Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
to Sixth Bridge. Crowds will be minimal for the first three kilometers (1.9 miles) to Fourth
Bridge, where the trail starts climbing. By the time you get to Third Bridge, you start en-
countering adventurous hikers coming down the canyon, and soon thereafter you'll meet
the real crowds—high heels, bear bells, and all. Upstream of here the canyon is deepest
and most spectacular.
Watchtower Basin
• Length: 10 kilometers/6.2 miles (3.5 hours) one-way
• Elevation gain: 630 meters/2,070 feet
• Rating: moderate/difficult
• Trailhead: Maligne Lake Road, 24 kilometers (15 miles) from Highway 16
Watchtower is a wide, open basin high above the crowds of Maligne Lake Road. All the
elevation gain is made during the first six kilometers (3.7 miles) from Maligne Lake Road,
through a dense forest of lodgepole pine and white spruce. As the trail levels off and enters
the basin, it continues to follow the west bank of a stream, crossing it at kilometer 10 (mile
6.2) and officially ending at a campground. To the west and south, the
Maligne Range
rises to a crest three kilometers (1.9 miles) beyond the campground. From the top of this
ridge, at the intersection with the Skyline Trail, it is 17.5 kilometers (11 miles) northwest
to Maligne Canyon, or 27 kilometers (17 miles) southeast to Maligne Lake. By camping
at Watchtower Campground, day trips can be made to a small lake in the basin or to high-
lights of the Skyline Trail such as the Snowbowl, Curator Lake, and Shovel Pass.
Jacques Lake
• Length: 12 kilometers/7.5 miles (3-3.5 hours) one-way
• Elevation gain: 100 meters/330 feet
• Rating: moderate
• Trailhead: Beaver Lake Picnic Area, 28 kilometers (17.4 miles) from Highway 16 along
Maligne Lake Road
The appeal of this trail, which begins from the southeast end of Medicine Lake, is its lack
of elevation gain and the numerous small lakes it skirts as it travels through a narrow val-
ley. On either side, the severely faulted mountains of the Queen Elizabeth Ranges rise
steeply above the valley floor, their strata tilted nearly vertical.
Lake Trail (Mary Schäffer Loop)
• Length: 3.2-kilometer/2-mile loop (1 hour round-trip)
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