My sister and I recently completed the Skoki Lake Loop in Banff National Park. We did it as a three day, two night trip. The trail starts at the Fish Creek Trailhead, right near the Lake Louise Ski Hill. While some elevation should always be expected when hiking in the mountains, I found this hike extremely manageable, even while carrying a 40 pound back pack.
There are four campsites you can stay at to complete this loop, but we trekked out to Baker Lake Campsite the first night, and then to Merlin Meadows Campsite for the second. If you only have time for one night, you could hike out to Baker and then carry on to Merlin Meadows. I highly recommend a quick pit stop at Baker Lake for the views alone. If you continue past the lake for two minutes you get rewarded with a stunning waterfall view and an expansive overlook point of the alpine valley you will be walking in the next day if you are headed to Merlin. All the campsites have bear hangs, outhouses and picnic tables which makes things a little bit easier while in the backcountry.
We added in a quick day hike with light packs to Merlin Lake from the Merlin Meadow Campsite. You have the option for this to be a round trip if you backtrack a bit to Skoki Lodge. That direction does include a fairly exposed ridge walk and some snow (when we went in July) so we opted for an out and back. We left the camps and crossed a make shift bridge to get started. It was an hour out and an hour back to the see the beautiful blue lake.
The final trek home involves Deception Pass and views of Skoki Lake. I was truthfully expecting Deception Pass to be more deceiving with the incline and distance but I was so mesmerized by the views that I quite enjoyed the trail. When you reach the summit you are rewarded with a great view of Ptarmigan Lake that you would have passed on day one.
The fine details:
Congestion: Thankfully low, but definitely book your campsite in advance
Elevation: You gain about 2,440 ft
Total Distance: About 40km, depending if you add day hikes
Trail Route: Loop
Duration: You can do a day trip to Baker, you can do it in two nights or stop at all four campsites and do it in five. The choice is how much you want to achieve.
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