A Backpacking Guide to Mountain Assiniboine Provincial Park
Contents
Mount Assiniboine Provincial Park Backpacking Information
Difficulty: Difficult
Distance: 85.20Km
Elevation Gain: 3,600m
Highest Elevation: 2,746m
Average Gradient: 8.45%
Effort/Reward Ratio: Very High / Very High
Time Needed:
– Slow: 6+ Days
– Moderate: 5 Days
– Fast: 3-4 Days
Dogs Permitted?: Yes
Season: ~July to October
4×4 / High Clearance Required? No
Scrambling / Exposure: None
Mount Assiniboine Provincial Park Trail (Via Sunshine Village)
Trailhead Coordinates: 51°06’54.4″N 115°45’46.6″W
Mount Assiniboine Provincial Park Overview
Mount Assiniboine Provincial Park is a world-renowned backcountry park located in the Canadian Rocky Mountains on the border of British Columbia and Alberta. Filled with lakes, glaciers, alpine meadows and dramatic peaks, this provincial park is touted worldwide as one of the most scenic places in the Canadian Rocky Mountains.
With Mount Assiniboine towering above (3,618m), there are no roads passing through the park, with access requiring either a long trek in or a short helicopter ride. Camping, hiking and mountain climbing are the main activities within the park, but fishing, horseback riding and ski touring are also common.
Camping at the park is incredibly popular and as such a highly competitive reservation system is in place for the majority of the campgrounds. Assiniboine Lodge and the surrounding Naiset Huts also offer lodging in the area, but this is also in high demand and expensive.
This blog is going to cover backpacking into the park, which in itself has several options:
- Sunshine Village Trailhead via Citadel Pass (~27km / 960m)
- Mount Shark Trailhead via Assiniboine Pass (~26km / 770m)
- Mount Shark Trailhead via Wonder Pass (~27km / 1,000m)
The most common routes into the park (excluding helicopter) are from Sunshine Village and Mount Shark, with the latter either approaching via Assiniboine or Wonder Pass. There are also obscure routes in via Simpson/Mitchell River, but these are rarely taken and will not be discussed here. Regardless of the route you take, most parties will take 1.5 – 2 days to hike into the core of the park, though a single day push is possible with an early start.
The stats in the hike information above include hiking to Magog Lake via Sunshine Village (in and out), plus the hike up to Nub/Nublet Peak and a trip to Wonder Pass Viewpoint.
Best backpacking route into Mount Assiniboine Provincial Park
Sunshine Village (Approx. 27km / 960m)
Arguably the most popular and scenic route into the core area of Mount Assiniboine Provincial Park is from Sunshine Village. This route begins from the top of the Sunshine Gondola, before meandering through the stunning Sunshine Meadows and through Citadel Pass, before dropping down to Porcupine Campground where many parties will stop to camp. Day 2 will continue along the trail, passing through the Valley of Rocks, then Og Lake (another camping option instead of Porcupine) before reaching Magog Lake in the core zone.
Mount Shark via Assiniboine Pass (Approx. 26km / 770m)
This is perhaps the easiest but least scenic route into the park, and might be the preferred option for those looking to reach the core of the park in a single day push. The route begins by following a wide gravel road to Wattridge Lake before becoming a forested trail towards the end of the Spray Lakes Reservoir. The trail then follows Bryant Creek, passing by Big Springs Camp, Marvel Lake Camp, McBride’s Camp and Allenby Junction Camp. The last section of the trail either follows the Horse Trail or the Allenby Pass hikers trail. The latter is closed from Aug 1 – Sep 30 for grizzly activity. Both trails converge again near Assiniboine Pass before continuing on to Magog Lake.
Mount Shark via Wonder Pass (Approx. 27km / 1,000m)
This route is perhaps the toughest route due to a steeper ascent up to Wonder Pass. It begins on the same trail as Assiniboine Pass for the first 12.5km. After splitting, you’ll climb up to a shoulder above Marvel Lake where the views are fantastic, before turning off to begin the steep climb up to Wonder Pass. From Wonder Pass, you descend down towards Magog Lake, passing by the scenic Gog Lake and Naiset Huts before reaching Magog Lake.
