Perfect Weather for a Mountain Hike

When we lived in Calgary one of our favourite short hikes was Grotto Canyon near Exshaw.  A short hike; about seven kilometres to the hoodoo and back.  But quite spectacular nonetheless.  And it is less that an hour from Calgary, depending where in the city you are coming from!

Not difficult at all.  That said, the walk in is rocky so wear sturdy shoes or boots.  We went in near the end of May and there were sections with still several feet of ice. In winter one should definitely wear crampons on your footwear to keep from slip sliding away.

From the parking lot it is probably a little over two Kilometres to the bend where the falls are (to the right).  The bend is to the left.  Surprisingly, there was very little water in the stream or coming down the wall near the waterfall. 

If you go past the falls through the steep walls to the left you will come to a section where there are about a hundred cairns (piled up rocks).  I’m sure these get destroyed each year with the water cascading out of the mountains, then rebuilt each year.

Keep going past that you will come to a hoodoo on the left with a small cave near the top of it.  We have in the past gone a couple of kilometres past the hoodoo but never got to anywhere there was great views.  Lots of other hikes for that. 

Yvonne and I went with her son Spencer on this hike. He’d never been to this spot.  Great day, perfect weather.