hey everybody it's papa steve on the move proud to bring you part four of
my skokie loop adventure in banff national park
having arrived at skokie lodge we're gonna make a day hike over to merlin lake and do the complete
loop back to merlin meadows where we'll camp and spend the night let's go check it out
now the loop trail to merlin lake can be started at either skokie lodge or at merlin
meadows campground we're going to start at skokie lodge but either way you're going to
have to make that one kilometer between the campground and the lodge now the beginning of
the trail is right in front of the lodge there's a few signs but they can be a little confusing
just look down towards the river and you'll see the bridge you'll know that's the start
this might be a first for me in the back country there's literally a fork in the road
now to the right is merlin lake that's where we're headed to the left is packers pass
and that's an alternate route to deception pass that leads you back to
the hidden lake campground i think we're gonna try this one tomorrow it's not on many maps but it's
supposed to be fantastic views now this feels like a mountain trail got the wall of jericho up here
mountains in the distance that's merlin meadows down there
in fact somewhere back there might be able to see our tent
if i can i'll zoom in and take a shot later we're to cross this expanse of boulders here and
scale around jericho's wall and merlin lake should be just on the other side
don't know if you guys can make out that gray dome in the distance that's uh that's home base
that's a little mother hubba over there this is a really great place let me zoom out and show you
merlin meadows sk 18 come check it out now once you've exited the forest you'll be on
some very rocky terrain you'll want some good boots to navigate this area
a few times you'll lose the trail where you have to climb over the rocks
but you'll notice some inukshuk strategically placed to get your way back to the trail once you
get about a kilometer in you'll start to notice some great views of castella lake this is another
great alpine lake with almost no access from here but keep going there's better views ahead
there's plenty of wildlife to see along the trail continue on enjoy the scenery watch your footing
and soon you'll come to a narrow expanse along some cairns that you will have to
scramble up it's relatively easy i'd list it as moderate and won't scare off any seasoned hikers
at the top you'll be afforded great views of the valley
and this nice little plane area with plenty of a nook shook to travel along follow the inukshuk and
you'll be rewarded with your first sight of lake merlin continue down until you reach the beach
we made it there's merlin lake definitely a more advanced trail than i thought there's a
big scramble at the end to get up that wall of jericho was uh very imposing
ah down at the shoreline of merlin lake not sure i want to get in the water
but sure does feel good to lie here feel like we accomplished something
coming up that uh that trail skokie lodge has got so many amazing trails around it
could definitely spend a couple days up
here
amazing
now i took the opportunity just to hang out at the lake for a while grabbed myself a little
snack had a bit of lunch and just took in all the beautiful scenery of the alpine lake
found the other trail it's come up from the lake it's not marked if you follow it up
there's a sign here to myrtland meadows so we're gonna head up the trail so once you find the trail
you'll find uh the first half is very forested every once in a while you come across a view
of the lake or the valley keep heading down the trail i'd list it as easy it's mostly downhill
you'll come back into merlin's meadow at some point and views are a lot better trails much
easier much flatter just when you're starting to think you're going to have to cross that river
you'll find a sign that says bridge it's not much of a bridge basically a log with
a handrail but easily safely across the river on our way back to merlin meadows all right
back from merlin lake made it come over that bridge and up the trail and
come right into the food prep area for merlin meadows i'm here at a table
and there's a few other tables around
take a quick uh tour on the way through so that's merlin lake we did the loop
from skokie lodge up to merlin lake and then back on the other side of the river to merlin meadows
definitely a more advanced hike on the trip too so if you're an experienced hiker you want to see
beautiful scenery but you're not afraid of a little scramble or a possible avalanche
then definitely go from skokie lodge if you got dragged up here by your girlfriend and you're
in your tennis shoes you may want to head out from merlin meadows and go the other way
still a beautiful hike through the forest without a lot of the scenery either way merlin lakes
a fantastic location so check it out it's papa steve on the move here we are merlin meadows sk 18
camping straight ahead saw a couple hikers on the way in they said don't stop at the beginning
keep heading to the back for more awesome spots so i think we'll do that let's go set up camp
the campsite itself is about one kilometer hike from skokie lodge
so it's a nice fire pit hopefully we can get some wood
looks like a pretty nice spot here another fire pit
well wandered around there's definitely spots all over the place here there's
another pit toilet definitely i would love to get something in the clearing let's try uh over here
i see there's a camper back there i'll leave him to his privacy
some trails this way oh check it out yo
look what somebody left for us
how does this look for a view
nice flat spot a couple seats looks like a fire pit might have to put that to use
here we are home sweet home
so that creek there is the water source plus it's a river
here we are table table
trail
there's uh some food storage it's convenient right beside the food prep
so tonight we have the big decision between the good to go three bean chili never tried this brand
before so i'll probably should give it a shot and then my go-to back country's back backpackers
pantry uh this is if i gotta eat dehydrated food this is the one uh this is the beef do love me
some vietnamese food hell i might i might eat both of them i've been hiking all day so stoves easy to
light comes with a windscreen as well it's not windy so i don't think i'll i'll need it tonight
oh maybe a little windy let's see how it
goes
it takes a little while to boil in the meantime i can tell you guys about uh some hikes coming
up tomorrow morning we're leaving merlin meadows this is a great site i think i'd come back here
got to make the decision between deception pass or packers pass there's plus and minus
and i've been talking to hikers out here to see which one they like i think we're
gonna do packers pass there's not a lot of information out there it's not on a lot of maps
um gonna take take some time and go out there it has the added bonus of going right by
skokie lakes instead of seeing from a distance from deception pass you'll be right up close
and then there's a one-hour sojourn at the end he can sneak up to packers peak really get a
nice look around so if i have enough time i'm gonna zip up and do that too gotta leave enough
time for that four hour slog down from hidden hidden lake all the way down to the trailhead so
park pass expires at 4 pm so be up early again
i'll let you guys know how the food turns out i have a good one it's papa steve on the move
this is a fantastic location if you're going to come out here definitely come
for more than one night this is not a day hike location it's papa steve on the move you