So what is the best route in?
Well, I’ve only taken the Sunshine Village route, and having read about the other routes I think this is the best route if you’re happy to pay for the gondola. The scenery from this route begins right away and is mostly constant (except for the short stretch down to Porcupine Campground). Another reason I prefer this route is because you can easily hike to Wonder Pass from Magog Lake as part of your day hikes in the core area, but you cannot hike through Sunshine Meadows as a side trip from the lake. So, starting at Sunshine Village allows you to see basically all of the main park sights, while the other routes do not.
In an ideal world you will complete this as a through hike, beginning at Sunshine Village and ending at Mount Shark, descending via Wonder Pass. That will truly see it all, but it is logistically more complicated as you will need a vehicle to be left at both trailheads to complete this as a through hike.
Where to Camp in Mount Assiniboine Provincial Park
Where you camp in the park is obviously dependent on the route you intend to take into the park and how fast you want get into the core zone. Below are the main campgrounds for each route, as well as whether you need a reservation or not to stay there (hint: you almost always do).
Sunshine Village Route
- Howard Douglas Lake – Reservation Required via BC Parks
- Police Meadows Shelter – No Reservation Required
- Porcupine Campground – Reservation Required via BC Parks
- Og Lake – Reservation Required via BC Parks
Porcupine Campground is realistically the preferred option for stopping on the way to Magog Lake as it’s around half way to the lake. Howard Douglas Lake is far too close to Sunshine Village, and Og Lake is pretty close to Magog Lake.
- Big Springs – Reservation Required via Parks Canada
- Marvel Lake – Reservation Required via Parks Canada
- McBride’s Camp – Reservation Required via Parks Canada
Marvel Lake is by far the best choice for whichever way you go in via the Mount Shark trailhead. Again, it’s pretty much the halfway point to Magog Lake. Big Springs is your preferred backup.
- Allenby Junction – Reservation Required via Parks Canada
- O’Brien Meadows (Group Site) – Reservation Required via BC Parks
Core Zone
- Magog Lake – Reservation Required via BC Parks
- Mitchell Meadows – No Reservation Required (Note: this is 5.7km from Magog Lake)
You can see why Magog Lake is in such high demand, it is the only campground in the actual core of the park, and of course it’s by far the most scenic. The only campground near the core that doesn’t need a reservation is Mitchell Meadows, which is essentially the backup campground for Magog Lake. At 5.7km to Magog Lake, it’s not ideal but it’s also not that bad, it’s just a 1.5 hour or so hike to the lake. Og Lake is another backup for the core, but that’s even further at 6.6km.
Best day hikes in Mount Assiniboine Provincial Park
Once in the core zone of the park, parties will all do their own thing. Some will just chill at the campground / lodge and Magog Lake, while others will explore in depth. The main day hikes within the core zone are:
- Nub Peak / Nublet / Niblet via Sunburst and Cerulean Lake – This is the main event and one of the main reasons hikers go to this park. The views throughout the hike are outstanding, especially from Nublet and Niblet, but also along the shores of Sunburst and Cerulean Lake. Many parties will do this hike more than once it’s so good (and quite short if going from the campgrounds). Both sunrise and sunset are outstanding from Nublet, no need to go all the way to Nub Peak (though it’s worthwhile if you have the time).
- Wonder Pass Viewpoint via Gog Lake – Wonder Pass is another fantastic, must do hike in the core zone. The fact you can hike this as a side trip from Magog Lake is the main reason I encourage people to hike into the core via Sunshine Village. You cannot see Sunshine Meadows/Citadel Pass any other way than hiking through it and into the core from the top of the Sunshine Gondola. You can see Wonder Pass even if you don’t hike in via Wonder Pass. Anyway, the views from Wonder Pass are great and well worth the trip, however you fit it in. Gog Lake on the way is beautiful as well.
