheroe – Dense tree cover with limited views of the Ramparts

Suprise Point – Exposed campground with Nice views of Amethyst Lake and the Ramparts; off the main trail

Switchback – Medium tree cover with some mountain views

Astoria –Secluded, tucked away in dense woods high above Astoria River

Trip Report

After the popular Skyline Trail was booked for the days we were looking to backpack we landed on the Tonquin Valley not knowing too much what to expect.  (At the time, there wass a lot less info posted online about Tonquin than Skyline.) Tonquin Valley didn’t fail to blow my mind and it’s one of my favorite backpacking trips I’ve done in Canada. Tonquin Valley is known to have a lot of bugs and can be very muddy but I guess we got lucky, or maybe it was the cooler temps, because there weren’t any bugs and the mud was manageable.

On the drive to the trailhead we saw a bighorn sheep on the side of the road!

Day 1

We started at the Portal Creek Trailhead. The climb is very steady throughout the first chunk of the hike approaching Maccarib Pass.  We climbed a little over 700m (~2250ft), but over a 15km (~9mi) period.  That’s only about 250ft. of elevation of gain a mile, which is nothing. The rest of the hike was practically all downhill after Maccarib Pass.

Our campsite for Day 1 was at the Maccarib campsite. We stopped for lunch at the Portal campground, which was nice, but Maccarib was so much better.  It’s about 19 km to the Maccarib campsite from the trailhead, but definitely worth the extra push on day one.

It had been smoky for the past week while we were in Canada due to forest fires in BC, but once we made it to the pass, we were welcomed with majestic views of the valley.  This was the first moment of our trip we saw clear mountains without grey haze.  It was a beautiful spring-like day and we took some time to soak it all in.

Clouds were starting to cover the tops of the mountains.  We could see that is was pouring in the direction of the Maccarib campsite. We were still a few miles away, and the clouds were moving perpendicular to the direction we were hiking, so we decided to sit on a bridge and see if we might be able to dodge the rain.

Speaking of the bridges, I’ve never seen so many bridges in a meadow environment. Jasper takes really great care of their trails and I was happy to not be walking through mush.

The mountains slowly started to disappear in every direction as the storm rolled in and it began to downpour as temperatures dropped. We threw on our rain gear and decided we might as well push on to the campsite, to try and stay warm by moving.

I don’t think any of us looked around the entire trip to the campsite.  All of our heads were down, trying to dodge puddles and keep our faces dry.  I didn’t have any rain pants or gaiters, so I got soaked fast.  What made my pants and boots so wet was actually plants brushing up on my legs, not the rain. After about an hour and a half we arrived at a raging creek.  To our surprise, there were bear poles towering over some trees on the opposite side of the creek.  I actually we wished we still had more hiking to do even though we’d already done 12 miles.  I didn’t know how we were about to set up tents in this weather.

Step one was to cross the creek.

There was an obvious path on the other side of the creek but the water was too high to cross and stay dry.  There was also a path that looked somewhat like a trail off to the left.  We took the side trail hoping for a bridge, to no avail.  So now we are standing there trying to determine how to cross.  There were some rocks about an inch under the flow, all the way across, but one slip and our feet would be soaked.  Naomi went first, slipped on step number two, and actually fell into the creek getting her sleeping pad soaked.  So now Eric and I were not looking forward to our attempts.  I kept my feet dry for a few steps and eventually gave up and trudged through the creek, soaking my boots.  Eric followed right behind with the same approach.

All but 2 campsites were taken and everyone had their tents set up and were nice and dry inside. We found a patch of evergreens and huddled underneath to try and get out of the rain.  Evergreens actually do a pretty good job at blocking out most of the rain. It was cold and raining, but we decided to hold out under the trees for a little while hoping for the rain to slow.

At this point we’re all shivering and my teeth began to chatter.  Standing outside in the cold rain was starting to turn into a dangerous situation and we had to make some survival decisions.  I was worried one of us might catch hypothermia and we needed to get dry quick, but it was still raining hard…

This was the worst moment of my life.

