Stanley Glacier

Overview

Overview

Fire and ice bring plenty of contrast to the Stanley Glacier hike in Kootenay National Park. A major forest fire struck the area in 2003, creating quite the renewed ecosystem. The recovering lodge pole pine forest is littered with colorful wildflowers, which grow abundantly because of the newly fertilized soils caused by the fire. Further up the trail, the forest diminishes as hikers enter the Stanley Basin. Views of the glacier are spectacular from here; however, hikers must scramble uphill, over large boulders, for another kilometer to see the toe of the glacier.

The hike also traverses a thin portion of the Burgess Shale, which is a 505-million-year-old sea bed preserved on the western slopes of the Canadian Rocky Mountains. Joining a seven-hour, 12-kilometer Parks Canada interpretive hike is the best way to take in close-up views of the Stanley Glacier, while also discovering trilobites, hyolithids, brachiopods, sponges and algaes fossils that go missed by the unobservant hiker. These hikes are popular and reservations must be made in advance. 
Info

Address

Highway 93, Kootenay National Park
Banff, Alberta

Categories

Places of Natural Beauty

Business Hours

Speciality

Glaciers

Map