Altrude Lakes

A trip into BC in early July saw us give Altrude Lakes a look as we crossed the Continental Divide on Highway 93 between Banff and Radium. Altrude lakes are a chain of small lakes. Access is "best" from the Continental Divide marker parking lot. You simply follow an old road bed east from the parking lot for a couple of hundred feet. Since we'd never paddle there before, we left out boats on the car and walked the route first.

The walk soon got more exciting, with a couple of steep gullies and a trail (sort of) to follow towards the lake.

You could definitely carry inflatable or foldable boats in here. Our hard-sided boats would have meant carrying them in and out one at a time.

Eventually (700 feet maybe?) you dump out into a marsh that is a couple of hundred feet from the lake. The reverse of this shot was my wife standing at the edge of the forest with her arms crossed and both eyebrows raised.

The first lake looks very nice. I'm not sure if you can boat though to subsequent lakes or if you'd need to hop out and portage for a bit.

In the end, we decided the small size of the lakes and the difficulty of the carry meant this wasn't really worth the effort to paddle (didn't want to blow a knee at the start of vacation) and we walked back to the car. I'd love to hear and see anyone else's experience these lakes.