I’m not exaggerating.  Eric said this was the worst thing he’d ever experienced as well.  Naomi got caught in a blizzard on Mount Fuji, so she one upped us and said this was the second worst moment of her life.  Looking back, some funny things happened during all of the rain and memories were made but getting caught in freezing rain is definitely something I hope never happens again. Snow would have been so much better.

It was pretty hard to think, being so cold, but we managed to come up with a plan to get a tent set up:  Naomi and I would hold the rain fly up as wide as we could while Eric assembled his tent underneath.  We then grabbed some dry clothes, formed a pile of our soaked clothes under the tent’s vestibule, and the three of us gathered in Eric’s small two-man backpacking tent. It was pretty uncomfortable, and the ground was ice cold, but I was happy to be dry and warming up.

The three of us were in the tent for over 2 hours. A TWO MAN TENT. Eric had one episode of the office saved on his phone, so that passed about 20 mins of time.  The rest of the time was spent sitting on each other’s feet, huddling for warmth, complaining, and laughing at how terrible this situation was.

Eventually the rain stopped and it was time to set up my tent.  The rain brought in some much cooler temperatures than the nice spring weather we experienced only a few hours ago.  Everyone started emerging from their tents and offered their condolences to us having to endure the rain. We also learned that the side trail did actually have a bridge, we just didn’t go far enough… smh.

I guess everyone had better weather apps than me.  One couple had a Garmin with satellite weather access and warned us that the new weather prediction called for night temps in the upper 20’s F.  Last time I checked it was the mid 40’s…  HELLO WINTER.  Luckily, we were prepared for cold temps.

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Day 2

We awoke to fresh snow on all of the mountains around us.  Totally unexpected for the middle of August, but very cool! Our next campsite was only 6 miles away so we took some time to try and dry out our gear before putting everything back in our packs.  It hailed/snowed lightly during the early part of our hike.

The view around Amethyst Lake was spectacular.  This mountain might just be my favourite view from all of my two weeks in Canada:

A photogenic marmot posed for us right off the trail.

We passed a sign that said Switchback Campsite was in 3 km.  I was pretty sure the campsite was before the actual switchback started but we never saw a campsite sign so we pushed on.

This is an intense switchback. We were very happy to be going down instead of up, that’s why I recommend starting from the Portal Creek Trailhead like we did.

We were all starting to wonder if we missed our campsite. This was the longest 3km ever, and we were going down, how had we not made it?

Well, eventually we ended up at the Astoria campsite, 3 km had turned into 10.  Somehow all three of us missed the Switchback campsite sign?  I guess it’s possible, but I have a feeling the sign had fallen down or was missing.  We didn’t miss signs for any of the other campsites along the way.  So be on the lookout if you’re camping at switchback!

There was only one tent pad left at Astoria when we arrived and we didn’t have a permit for this campsite.  We debated staying at Astoria for the night and doubling up our tents on the pad, but it was still pretty early in the evening and we didn’t want to screw over anyone who actually reserved the site. We decided to end the hike early and finished the entire hike around 9pm. (Still before sunset since we’re so far north.)  

Unfortunately, we had no place to stay, and lodging is always full in Jasper and the surrounding areas unless you book well in advance. We did find a place to stay, and It was quite an adventure, so I’ll save that story for another post.

In the end, we hiked 15 miles on Day 2.  It was tough, but exhilarating, with fantastic views the entire day.  Each time we hiked around one mountain, we were rewarded with a whole new view of the Canadian Rockies. If I do this trail again, I’ll definitely go the same direction, but I’ll camp on night 2, like we originally had planned.   This is a very doable backpacking route, and non-technical.  I’d recommend it to anyone, even first-time backpackers. Just know your limits and take extra time, it’s a long hike.

Let me know if you have any questions and I’d love to hear your experiences from the Tonquin Valley! Drop a comment below.

