Boom Lake - Banff National Park

Boom Lake Trailhead. Before climbing in
altitude, the trail crosses Boom Creek, Boom
Lake's runoff, by this wooden bridge. The
trail before climbing also hosts species of
Mountain Laurel, Alder, and wildflowers.

This past week my wife and I took a trip to Jasper and Banff National Parks in Alberta, Canada. The trip predominantly focused on hiking some of the more known and trafficked trails in the two large parks such as the Sulfur Skyline, Larch Valley, Maligne Canyon, Valley of Five Lakes, and Plain of Six Glaciers. We found ourselves with an empty morning, however, one of the days we were near Banff, and took a gamble on a trail that didn't have as much notoriety: Boom Lake. This trail is not along the Icefields Parkway, the main road going between Banff and Jasper, instead off the highway which connects Banff and Kootenay National Park. The lesser awareness of this trail was evident from the rather empty parking lot at the trailhead. While other parking lots had at least ten vehicles or campers parked in the narrow spots, Boom Lake had a single truck parked.

After picking up some lunches at Storm Mountain Lodge on a whim - a very good whim - we pulled into the lot. The trail is a subalpine trail dominated by mountain trees such as Black Spruce, White Spruce, Douglass Fir, and Englemann Spruce. The occasional Lodgepole Pine also made itself known, throwing it's tightly bound cones across the trail. Lodgepole Pine is one of a handful of Pine species which require forest fire to open the cones and cause seed dispersal, similar to the eastern Pitch Pine species. Collecting Seeds from this species requires collected cones be dry-cooked on a stove top so that the cones will open and the seeds can be removed. In a natural setting, forest fires melt the outside of the cones, and the seeds get carried by ashen winds to the nutrient rich soil. The spruce and firs gave the majority of the trail a wintry Christmas-candle scented perfume.

The trail's vista is normally sub-alpine forest.
Thick spruce trees offer shade and a wind -
break. It's a comfortable hike.

This trail is approximately three miles to the lake, then three miles back over the same trail - known as an "out and back" trail. Boom Lake is, like most of the other lakes in the area, a glacial lake, formed as glaciers carved out the mountain and then receded, leaving a hole which was filled by the runoff from the melting mountain snow and glacier. The sediment in this runoff gives the lakes in Banff and Jasper particularly brilliant hues. Peyto Lake, Lake Louise, and Moraine Lake are some of the brightest blues. Moraine Lake, while we were there, looked close to the color of a sapphire. Lake Louise and Peyto Lake were the color of turquoise. Boom Lake, though not quite as stunning as it's more famous neighbors still holds it's own luminescence; Boom Mountain in the background an impressive backdrop.

After an hour and a half hike, the shores of the lake appear without notice. The rocky shore is littered with large stones which offer plenty of spots to sit and relax while taking in the view. I took time to explore the old, alpine firs that had managed to grow in the rocky terrain. Stunted and twisted, they were often no more than four or five feet tall yet, since bearing cones, clearly over thirty to forty years old. The cones on firs are noteworthy for standing upright on the branches and disintegrating as they ripen to seed-bearing age. As they disintegrate, the seeds are spread. Upright central cone stalks left after cones had blown off were visible on many of the trees. We spent a solid hour and a half here, eating our delicious lodge-sandwiches. My wife spent time taking pictures and then napping somehow after finding two rocks that together formed a comfortable bench.

Alpine Fir Cone. Boom Lake in Background.
This tree was growing with several others on
top of a large flat slab of stone. It's roots ran
over and down below the rock impressively.

We walked back to the car in about an hour. The ascent to the lake was only about seven-hundred feet. Compared to hikes of two-thousand feet for the Larch Valley, and at nineteen hundred feet for Sulfur Skyline, this was barely difficult. Most of the steep hiking was frontloaded on the early sections of trail, which then maintained a mostly flat course the second half. The ground was mostly frozen, with little ice, so we didn't feel it necessary to wear any additional footwear other than hiking boots. For Plain of Six Glaciers and Larch Valley we wore microspikes. We hadn't purchased them for Sulfur Skyline, however we probably should have. While we made it down that icy and slick trail with no issues, another hiker wearing improper shoes - sneakers - took a bad tumble and clearly injured his shoulder. We learned later on that three hikers had to be air-lifted off Plain of Six Glaciers trail.

This is a very nice moderate difficulty trail and for a family or those getting into hiking and outdoor recreation. Other than the steep ascent early on, there is little to cause worry. The trail is clearly marked, maintained, and has bathrooms at the trailhead. I read that this trail can be muddy after rain and in spring, but can not verify this. I would recommend bringing waterproof shoes during this season. The fact that there aren't many people using this trail is nice for those looking to get out into a less touristy area in Banff than Lake Louise or Moraine Lake which can get very busy. Though we didn't see any large animals on the trail, we did see some squirrels, birds, and various tracks. We still carried bear spray, as we did on every trail, as black bear and grizzly bears are common throughout the park.