We stayed the final three days of our trip in Sunshine Mountain Village, which is located at over 7000 ft elevation. Normally operating as a ski resort in the winter, Sunshine is also open for the summer season, providing easy access to several excellent trails. In cooperation with Parks Canada, the resort developed a series of trails that take hikers through fields of wildflowers to three of Canada’s highest alpine lakes. The hikes start at Standish Viewing Platform, which offers incredible views of the lakes and meadows, as well as mountain ranges in all directions. To the south you can see all the way to Mt. Assiniboine (which we would like to visit someday), and to the north are distant views of Mt. Temple (which towers above Lake Louise, where we stayed during this trip) and Mt. Ball (next to Shadow Lake, where we stayed in 2019).
On the afternoon of our arrival at Sunshine Mountain Village, we took the last chairlift of the day up to Sunshine Meadows and hiked the trail to Rock Isle Lake. The crowds had left, and we had the trails to ourselves. After rounding the lake, we continued through a beautiful meadow to the beginning of a loop around Grizzley and Laryx lakes. But it was too late in the day to make the loop, and we had to return to the Village. We were hoping to get in the loop another day during our stay, but we never made it back down to the loop, so we will save it for another trip.
The next day we took the chairlift again to Standish Viewing Platform, setting out this time for Monarch Viewpoint. The trail took us through amazing meadows and past tarns to the viewpoint, where we had our lunch looking toward Simpson Pass and Healy Pass. We continued on the trail below the viewpoint for a short distance, and although we would have liked to walk further, the trail to Simpson Pass and Healy Pass will have to wait until the next visit. A strong thunderstorm was making its way towards us, and we found a protected area with a good view of Laryx Lake to sit it out. Again, we were on the edge of the storm, and there was no danger from the lightning.
On the final day of our trip, we had nearly perfect weather, with sunny skies and amazing clouds. One again, we took the chairlift up to Standish, and from there we walked over to the Mt. Assiniboine Trail and hiked to Howard Douglas Lake. The trail stretched along an open slope, with wonderful views in all directions. It went over a short ridge and down into a large, beautiful meadow, which we crossed before heading back uphill to the overlook of Howard Douglas Lake. There we took a long lunch break enjoying the views in the beautiful afternoon light. We walked down to the lake but stayed briefly, since there were many mosquitoes. Returning to the viewpoint, we enjoyed the view a while longer, absorbing as much as we could on this final hike of our trip. Eventually we had to head back to the Village, and as we retraced our steps the light continued to bring out the colors and shapes of the meadows, hillsides, and surrounding mountains. As we approached the trail terminus, another strong thunderstorm was developing, but this time it didn’t reach us until we were safely inside. It was a fitting end of a marvelous day and an epic trip.
Our stay at Sunshine Lodge was hosted by a wonderful staff overseen by Paresh, the Manager of Operations, who was extremely kind and helpful in making sure we had what we needed for a comfortable stay, and who gave us very helpful advice about hikes. We had an interesting conversation with Paresh about music from South India. We plan to return in the future to Sunshine Mountain, and hopefully we’ll see everyone again.