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Helpful Links for Tonquin Valley 

1. Trail map
2. Tonquin Valley Backcountry Guide
3. Jasper Permit Reservation

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Backpacking Bruce Peninsula National Park is a unique trek through a beautiful landscape more reminiscent of the Caribbean than Canada. The Bruce Trail features rugged limestone cliffs that plunge dramatically into the crystal-clear Georgian Bay, the famous Grotto, giant white pebbled beaches, lush forests, and plenty of wildlife. While the entire Bruce Trail is 900 km long, this particular section between The Grotto and High Dump Campground allows backpackers to experience all of the major highlights of Bruce Peninsula National Park and keep transportation logistics easy

Map of Backpacking Bruce Peninsula Section Hike

There’s many variations of this hike you can do in Bruce Penisula National Park.  I can definitely recommend the route that I did starting from Halfway Log dump (the direction doesn’t really matter, you could do the opposite of me, the trail is very up and down and you’ll do it all by the end). I camped one night at High Dump, and then the following night at Stormhaven before returning back to the Halfway Log Dump parking area. Alternatively, you could park at The Grotto and do a very similar route. The nice thing about parking and starting at Halfway Log Dump is it gives more flexibility with campsite reservations since the order/direction you do the hike doesn’t matter (so double the chances of getting permits for the dates you want!)

How to get to Bruce Peninsula National Park

 Toronto to Bruce Peninsula National Park is about a 4 hour drive. The park is located at the very top of Northern Bruce Penisula Municipality. There are several roads in the park but the main roads for hiking include one for the parking area for The Grotto, Indian Head, and Cyprus Lake, and one for the parking area for Halfway Log Dump and Emmet Lake.  The Visitor Centre is near the town of Tobermory, which is also worth a stop.  Also while in the area, I highly recommend visiting Fathom Five National Marine Park which has more than 20 historical shipwrecks, cool underwater geological formations, and has some of the best freshwater diving in the world. 

Does Bruce Peninsula Require Reservations for Backcountry Camping or Parking?

There are 2 backcountry campsites (Stormhaven and High Dump) in Bruce Peninsula National Park and both require reservations. Reservations can be made online on through Parks Canada’s online camping reservation portal.

The Grotto and Halfway Log Dump in Bruce Peninsula National Park require parking reservations for certain times of year. The Grotto requires reservations from April 30 to October 31 and Halway Log Dump has required reservations from June 17 to September 4.

Backcountry permit fees for Bruce Peninsula are $11.50 CAD just to make the online reservation and then an additional $12.75 CAD per person camping. Parking at The Grotto and Halfway Log Dump are $15 per Day.  Reserve ahead of time!

Bruce Peninsula also has an entrance fee of $8.50 per person per day for adults.  However I highly reccomend getting the Parks Canada Discovery Pass if you plan on going to any Canada National Parks for at least 4 days in a year.

Which Bruce Peninsula Campsite is best?

I think Stormhaven is the better of the two Bruce Peninsula campgrounds. The individual tent sites at Stormhaven are tucked away in the woods but with quick and easy access to the beach to enjoy the sunset, cook some meals, and do some stargazing. High Dump is also near a beach, has better solitude, and also includes a small beach with a steep rope descent to get to.  All of the reservable tent sites come with wooden platforms to set up tents, bear poles to hang food, and pretty nice pit toilets. 

Backcountry Campgrounds in Bruce Peninsula National Park

Stormhaven – Nestled in trees with staircase to huge beach and boulder area, can get crowded. 

High Dump – Secluded in the forest with asteep descent to a long beach area, less crowded than Storm Haven

Trip Report

My Friend Hannah and I headed to Ontario from the High Peaks Region of the Adirondacks.  This was my first time to visit Toronto, and Hannah hadn’t been since elementary school. We stopped by Niagara Falls along the way and then biked around town checking out popular spots, eating good food, and going to a few breweries.

We were curious if Ontario had any good hiking/backpacking opportunities, we had all our gear with us from the week before, and backpacking was the goal of our original two-week trip that got canceled due to wildfires in California. Every Google search kept recommending the same place: Bruce Peninsula National Park.

After seeing images of the park, we really wanted to do Backpacking in Bruce Peninsula and see it for ourselves. All of the backcountry campsites were full though and the other campsites nearby were quite expensive; around $45 for peak season. The park was also about a 3.5 hour drive from Toronto.

