Joffre Lake Provincial Park

Pictures don’t do Joffre Lakes any justice.

There was a semi narrow snow packed trail leading the way, but do not step off the path or you’ll sink waist deep. I learned this quickly when I stepped off to let a couple pass in only the first 100 meters to the lower lake view point. I decided then to run the short distance back to the van to get my slip on cleats. The trail is a short 5K/3.1 miles to the upper lake with 1300+ feet of climbing, 10K round trip hike.


I’ve never tried to run up a mountain on a super narrow trail with snow and ice. Some parts of the trail were also slushy so coming down was almost like skiing. I’ve seen some glacier in the Lower 48 as I traveled but nothing like the one like Mt. Matier’s with the beautiful light blue glow in the middle. I have video of the run/hike too so I’ll post that once I get it clipped together.

Between the middle lake and upper lake there is an amazing waterfall. This cascade made the pain of climbing much more worth it! So hard to show the true experience in photographs but it’s always worth a try!