Jord's Hiking Blog: Emerald Lake / Natural Bridge

Dist: 6km Elev: 55m Time: 2h Difficulty: 1/5

The original plan for this long-weekend adventure was to explore Moraine Lake and the surrounding area. Unfortunately, despite an early start (we left our house at 4:30am), the small parking lot was completely full and blocked off by the time we arrived. Apparently others had the same idea. Disappointed but not completely surprised we decided to carry out our contingency plan: Emerald Lake in nearby Yoho National Park. I had heard the lake was beautiful but never thought the short loop justified a 4.5 hour return drive from Calgary. So this was our opportunity to make lemonade!

We stopped briefly along Emerald Lake Road to check out the Natural Bridge site. Once a waterfall along the Kicking Horse, the water now flows beneath the rock and has since formed a natural bridge over the river. Interesting enough to justify the 10 minute detour.

The Emerald Lake parking lot was vacant when we arrived just after sunrise - one perk of our early start. We made our way around the lake in a clockwise direction on the easy paved trail, stopping a few times along the way to read the interpretive trail checkpoints and learn all about the "rare" and "unusual" natural features for the area. A little glimpse into our requirement, perhaps? The trail became significantly less tame for the second half of the loop, but still nothing more than a few roots and occasional mud bog to navigate.

Emerald Lake lived up to its reputation of beautiful scenery and vividly colored water. Especially in the early morning without anyone else around. Not quite the day we had intended but still a good excuse to get out together and enjoy the summer!