We went to a coffee shop to research more hiking options; there were some other promising locations near Ontario from our initial research.  Just in case, I checked the Canada backcountry reservation website for the 5th time that day, AND THE HIGH DUMP CAMPGROUND HAD OPENED UP!  To make things even better, the campsite reservation was for an itinerary reservation; In order to book High Dump, we also had to book a second night at Bruce Peninsula’s other backcountry campsite: Stormhaven.

We lucked out with Stormhaven, it was definitely the better of the two sites.

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Unpacking and hiking to our first camsite: High Dump.  Backpacking Bruce Peninsula was finally underway!

First epic view of Lake Huron at Overhanging Point in Bruce Peninsula

Amazing views of the Milky Way on our first night! We were actually surrounded by storm clouds and there was faint distant lightning creating a ring of occasional dim light.  Bruce Peninsula is a Dark Sky Preserve so the stargazing here is phenomenal. 

Can you spot the guy in the right image?  Some of the cliffs are pretty high. The highest cliff in the park is 120 feet.

We kept hearing about Indian Head Cove so we wanted to check it out for ourselves. Here’s what we found:

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Although there’s not much total elevation gain in Bruce, there’s plenty of net elevation gain on The Bruce Trail. We experienced constant inclines and declines; especially on the section from Halfway Log parking lot to the High Dump campground.   By the end of the trip, the difference between our highest and lowest point on the trail was about 200 feet but the overall elevation gain was over 2,000 feet!

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This past October, I embarked on one of the most beautiful backpacking trips of my life, tackling 37.5 miles and 8146 feet of elevation gain over the course of four days. While that may sound intimidating, the trail was fairly moderate, with most of the elevation gain being gradual other than a few strenuous sections.

I had always dreamed of visiting the Canadian Rockies, and when I finally made it there in 2017, I knew I had to come back in the fall some day for the legendary Larch Madness. During this brief climate window, all the larch trees in the area (which closely resemble Christmas trees) turn a vibrant yellow. I was lucky enough to convince my adventure friend group to go to the Canadian Rockies for our annual outdoor adventure trip. We timed our visit for backpacking Mount Assinboine perfectly, arriving on the first weekend of October 2022, when the larches on this particular trail were at their peak. Other popular trails, like Sentinel Pass and Larch Valley, had already passed their prime and were a darker shade of yellow.

This trek came with a number of logistical challenges, especially in the off-season. For one, it’s a point-to-point trail, so you need either two cars or a shuttle to get between the two trailheads. We opted for the shuttle option, using the Three Sisters Taxi Service, who were fantastic and I highly recommend them. They picked us up from the Mt. Shark trailhead at 8 am and dropped us off at Sunshine Village.

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There are six backcountry campsites along the trail, which makes it easy to tailor the trip to different skill levels. Initially, we had planned to complete the trek in three days, but after an intense two-day backpacking trip in Yosemite earlier in the summer with some of the same crew, we decided to add an extra day for more relaxation and to really soak in the stunning scenery. In the end, we spent four days and three nights on the trail, with no day being longer than 12 miles.

In the summer, hikers can opt to take the Sunshine Gondola to the top of Sunshine Mountain to begin this particular trek backpacking Mount Assiniboine or explore other popular hikes in the area (like Healy Pass or Citadel Pass). I’m not sure when the gondola typically closes for the season, but comments on AllTrails indicated that it had already shut down by mid-September this year. This added an additional 3.4 miles and 1700 feet of elevation gain to the start of our trip, as we had to hike up the service road to reach the ski village at the summit. Luckily, this was probably the most difficult part of the trek and I’m glad we could knock it out at the beginning when we had fresh legs.

Day 1 – 11.5 miles

After reaching the top of Sunshine Mountain, we set off on the “real” hike, starting with Citadel Pass. This trailhead also marked the crossing from Banff National Park into Mount Assiniboine Provincial Park. The first few miles on Citadel Pass were fairly flat, with just one moderate section of elevation gain, and we also got our first glimpse of dense larch tree patches.

