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The Big Beehive

I did the Big Beehive on a Sunday afternoon in September with my Dad, Bruce, my Dad's friend Lou, and his friend Mindy. It is the larger and farther away of the two prominent rock bluffs you can see from the Château. It wasn't the best weather in the morning, so we headed to Num-ti-jah lodge for a dessert buffet! When the weather started to clear, we decided to head for Lake Louise and do something a bit more modest. This trip fit the criteria.

Our initial plans were just to head for Lake Agnes. It is such a classic hike, yet I had never been there. We made our way up the highway of a trail to the first lake, and then followed the sign up the trail until we reached a set of stairs which eventually led up to the teahouse. This is the picture looking back from the opposite end of the lake towards the teahouse at the left of the picture and the Bow Valley. The Big Beehive is the cliff on the right hand side.

After we got to the lake, we decided to go for the Big Beehive. We contoured around the lake through a rockpile to the col between the beehive and Mount Whyte. From there you walk for 5 minutes to the edge of the cliff where you find a red-roofed gazebo. It grants great views of the Bow Valley, with the Château Lake Louise at the bottom of the picture. I'm the silhouette in the gazebo. While up there, Lou discovered that nobody had the keys for his car. He then remembered that he might have left them on top of the trunk. He and my Dad raced for the parking lot as Bruce, Mindy and I did the traverse over the Beehive down the other side towards the Plain of the Six Glaciers trail, then back to the Château, watching all of the rock climbers climbing on the quartzite of the Back of the Lake cliffs. back to hikes page