- Windy Ridge – This hike climbs high above Og Lake and offers different views than the other zones. A worthy trip if time permits.
- Og Lake – A fairly nice spot that you will pass by if you come via Sunshine Village. Not as nice as the other hikes, so only tackle this if time permits. It is mostly flat, so it shouldn’t be too challenging.
- Sunburst, Cerulean and Elizabeth Lake – If you just want a chill wander around some beautiful lakes, you don’t need to hike up to Nub Peak. Just wander around the trails to each of these lakes for some beautiful, easy views.
- More adventurous parties might want to consider summiting a nearby peak, though many of them are quite technical. Wonder Peak and Sunburst Peak are two that stick out, but both require an element of scrambling, route finding and exposure.
Most groups will only stay in the core for a couple of days given the amount of time it takes to access the zone. We only really managed to hike the Nub/Nublet/Niblet loop (twice) and Wonder Pass Viewpoint before we had to head back out. With another day I would probably have added Windy Ridge for the different scenery. Of course, all of this depends on weather and general conditions (e.g. smoke). You should absolutely prioritize the Nub Peak Loop for the best conditions as these are by far the best views in the whole trip.
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Is Mount Assiniboine Provincial Park worthwhile?
Mount Assiniboine Provincial Park lives up to its reputation as one of the finest backcountry experiences in Canada. The views throughout the hike are outstanding, particularly from the Nublet. If you are fortunate enough to get a good weather/smoke window and see this on a sunny, clear day, everything will have been worth it.
That being said, the effort to see this park is substantial, with most parties taking 3-4 days just to hike in and out of the core zone. Combined with traveling to/from Banff/Canmore you could be looking at a week long trip just to get in and out of the core of this park. That is a considerable amount of time and effort to see this, and while the views are absolutely world class, it could be argued that there are similarly nice views throughout the Rockies and SWBC without having to dedicate so much time, effort and money to get them. When you tally it all up, visiting Assiniboine is not a cheap or easy endeavour.
Still, most people will consider it absolutely worthwhile, with many people returning again and again to see THAT viewpoint from the Nublet. There’s a reason obtaining Magog Lake campground reservations is so difficult, this place is hard to rival.
How difficult is backpacking into Mount Assiniboine Provincial Park?
Difficulty will depend entirely on your itinerary. Some parties will simply take the helicopter in and out of the core zone, in which case this is a piece of cake.
The “average” trip will likely span around 5 days, with most of that time spent simply accessing and leaving the core zone, either via Mount Shark or Sunshine Village. Of course, you will be carrying heavy packs on the approach and exit of the park as well, which makes things much harder than your standard day trip.
Overall, you can expect this trip to be challenging, but anyone with average hiking fitness and mobility should manage it just fine. There is nothing particularly technical about this, it’s a long old slog with heavy packs. If you camp a night on the way in and out, each day will be around 13-15km to get to the core, which should only take 4-6 hours of hiking each day depending on your pace. Of course, if you’re trying to do this as a single day push, you’re talking almost 30km of hiking with a heavy pack and a decent amount of elevation gain. It’s certainly doable with an early start for fit parties, but most will want to split the approach over two days.
Once you’ve reached the core zone and setup camp, things get much easier. You’ll be hiking with a light pack, and most of the hikes in the core zone are actually quite straightforward, given Magog Lake sits at 2,200m elevation.
Mount Assiniboine Provincial Park Backpacking Route Information
The route description here is going to cover our route, which approached Magog Lake from the top of the Sunshine Village Gondola. If you want an in-depth discussion of every possible option for accessing Mount Assiniboine, I would encourage you to read the Happiest Outdoors detailed guide to the zone.
Day 1 – Sunshine Village to Porcupine Campground (~14.3km / 390m)
Due to the logistics of flying to Calgary, driving to Banff and taking the gondola, we didn’t start this hike until almost 2pm, which isn’t an issue as the hike itself should only take around 4 hours at a leisurely pace. If you are able to begin earlier in the day, I would actually encourage you to stay at Og Lake further along the trail than Porcupine Campground.