On the other side of the ridge, the explosion of yellow larch tree colors simply blew my mind. I had no idea this trail would offer so many Larch madness viewing opportunities, competing with the more popular larch hikes in Banff. Howard Douglas Lake was our potential Day 1 campsite if we were too tired from the service road ascent (and we got a permit in advance), but we felt well enough to press on, so we just stopped there for lunch. I will say, though, that this was a much nicer campsite than the actual campsite along the trail where we stayed, and it was by a lake.

After lunch, we faced another moderate section of elevation gain before a pretty rapid descent into the valley where the Porcupine Backcountry camp was located. The descent was approximately -2,000 feet of elevation loss over 2.5 miles. Bless the knees and toes!

The Porcupine campground was situated at the bottom of the valley between two crossing streams. One of the streams was dry, while the other had a light flow. This was the case for most of the hike – I’d say only about 50 percent of the streams were flowing, but there were still plenty of opportunities to refill our water bottles. All of the backcountry campsites were really nice, with pit toilets or outhouses (shielded from the weather), bear boxes to store food, and cooking areas with benches or wooden picnic tables.

I didn’t have a thermometer or cell service to check the weather forecast for all three days of the trek, but it was definitely chilly at night, with lows in the low 30s or upper 20s Fahrenheit. As expected, the mornings, right after sunrise, were the coldest parts of each day. This definitely wasn’t ideal, as no one wanted to crawl out of their cozy sleeping bags.

Day 2 – 9.5 miles

On Day 2, we set our sights on the Mount Assiniboine area. We hadn’t really seen the peak since the top of Citadel Pass, nine miles earlier. And that trend continued.

Day 2 was a bit of a slog, mostly uphill. The day started with a more serious incline, and the first four miles were spent switchbacking through the forest with no views and no larch trees.

Eventually, we popped out at Og Lake, where we stopped for lunch and refilled our water bottles. Sour Patch kids never tasted so sweet. Og Lake is also a very nice camping spot with elevated views of the lake. However, it’s important to note  that there’s not an easy path to the lake from the tent pads – it would probably take a five to ten minute walk to get down to the water.

After lunch and departing Og Lake, we entered a classic high alpine tundra area, where the plant life and scenery totally changed. We could finally see Mt. Assiniboine again! The next several miles, once we entered this tundra area, were fairly flat until we reached our Day 2 camp at Lake Magog.

We were all pretty disappointed by the Lake Magog campsite. And unfortunately it’s the only option in the area, so there’s really no other choice unless you book a cabin stay. While there was a beautiful view of Mt. Assiniboine, Lake Magog was completely obstructed by a lot of elevated land between the tent pads and the lake shore. To get down to the water required another 15-20 minute hike and around 300 feet of elevation descent, which we had to do because the water pipes at the tent pads were also shut down for the off-season.

The view down by the water was great and worth the hike!

We had three photographers on this trek, and we were all having a blast photographing Mt. Assiniboine as the light faded during sunset. We also got up in the middle of the night to do some astro photography of the peak. Unfortunately, we missed the iconic photo spot at Sunburst Lake. We didn’t realize until after we completed the trip that this spot was off our main route – we thought we would just stumble upon it at some point while hiking. That wasn’t the case 🙁 But that just means we’ll have to return!

Day 3 – 11 miles

On the third day, we woke up to some beautiful, chilly weather and decided to take it slowly. After making coffee and eating some snacks for breakfast, we headed back to the lakeshore trail to see Mt. Assiniboine in the morning light and take our annual group photo.

Also shoutout to Ian waking up earlier than everyone and capturing some photos of a black bear down at the shore of Lake Magog.

Love these dudes!

After leaving the Lake Magog area, we entered an extensive Larch Madness area. The trees were a tad past peak and more orange than yellow, but we found ourselves surrounded by an ocean of larches. This area had more larches than other tree species, which was the opposite ratio of what we had seen the previous two days.

We remained in the magical larch forest for the first two-mile ascent. The switchbacks were a bit intense at times during those first two miles, but the views were excellent for distracting us. Wonder Pass was the highest point of Day 3, and then we began an eight-mile descent. We had distinctly different views after reaching Wonder Pass and entering a new canyon.

