Where to go hiking in Canada

Canada’s known for its impressive outdoors, untamed wilderness, and the occasional moose or grizzly bear thrown into the mix. Hikers come from all over the world, backpacks in hand, craving adventure, skill-testing, and some incredible views. Book some vacation time and pack your first-aid kit and hit the outdoors; Below are 5 of best spots to go hiking in Canada, from an afternoon trek to a week of serious backpacking.

1. Black Tusk Trail, British Columbia

facebooktwitterpinterest Black Tusk Trail, British Columbia. Photo credit: Fiona Kwan

The Black Tusk is a needle of volcanic rock shooting out of British Columbia’s Garibaldi Provincial Park near Whistler. Enjoy a day of lush, forested mountainside, and some rocky scrambling, before stumbling on a knee-buckling view of soaring, snowy mountain-peaks all around.

Nearby Taylor Meadows has camping spots, and Vancouver is only about an hour and a half drive away if you want to tack a hiking day onto your vacation.

2. West Coast Trail, Vancouver Island

facebooktwitterpinterest Canadian Cave Explorer. West Coast Trail, Vancouver, BC, Canada” Photo credit: Paxson Woelber

This is the hiking holy grail. The West Coast Trail covers 75 km of remote, wild along the north of Vancouver Island (it’s a huge Island). Basically, you need to book at least a week, if not more. Between the torrential rains (it is a rainforest, after all), slippery logs, deep sand, and river-crossings, the Coast Guard have their hands full helping hikers off the trail all the time.

The tougher, more experienced backpackers will be rewarded for their perseverance with waterfalls, caves, beach-camping, whale-spotting, and pretty much everything else you’ve dreaming of at the office. This is the perfect antidote to cubicle fever.

3. Ivvavik National Park, Yukon

facebooktwitterpinterest Tundra landscape. Ivvavik National Park, Yukon. Photo credit: Daniel Case

One of the few drawbacks to a lot of these trails is crowds. These destinations are popular for a reason, but if you like solitude on your hikes how about a place where few feet have ever tread?

The Yukon’s Ivvavik National Park is a true Artic wilderness experience. How do you know? There are no actual, designated trails. Just mountains, rivers, and a few caribou, grizzly bear, timber wolf and muskox sightings you’ll be telling your grandkids about.

4. Top of the Giants Trail, Ontario

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Get a view of Lake Superior from 12,00 feet above the surface of the water. Hike the boreal forest of Northern Ontario’s Sleeping Giant Provincial Park for a jaw-dropping vista over the largest of North America’s Great Lakes.

5. Banff National Park, Alberta

facebooktwitterpinterest Banff National Park at sunrise. Photo credit: Bernard Spragg

You really can’t visit Canada without getting an up-close view of the iconic Rockies. There are dozens of options from the Rockpile, which affords a view of the aqua-colored Moraine Lake, and the Sentinel Pass to see Mount Temple (which you can climb if you’re also an experienced mountaineer).

These ancient, jagged, otherworldly-looking rocks are a once-in-a-lifetime sight in Alberta. But, Barry, an avid blogger from Hiking with Barry, warns that this makes for some large crowds, so plan your hikes for early morning and later in the afternoon.

As always, make sure you do your due diligence. A few of these hikes require a permit, or at least a check in with the local Park Office. Hopefully, though, this adds a bit to your bucket-list.

Other rad spots to go hiking in Canada:

– Kinney Lake Park, British Colombia
– Alexander McKenzie Heritage Trail – Quesnel, BC to Bella Coola
– Paradise Valley, British Colombia

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