This was one of the easier days for us since we began at the top of the gondola. It was actually made even easier than we had thought as the Standish Express chairlift was also operating, which takes you even higher on the mountain up to Mount Standish. If this chairlift is operating, make sure you take it, otherwise you’ll have to hike up from the main gondola. You also get some nice views from a viewpoint at the top of the chairlift.
From the chairlift, you drop down towards Rock Isle Lake before joining the Citadel Pass Trail. This trails meanders for a while before climbing up to a high point above Howard Douglas Lake, where you will get a great view of your route, with Mount Assiniboine far off in the distance.
You’ll now drop down to Howard Douglas Lake, wrap around it and continue along the Citadel Pass trail towards Citadel Peak. After a bit more climbing, you’ll work around the northern cliffs of Citadel Peak, where you’ll reach Citadel Pass. The views throughout this are very nice, and when we went (end of July) the wildflowers were off the chart. From Citadel Pass you’ll begin a gradual descent towards the forest,
Once reaching the forest, the day ends with a steep, 500m descent down to Porcupine Camp. With heavy packs this descent may be hard on the knees and quads, and unfortunately on the way back out we knew we had to climb back up this way.
At Porcupine Camp, we setup our tents, had dinner and got to bed.
If you are unable to get Porcupine camp reservations or prefer to push on further on Day 1, you could alternatively camp at Og Lake. This would be ~21km / 800m gain. If we were starting earlier in the day I would have preferred this myself.
Day 2 – Porcupine Campground to Magog Lake Campground (17.7km, 780m)
On day 2 we had a leisurely breakfast and set off around 9.30am. While this hike begins at 1,800m and ends at around 2,200m, there is a fair amount of undulation along the way, and the first few kilometers have a few steeper climbs in them. A couple of members in our party were struggling, and our pace was a lot slower than we had expected.
Things get a bit easier once you reach the Valley of Rocks, but you still continue to climb gradually up to Og Lake. Some of our party wanted a longer break at Og Lake so they stopped for a rest and some lunch while I continued on to Magog Lake. Thankfully, things get a lot easier after the lake, with the remainder of the trail a fairly mellow one that passes through a series of meadows, all with nice views.
You’ll pass through a bit of forest and ultimately find some signage directing you to Assiniboine Lodge. You don’t need to go to the lodge if you prefer not to, you can in fact take a direct trail to the campground on the western shores of the lake, but I wanted to see the lodge and then walk down to the lake shore, so I headed that way. The views of Mount Assiniboine and Magog Lake from the lodge are stunning, this is a great “wow” moment as you enter the core of the zone.
You can hike down to the lake shore and follow it along as far as you want. I rejoined the trail to the campground early on, but you can follow the shore the entire way to the western end of the lake, at which point there is a steep trail adjacent to a creek up to the campgrounds. Either way, I found the campsites, which are very dispersed between a few different “zones”, each with their own bear caches, water faucet (you need to filter it) and cooking areas.
All in all it took me 6 hours to reach the campsite, but it would likely have been 4-5 hours or so if it wasn’t for the slower paced start.
After setting up camp I headed up Nublet/Niblet for the first time for sunset, but I’ll cover that in day 3 as we all went up together again that morning, this time with much clearer skies.
Day 3 – Nub, Nublet & Niblet via Sunburst & Cerulean Lake, Plus Wonder Pass Viewpoint (20.3km, 1,150m)
Day 3 was our one and only full day in the core zone of Mount Assiniboine Provincial Park, and thankfully it was both sunny and relatively smoke free. With that said, we wanted to prioritize the best views for this day.
Nub, Nublet & Niblet via Sunburst & Cerulean Lake
We began the day at 8am and set off for Sunburst Lake, which is only about 500m of hiking away from the campgrounds. This lake offers stunning views of Sunburst Peak with Mount Assiniboine behind, especially in the morning when the lake is calm. The trail continues past Cerulean Lake (also with outstanding views of Sunburst Peak), before beginning the climb up to the Nublet/Niblet ridge. Gaining the ridge only requires around 150m of ascending, at which point you break out of the trees to truly outstanding views of the lakes below with the Sunburst and Assiniboine Peak backdrop.