The first mile of descent after Wonder Pass was fairly gradual. We saw a grizzly bear about 100 yards ahead of us just off the trail for about two seconds before it disappeared into the forest. We waited about 10 minutes to continue, pulling out our bear spray to be on the safe side, making loud noises, and proceeding with caution. We never saw it again.

After we got our first glimpse of Marvel Lake, the real descent began. It was about 1,500 feet of elevation decline in about 1.5 miles. This section is the main reason I’d recommend going the direction we did, instead of Mt. Shark to Sunshine Village.

The scenery shifted dramatically again, and it felt like I was transported back to my summer backpacking trips in Banff in 2017. We were treated to views of a giant turquoise glacier lake, majestic mountains, dark green pines, and almost no sign of larches. After crossing Wonder Pass, we were actually back in Banff National Park, but it was interesting how all the larches disappeared so suddenly.

Even after reaching the bottom of the switchbacks, we still had three miles to hike parallel to Marvel Lake, still about 500 feet above the shore. It felt like the lake was growing as we hiked these three miles. The lake is so massive that the views barely changed even though we were making forward progress, and it seemed like the end of the lake would never come.

But it did, and we all dipped our legs in the water. I really wanted to swim, but the sun was starting to set and I was worried I wouldn’t be able to dry off fast enough before the night time chill arrived. A short hand slapping bath with the ice cold water would have to do. 

Like the Og Lake and Magog Lake Campgrounds, the Marvel Lake campground is not close to the lakeshore. We were originally planning on camping here but instead felt the need to push on to the Br9 to make Day 4 shorter, because we realized we made a major goof.  

We way under-packed our food.  This was our first 4 day backpacking trip; in the past we mostly did 2 day adventures.  When we were packing food, it looked like double what we normally packed and none of us questioned it.  Oops.  We weren’t completely out of food yet, and as long as we finished in 4 days as planned we’d be fine, but hungry. 

The Marvel Lake Campground and Br9 campground both have nice creeks running through them for water.  The cooking area at the Br9 campground was much further from the tent pads than all of the previous campgrounds we stayed at on the trek.  I’m not sure if it was because we were in Banff National Park now instead of MAPP. 

Day 4 – 5.5 miles

For breakfast on Day 4 we skipped the coffee and had our remaining snacks to fuel us for the last 5.5 miles.  Cheez-its, trail mix, and skittles… breakfast of champions, hahaha. 

The last 5.5 miles were mostly flat and through forests with no views.  We did have one amazing view though towards the beginning of the day at a river crossing that fed into the Spray Lakes. We did this hike pretty quickly, in about 2.5 hours. Then we packed up the car and booked it to the Wendy’s in Canmore to feast.

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Summary

Sunshine Meadows to Mt. Shark is a 10/10 4 -day backpacking trek and fairly moderate.  There were a few intense sections, but overall the elevation gain and descent were fairly gradual over the 38 miles, with the main difficulty just being the sheer distance/time on our feet.  

I’m sure this hike is very beautiful in the summer, but hiking through the yellow larch forests in early October was absolutely gorgeous and unforgettable.  Even when I was out of breath, I still had a big smile on my face throughout all the larch sections. 

I’ve done several backpacking trips in the Canadian Rockies and this is my new #1. I would love to return and do this trek again in the future.  Next time, I’d love an opportunity to see the mountains blanketed in fresh snow and dotted with bright yellow larches. 

As a bonus, I’m linking a map below with a lot of popular fall color hikes in the Banff National Park region.  When I was doing research for this trip I put them all on this map, many with links to corresponding blog posts. It’s mostly day hikes, so maybe a combo with this trek??

Grand Tetons National Park

September 6-7 , 2021

Overview:

Distance: 21.5 miles

Elevation Gain: 3656 ft.

Time: 2 days, 1 night

Difficulty: Strenuous 

 Camping overnight in the backcountry of GTNP requires permits from the NPS. This includes Backpacking Paintbrush Canyon.

The Tetons are a special place. Driving into the park, it was fairly flat until we were met with some massive jagged mountains that came out of nowhere. There’s a bunch of iconic views along Route 191, but to really experience the Teets, I think you have to get up into the backcountry.

