Joffre Lakes

Joffre Lakes Trail – The Basics

Distance: 10 km round trip

Elevation Gain: 400 m

Highest Point: 1,600 mTime: 3–4 hours (We took our time with photos and lunch at Upper Joffre — it’s too beautiful to rush!)

What to Bring: Good walking shoes or light hiking boots, water, snacks, layers, and a camera — the turquoise lakes are unreal.

Facilities: Toilets are available at the trailhead and near Upper Joffre Lake. There’s also a small parking area at the start of the trail.

Dogs: Not allowed on this trail (to protect the fragile alpine environment).

How Hard Is It?Moderate. The first lake is a quick stroll from the parking lot, but the climb to the second and third lakes is steady with a few steeper sections. It’s well worth the effort — each lake gets more stunning, and the glacier backdrop at the top is absolutely breathtaking.

Our next hiking adventure yesterday and today was the 2-day overnight at Joffre Lakes. The 10km out and back was quite deceiving (read challenging!) taking us close to 3.5 hours to hike the 5km there. We climbed over boulders, navigated gnarly tree roots on muddy tracks, went up steep inclines and went down steep descents all the while trying not to get too distracted by the incredible turquoise lakes that joined us for the majority of this spectacular hike. Thank goodness for hiking poles! 

Joffre offers three lakes in total - lower, middle and upper, on this hike, each more stunning than its predecessor. At the upper and final lake we were met with more boulders to navigate but looking up above us were glaciers, multiple waterfall’s and rocky outcroppings. I was lucky enough to get a patch to camp for the night right by the lake. I had my trusty MSR stove and made a welcome hot chocolate just before bed (which I shared with my hiking buddy Anna). Sleeping comes very easily after days like these.