You can now decide whether to tackle the Niblet first (it’s right there) or go up Nublet and hit Niblet on the way back down. We did the latter, since Nublet offers the best views of them all. From the ridge, it’s about another 150m of climbing to reach the top of the Nublet, mostly on an obvious path, with a couple of slippery steps where small rocks cover rocky terrain. The views behind you will constantly be improving, so you will probably stop endlessly to keep taking photos. The best views are likely near the top, where there’s a grassy spot overlooking the route up, the three lakes below, and Sunburst and Assiniboine Peak. This is the whole reason you have come here, so make sure to take it in and enjoy it.
The Nublet offers the best views in the park, but many parties will continue on to the true Nub Peak summit. Reaching Nub Peak involves traversing the ridge between Nub and Nublet, which is mostly simple but it does have a mild bit of exposure as you need to side hill below the actual ridge crest. The drop off is never severe, but it might unnerve some particularly anxious parties. Still, most people should manage it just fine. Once past this sidehilling the terrain opens up to a broad slope leading to the summit, with an obvious path to follow. The summit offers more expansive views of the region, but you’ve now hiked away from the lakes, so the views of the core zone are a little diminished. You do get to include Elizabeth Lake in your photos now, so there’s 4 lakes total when you include Cerulean, Sunburst and Magog.
You can now return back the way you came over to Nublet, or if you prefer you can drop down to Elizabeth Lake via a direct route off of Nub Peak (avoiding the side hilling traverse). We didn’t want to do this as we were heading to Assiniboine Lodge next. After reaching the Nublet, hike back down to where you initially joined the ridge, then continue along the ridge to Niblet. This isn’t a very obvious spot, it’s more just a good, close up viewpoint of the trio of lakes and peaks.
Once finished on Niblet, rather than head back to camp, we followed the Assiniboine Lodge connector trail over to the lodge with the intention of continuing on to Wonder Pass.
Wonder Pass Viewpoint
From Assiniboine Lodge there will be ample signage indicating the way to Wonder Pass. You’ll now follow a flat trail southeast of the lodge towards the Naiset Huts, before joining a lovely boardwalk through the meadows adjacent to Magog Creek. Continuing to follow the mostly flat trail, the views here are beautiful, with Naiset Point and the Towers offering a stunning backdrop to the wildflower filled meadows and babbling creeks. This place really felt like the Swiss Alps and was probably the highlight of the Wonder Pass trail.
Once reaching Gog Lake, the climb up to Wonder Pass begins, but it’s fairly short lived. After around 150m of climbing you’ll reach the pass, where the views are nice but not outstanding compared to others in the area. Had conditions been favorable I likely would have climbed up Wonder Peak at this point, but the clouds were coming in and the views were somewhat diminished, so we instead opted to head over to the Wonder Pass Viewpoint. This involves descending the other side of the pass, where the Marvel Lake trail splits from the Wonder Pass Viewpoint trail.
Following the viewpoint trail, it now works towards a steep scree climb up to the viewpoint. This is around 50m of very steep, loose ascending that isn’t particularly pleasant but is thankfully short lived. Poles here helped a lot for balance to prevent slipping. Once at the top of the scree slope, the trail continues ahead towards some cliffs overlooking Marvel Lake and Lake Gloria below. Massive, glacier clad peaks are also visible, and on a clearer day I’m sure the views are breathtaking. Unfortunately for us it was now mostly cloudy, and mixed with some smoke the views were somewhat underwhelming.
After finishing, we headed back to Assiniboine Lodge, making it just in time for the 4-5pm beer/wine/cake sale that occurs every couple of days. Make sure to fit this into your schedule if it permits, as this was an amazing pick me up after several days of backpacking. The cake is actually very good as well.
We then sauntered back to the campground, had dinner and went to bed.