Backpacking Paintbrush Canyon + Cascade Canyon Loop

Every year, a group of my close friends and I do a 1-2 week outdoor adventure trip somewhere in the USA to get away from our jobs, reconnect with each other and get into nature. This year we explored the national parks in Wyoming as well as some cool spots in Idaho. The past few years we’ve been pretty good about planning out our itinerary and reserving permits for the backpacking trips we want to do, but this trip had pretty much no planning at all. 

We really wanted to backpack in the Tetons, but we missed the permit deadline earlier in the year. It was also Labor Day weekend, so we were a little nervous about acquiring walk-up permits for our top choices.  From my pre-trip research, Backpacking Paintbrush Canyon and the Cascade Pass loop popped up a lot so we wanted to try for that as our first choice, and succeeded!  

GTNP allows walk-up permits the day before starting a backcountry trip. I’m not a big fan of this. I think it should be the day-of, but alas.

We arrived at the Jenny Lake Visitor center at 6:30am after a 2 hour drive from Yellowstone. We were told by a friend that the doors opened at 7am; turns out they opened at 8am, whoops.  It was pretty chilly outside so no one really wanted to wait outside for an hour and half, which in hindsight we should have done. Once we left our warm car to wait in line for permits, a decent line had already formed.  We didn’t succeed in getting the Paintbrush Canyon permits the day we got there, but we got them for the following day for North Fork Campground.

Now onto the trail deets!

This loop starts at String Lake, just north of Jenny Lake. By the lake, there are 3 parking lots; we chose the South lot since we were taking the loop counter-clockwise. 

After missing our very first trail junction less than a mile in and having to backtrack, we were finally on our way into one of the most scenic areas of the GTNP backcountry. About 2 miles in, we were greeted by a mama and baby moose walking down the trail!! Shoutout to Dillon for these epic telephoto shots.

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We also later saw a black bear cub, but I didn’t get any good pics of it.  

Lower paintbrush canyon reveals the first beautiful views of the Grand Teton backcountry. Even in Early September there were some hints of fall colors.

There are several streams to fill water throughout the paintbrush canyon ascent,which we took advantage of a few times. I think the lower and upper camping areas in Paintbrush Canyon would make great one day backpacking trips going counter clockwise, or a second day campsite coming from the other direction. 

After filling up our water bottles, we pushed forward to Holly Lake for lunch. At 6 miles, Holly Lake was approximately the halfway point for Day 1. So far, we knocked out ~2500 ft. of elevation gain. The next section of climbing was a lot tougher for us because the altitude started hitting.

In the panoramic photo below, the break in the mountains on the right side of the photos is the continental divide and the last bit of climbing, around a mile to go. 

I’ve seen photos of this section covered in snow and ice and I much prefer the scree. Walking on the scree was still pretty sketchy though; the rocks moved a lot. So close yet so far and we were struggling.

Eventually, the four of us arrived at the high point of the loop – 10,700 feet! 

There were some pretty great 360 views from the top.  But descending into the canyon on the other side of the continental divide made the views look even better.  Unfortunately, there were some visibility issues due to Canadian wildfires in 2021, but the Tetons still looked majestic nonetheless.

The descent from the Paintbrush Divide to Lake Solitude was about 2 miles and 1600 feet of elevation loss. It was also scree on almost the entire way down to the lake. Because of this steep scree section, we were all really glad we decided to take the Loop CCW instead of CW; I think it’d be more strenuous going the other way around.

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As a reward for making it past the crux of the hike, we took a frigid polar plunge in Lake Solitude. And then walked to our campsite in our underwear.  Little did we know, that was another 2 mile walk… ha!

We all thought the North Fork Campsites would be just down the trail aways, however the backcountry sites span over a mile.  (Make sure to grab a map of the camping area from the ranger for whichever campground you get permits for! It was very helpful finding the hidden campsites tucked away off trail.)  Since we arrived at sunset, all of the campsites closer to Lake solitude were taken and we got one of the very last ones further down the mountain.

