Taylor Lake Hike

Trailhead: Located between Castle Junction and Lake Louise. Park at the trailhead parking lot 8kms northwest of Castle Junction or 18kms southeast of Lake Louise on the west side of the TransCanada highway. The parking lot can be accessed from either direction. Hike is close to Banff and Canmore,  Banff National Park.

Description: From the parking lot walk through the wildlife gate making sure you close it behind you. Take the trail on your right, continue on mostly uphill for another 6kms and cross the wooden bridges over Taylor Creek. Shortly after the second bridge you’ll arrive at a beautiful meadow with Taylor Creek flowing down it’s south side.

Stay on the trail until you reach a signed trail junction  Taylor Lake or O’Brien Lake. Keep going straight a few hundred meters heading to the east shore of Taylor Lake. O’Brien Lake is another 2.1kms from the signed junction.

Taylor Lake is a beautiful crystal clear aqua green color. Mount Bell rises 725ms from it’s south shore and at the west end of the lake there is a waterfall cascading down a 50m cliff face. The Northeast end is surrounded by an inviting meadow that I’m sure contains every wildflower found in the Canadian Rockies. There is also a backcountry campground with five tent sites complete with picnic tables, outhouse and food storage cables. The campsite is to wet for tenting in the spring months. Snow melt above has the entire area soaked.

Experienced scramblers can continue on to Consolation Valley and Moraine Lake. Taylor Lake offers good Cutthroat Trout fishing. You’ll need a fishing license to try your luck, check regulations for closures. Nearby O’Brien Lake is only 2.1kms from here and is well worth the effort. Pictures below were taken in August.

This is bear country, food and food related items must be stored properly

Bow Valley Parkway Map PDF