Day 4 – Magog Lake to Porcupine Campground 15.70km, 310m
Unfortunately all good trips must come to an end, and when you’re faced with a 2 day hike out the same way you hiked in, it’s not the most exciting either. Keep in mind, this hike back to Porcupine Campground only took us around 4 hours, so realistically we could easily have spent most of the day at Magog Lake if we had the desire to do so, but we were pretty tired by this point, the weather was not great and we all just wanted to begin hiking out.
We had a leisurely morning, with a lie in and a later breakfast, before packing up and hitting the road at around 10am. This is exactly the same as day 2, only in reverse. We powered to Og Lake as fast as we could as the weather was cloudy and chilly. We took a lunch break there and thankfully it began warming up a little. We then marched on, with one small break before reaching Porcupine Campground. Arriving at 2pm or so, we had a long time to burn before night came in.
I took a nap until dinner time, then mostly had dinner, hung out chatting with others at the cooking area, and packed up as much as possible to reduce the amount of packing to do in the morning, as we had an early start planned on Day 5.
Day 5 – Porcupine Campground to Sunshine Village 13.70km, 860m
Again, this is just day 1 in reverse, though we did not hike to the top of the Standish Chairlift at the end as this would mean unnecessary elevation gain.
We began the day quite early, waking up around 6am before beginning the hike out shortly after 7am. The hike kicks you in the butt right away, with a 550m climb up to Citadel Pass. We had all been dreading this, but ended up actually quite enjoying it. It was a lovely crisp morning after rain overnight, and with lighter packs and a consistent gradient we mostly were in the zone and powered through it easily. We even hit snow as we neared Citadel Pass, and with fully clear skies the views were now very nice. The rest of the hike out was uneventful, with one or two climbs to push through.
All in all, day 5 was actually a bit faster than day 1, despite the additional elevation gain, and we reached the gondola in a little under 4 hours. After riding back down to the car, we zipped over to Banff Recreation Centre and all took a shower before heading out to lunch in town and ultimately making our own ways home (some flying, some driving).
When should I backpack Mount Assiniboine Provincial Park?
Most parties will visit the park between early July and late September when the weather will be best and the snow will have receded to acceptable levels. The peak time to go will be end of July to mid-September. If you want to avoid the worst of the bugs, aim for mid-August to the end of September.
Top Tips
There are countless tips to consider for a backpacking trip into Mount Assiniboine Provincial Park like this:
- If you want extremely detailed information about every facet of this trip, including camp reservations, costs, helicopter logistics, routes, distances etc. then I strongly suggest reading through Happiest Outdoors annual guide.
- If you are able to, I would try and complete this as a through hike, beginning at Sunshine Village and ending at Mount Shark (descending via Wonder Pass). This offers the best of the scenery with no backtracking. Of course, this is logistically complicated, with most parties needing two vehicles to do it.
- Some parties may seriously want to consider taking the helicopter in/out given the amount of time it saves. 4 days of hiking in and out of the park is a lot of time, and with heavy packs some people may struggle. Yes the helicopter is expensive, but it makes everything so much easier and likely means you can stay in the core zone for longer.
- Obviously you need to be prepared for bear encounters (including grizzlies) on this hike, so prepare accordingly.
- Mosquitos and other insects can be atrocious through to mid-August. They usually improve as the season goes on, and by September they will likely be a non-issue.
- Assiniboine Lodge is open for hikers to purchase beer, wine, pop and cake on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays (plus Sundays on long weekends) from 4 to 5 pm. Bring cash and go early to get a good seat (they’re limited).
- Bring plenty of layers for all conditions, the weather is constantly changing, we had hot summer days followed by light snow one evening.
- There is no cell service anywhere in the park.
- Bring your own toilet roll, you cannot guarantee the outhouses will be stocked. Magog Lake is usually quite reliable, but the lesser accessible ones are less likely.
- If intending to share a tent pad, they are generally large enough for a 2-man tent and a 1-man tent. It would be very difficult, if not impossible to fit two, 2-man tents on one pad. Even a 1-man and 2-man was a squeeze.