The next day was pretty much all downhill, for 7 miles.  We had beautiful views of Cascade Canyon for the first several miles. 

Then the last 2 miles, the end really seemed to be running away from us.  Walking around the edge of Jenny Lake, back to the parking lot, seemed longer than it should be. Part of that was probably because the sun was beating down on us, without much shade for relief. But we all made it eventually, injury free! 

Overall this was a very strenuous 2-day backpacking trek, that provided incredible views of the heart of the Tetons. If I were to do this hike again, however, I’d probably make it a 3-dayer to enjoy my time in the mountains more instead of just 2 days of a brutal workout. I’d still take it CCW and  camp at Upper Paintbrush or Holly lake the first day, North Fork or South Fork the second day, and then hike out the third day. 

I hope you enjoyed this recap, and feel free to leave any questions or comments below! I always love hearing your feedback!

Overview:

Distance: 3.4 miles

Time: 2 days, 1 night

Difficulty: Easy

Backpacking to Hole in the Wall is a fun easy overnighter (or day hike) that provides some beautiful views of the Oregon Coast.  There’s towering rock formations in the shallows, dense forest touching the beach, and lots of driftwood (and driftwood forts!). This backcountry campsite is within the Olympic National Park boundaries, so permits are required and can be reserved up to 6 months ahead of time. 

Parking is available at Rialto Beach,  another popular Oregon beach that’s worth exploring, but typically very crowded.  Hole in the Rock is then 1.5 miles down the beach, heading North. When we went, we were blessed with 2 sunny days in a row.  The most important thing to note about this hike is that the hole in the wall can only be passed during low tide. Make sure to check the tide charts, because backcountry camping is on the other side of the formation.

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You can also go above/around the Hole in the Rock instead of through.  This section of the trail is worth checking out either way because it has sweeping views of the Olympic Coast from a higher vantage point.

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Once past the wall, we were free to pick a spot to set up camp for the night.  We also partook in making our own driftwood fort like many other campers on the beach.  Seeing everyone’s forts was one of my favorite parts of this trip.  I posted some photos of our driftwood fort in a National Parks Facebook group and was met with the wrath of several people (boomers) saying that we vandalized a National Park.  I don’t agree with the sentiment since the driftwood was already there and we made our fort in place, and high tide breaks the forts down if you build them low enough.  So your call if you want to participate in fort building or not!

To finish off the night, we let the campfire die out and then laid our sleeping bags in the sand without a tent and stargazed until we fell asleep.  Let me know if you have any questions about this hike; I hope you have a good time out there!

Overview:

Region: Mount Baker Wilderness, Washington, USA
Date: August 11-12, 2020
Difficulty: Moderate
Elevation Gain: 1300 ft.
Permit Required: Northwest Forest Pass (No reservation required)

This short hike has such a massive reward.  It was a major highlight of our 10 day outdoor adventure tour of Washington.  The 360 views at the top are incredible.

The road to the top is pretty rough, and got more inclined the higher we went. I’d definitely recommend a high clearance vehicle; we made it in our Nissan Pathfinder.  There’s several nice campsites at the base of the trail too scattered around Twin lakes.  The trail to the top is a constant elevation gain over about 1.7 miles, but since it’s short, it’s not too bad!

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There is one sketchy section hiking to Winchester Mountain Lookout where there was a rock slide on the trail, so definitely use caution here.

Looking down at Twin Lakes from the trail

Hiking to Winchester Mountain Lookout, like all fire towers in the PNW,  is first come first serve.  We arrived at the top around 3PM and were the only ones there, so we got first dibs in sleeping in the fire lookout for the night. More people trickled in as the day went on but no one asked us to stay inside.  I’m not sure if this is an unspoken rule with sleeping in the fire lookouts or what, but we weren’t complaining, especially the next morning when it got down into the 20’s.

We experienced a wide range of weather conditions while we were up there,  starting with stormy skies.

But the sun poked out for dinner!

Mount Baker Sunrise

If you ever get the chance to some hiking to Winchester Mountain Lookout​,  just remember: Leave no Trace and leave the Fire Lookout better than you found it.

Cheers!