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Banff Adventures: Plain of Six Glaciers and Big Beehive Loop

November 9, 2021 / 16 Comments

Hope you have your hiking shoes on because this is about to be a long one. Incase day one wasn’t enough hiking, day two ended with 4,177 feet in elevation and a total of 13.1 hiked miles. Day two starts off driving an hour north to Lake Louise for the Plain of Six Glaciers and Big Beehive loop (Alltrails view here). As a beginner hiker, there were definitely moments where I struggled but the views are 100% worth it. If you’re going to go to Lake Louise you need to do this hike!

Lake Louise: Stretch Those Legs

The trail starts off easy with a loop around Lake Louise. At first you can clearly see how blue the icy water is but as you go up in elevation you’ll see the water change to an even brighter blue. This hiking trail really makes you see all the beauty Lake Louise has to offer and is a great warm up for what is to come.

Note: this is where people typically take their “iconic” Instagram photos.

Plain of Six Glaciers: Small Steps Add Up

This is where things start getting interesting. After the flat, easy walk around Lake Louise, you’ll start climbing your way up to the Plain of Six Glaciers. This hike has a little bit of scrambling once you get closer to the lookout, but boy is it worth it. As you can see from the middle photo below, you’re really scaling the tops of the mountains on this trail.

Note: Don’t forget to look back at Lake Louise! The water will continue to get brighter!

Plain of Six Glaciers Tea House: Snack Break

On the way to the peak (or even on your way back), you’ll be able to stop at the Plain of Six Glaciers Treehouse. The treehouse is normally open throughout the summer and closes on Canada’s Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, this means it was closed when we visited but that didn’t stop us from climbing up and having some of our packed snacks.

Big Beehive: Watch Out For Grizzly Bears

Once you reach the Plain of Six Glaciers peak, you’ll turn back to then go up the Big Beehive. While we were making our way over, an older couple warned us that they spotted a grizzly bear a couple hundred meters in front of the direction we were going. Reluctantly, Andrew and I continued on until we kept seeing people turn back. We started to hike that way with a solo hiker named Evan. When we started to see that we were walking deep into the forest, we decided to go a different path. When you’re hiking unfamiliar territory, it is always best to listen to your gut.

In my opinion, this part was the best view of the trip. I definitely started feeling the altitude difference here and felt my knees start to shake, but it was all worth it to see the view of the blue water. These photos really do not do it justice (so you’ll just have to go yourself)!

Lake Agnes Tea House

At this point, I was exhausted from the hike so I tiredly took these photos from the Lake Agnes Tea House. After we left the Tea House we had two or so miles left of the hike and it was very slippery. Andrew, Evan (our new hiker friend), and I kept falling left and right… a bruised tailbone waiting to happen.

The hike in all it’s glory:

Balkan and Beavertails

As one would imagine, we were all tired and starving after that hike. Andrew and I ended up going to dinner with Evan to Balkan, a greek restaurant in Banff. The food was fantastic and we could not eat it quick enough. Don’t worry, Andrew made sure he still had room for the classic Beavertail after.

Other Posts You Make Like:

Banff Travel Vlog

As always,

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