I was looking for a good hike that I could do in a few hours with my girlfriend in a Castle Provincial Park area.
Castle Provincial Park is located about 2.5 hours south of Calgary in the Crowsnest Pass area.
The plan was to do a hike in the morning and then go to Castle Falls for some cliff jumping.
If you have never been to the Castle area, you should visit it.
There are a lot of activities that you can do there and the crowds are usually not as bad as in places like Waterton.
After doing some research, I decided to do the Mount Haig hike that starts at Castle Mountain Ski Resort.
Another option was Table Mountain but that one takes around 5 hours to complete.
This hike didn’t disappoint and Haig Lake was absolutely amazing.
The water was so blue and inviting that I even went for a quick dip but as you imagine it was freezing cold even in the middle of summer.
In fact, there was still some snow behind the lake.
How to get to Mount Haig Lake trailhead?
This hike is located in Castle Mountain Provincial Park in Southern Alberta not far from Pincher Creek.
Take highway 774 that goes through Castle Provincial Park all the way to Castle Mountain Ski Resort.
When I visited this summer, there was quite a bit of road construction in the area and it took a little longer to get to Castle Mountain Resort.
The trail is well marked and starts right beside the gondola.
There is plenty of free parking in front of the ski resort.
How hard is Mount Haig Lake hike?
It is an intermediate hike without any scrambling and most people who hiked before can do it.
The elevation gain is around 460 m and length is 8 km in total.
If you never hiked before in your life, take the South trail to get to the lake.
Hiking Up to Haig Lake
As you will see there are two trails that you can use to reach Haig Lake.
The North trail is a little steeper but offers much better views.
I took the North trail on the way up to the lake and didn’t see a single person until I reached the lake.
One thing to keep in mind is that there are a lot of berry bushes along the North trail and I would imagine bears come there quite often to feed so be prepared.
The South trail that I took on the way back from the lake was much more crowded and the views along the way are not as good.
Haig Lake is absolutely gorgeous and a good place to cool down on a hot summer day.
The area around the lake is a little windy so come prepared.
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