Hiking and Backpacking Adventures in the Canadian Rockies
Experience the ultimate hiking and backpacking adventures in the Canadian Rockies with Yamnuska. Our scheduled trips explore stunning alpine valleys, pristine forests, and breathtaking mountain peaks, each offering its own unique beauty, challenge, and sense of adventure. If our scheduled departures don’t fit your timeline, trips can also be arranged for private groups, allowing you to tailor your experience.
Our backpacking adventures are the perfect escape into nature. As you hike at an easy, comfortable pace, you’ll become fully immersed in your surroundings: waterfalls cascading down sheer cliffs, delicate orchids peeking through moss-covered forest floors, and clouds drifting past towering peaks. Each day brings a sense of rhythm and relaxation as sore muscles firm and your mind unwinds. In these remote areas, it’s not just about reaching the next campsite—it’s about living the journey, fully present in the wilderness.
Best of the Rockies Backpacking Trips take you into the heart of Canada’s most spectacular mountain landscapes, where you carry everything you need: clothing, sleeping gear, and a share of group food and camping equipment. Move from campsite to campsite each day and enjoy the freedom, adventure, and immersive outdoor living that only a true Rockies backpacking experience can offer.
Mount Robson Hike: Mount Robson, monarch of the Canadian Rockies, towers over Berg Lake and the extensive sub-alpine forests and tundra stretching to the northwest. It is the constant backdrop on this, our most relaxed backpacking trip.
Skoki Circuit: In the Canadian Rockies, not far to the east of Lake Louise lies vast alpine meadows linked by forested valleys and narrow passes. The Skoki region has been a favourite with mountain travellers to the Canadian Rockies for well over a century.
Mount Assiniboine: Fantastic scenery as we hike from one of the World’s best hiking areas, through Banff National Park to Sunshine Meadows & Banff. Includes helicopter flight to Assiniboine.
The Yoho Valley and Iceline Trail: When the Yoho valley was first explored in the late 19th century, it was reported to include an impressive array of glaciated peaks, vast ice fields, and numerous stunning waterfalls. Indeed, the Yoho valley is worthy of its name.
Rockwall Highline: Passes & meadows flank the mighty ramparts of the ‘Rockwall’ in Kootenay National Park. Arriving at Floe Lake you’ll bask in the surreal beauty of this mountain paradise and realize you’ve completed one of the world’s great walks.
Banff Highline: A Rockies Classic! Follow the Great Divide Trail from Vermilion Pass across high alpine meadows, along the shores of azure mountain lakes all the way south past the shadows of Mount Assiniboine to finish in Peter Lougheed Provincial Park near Canmore.
Jasper Highlands: A fabulous hiking circuit in Jasper National Park. Features an extended sub-alpine meadow section, chances to glimpse rare woodland caribou, and the northern lights in the fall.
Kananaskis Highlands: This five-day trip across the South and North Kananaskis Passes offers varied scenery with lots of lakes, glaciers, and spectacular canyons gouged through the rock. Private departures are available for individuals, groups, and families.
Adventure Trekking Programs:
Wapta Icefields Glacier Hike: The Wapta Icefield provides a unique opportunity for fit walkers and hikers to enjoy amazing mountain scenery normally reserved for mountaineers in the course of a three-day traverse. We start at Bow Lake and hike up to and over the Bow Glacier to the Peyto Glacier staying in alpine huts en-route.
Custom Trips: Custom-designed adventures created just for your group — when and where you want.
Backpacking FAQs
How old are participants?
We get people from all age groups, parents with teenagers to fit hikers in their sixties.
How fit do you need to be?
These trips are designed for people who live normal healthy lifestyles that include regular exercise. Our trips vary in difficulty and you don’t have to be exceedingly fit for many of them. Most people who join us live in cities. The guides will set a regular and steady pace that conserves energy, is not too fast and which allows you to enjoy the trip. If you are completely out of shape you may find it very tough for the first days. We cannot emphasize enough that training pays great dividends in enjoyment. We suggest you train by jogging or hiking (ideally in hilly terrain). If it is hard for you to train before you come you should consider coming a few days early and doing some day hikes on your own to get ready.
Please consult us if you have any doubts.
What type of food do we provide?
We try to keep the food as light and tasty as possible without jeopardizing nutritional needs. It tends to be a mixture of pre-dried meals and meals constructed from basic ingredients. We cater to vegetarians and those with food allergies (e.g.. peanut allergy). In the case of more complicated diets, a surcharge may apply. You need to let us know your special needs when you book.
What gear does Canadian Rockies Hiking by Yamnuska supply?
We supply tents, camp stoves, pots and pans, and anything that is used by the entire group.
What do participants need to bring?
You will need to bring your own clothing, backpack, eating utensils, sleeping bag, and sleeping mat. Lists are attached to each program page. Equipment can also be rented or purchased.
Rental Gear
Canadian Rockies Hiking by Yamnuska has the following items for rent: sleeping bag, sleeping mat, backpack, raingear. Make sure to order these from us when you book or well in advance. Please visit our Rental Gear page.
What do you have to carry?
You have to carry your own personal gear (sleeping bag, clothing, personal effects) plus a share of group food and equipment (camping stoves, pots, and tents).
How much do you have to carry?
This varies with the trip and with how light your personal gear is and how many extra items you bring (camera, books, etc). Before you start the guides can go through your gear with you and advise you on what to bring and what to leave behind so you don’t carry anything unnecessary.
To learn more about lightening your load, please read Lightening Your Load and Making Backpacking More Fun.
Can Canadian Rockies Hiking by Yamnuska organize a private trip on demand?
Yes. Please visit our Custom Tours page.
