Paradise Valley / Giant Steps

Dist: 20.4km    Elev: 620m    Time: 6h    Difficulty: 3/5

Another year gone by already! The annual Bear Bait hiking trip snuck up on me a little, understandably due to somewhat shifted life priorities this year. I decided to venture from our customary K-Country outings in order to take advantage of the reduced tourism volume this year and, after waffling between a few possible destinations, settled on a tour of Paradise Valley near Lake Louise after receiving some not-so-subtle enthusiasm around the prospect of incorporating a bicycle segment to our day. 

We arrived in Lake Louise around 9am to find, as expected, the Moraine Lake road closed to vehicle traffic but thankfully we had no problem finding parking in the nearby Great Divide day-use lot. Our bikes were quickly unloaded and we made easy work of the short and pleasant ride to the Paradise Creek trailhead. The rest of the day was spent making our way into the depths of Paradise Valley, enjoying numerous bridge crossings and admiring frequent and humbling views of the impressive peaks towering above. Lake Annette, brilliantly colored and nestled at the base of monstrous Mount Temple, made for a perfect half-way break along the way to our final destination at the Giant Steps waterfalls. We enjoyed a leisurely stop here, taking lots of photos and enjoying the scenery. One of the beloved Bear Cubs was unfortunately unable to make this year's outing, so we honored him by partaking in his favorite hiking snack - Teddy Grahams. We returned the way we came, rode the bikes back down to the vehicle, and headed for home eager for the family feast awaiting us.

As always, Bear Bait was an excellent day and a personal highlight of the summer. Hard to go wrong with a whole day of quality time with some of my favorite guys in the beautiful Canadian wild.

Bright -eyed and bushy-tailed. (Photo courtesy of Uncle Dean's selfie skills)

First views. Paradise Creek crossing and Mt Temple beyond.

Same creek crossing as above. Sheol Mountain to the right.

Sheol Mountain towering above us. The color and texture was quite striking.

Colorful Lake Annette below massive Mt. Temple. Perfect spot for a break.

Apparently Lloyd didn't trust the engineering of our human pyramid.

One of many large avalanche chutes beyond the lake.

Another creek crossing. Hungabee Mountain beyond.

I think this photo accurately captures the relaxed pace of the day.

Boardwalk over the creek bed. The Giant Steps are one minute beyond from here.

Giant Steps.

Looking downstream from the photo above.

Matt and Dean at our lunch spot along the falls.

Group shot in honor of missing "Teddy Eddy"

Mostly dry and very smooth and flat creek bed. Probably much more water in early spring.

Heading back. Mt Temple to the left. The saddle to the right is Sentinel Pass.

A closer look at Sentinel Pass.

Pinnacle Mountain towers above the "sentinels" of Sentinel Pass.
I'm already hatching plans to explore the area just beyond this point...