Slip Away to Grotto Canyon

About 90 miles from Calgary is an unusual hiking trail called Grotto Canyon. Beginner hikers need not be intimidated. It's a fairly easy walk:

Total round trip: 4 km/2.5 miles
Elevation gain: 50 m/154 feet
Average time: 1.5 - 2 hours return
Location: Follow Highway 1A (Bow Valley Trail) east out of Canmore for approximately 10 minutes to the Grotto Pond Day Use Area.

My husband and I gave this trail a try in the fall, when the creek was just beginning to freeze. A small parking lot is available at the trail head by Grotto Lake. Signs guided us past a magnesium oxide production facility on the left, up a short rise and to the (almost) dry creek bed. This is Grotto Canyon.

What makes this hike unique is that it promises Indian pictographs, painted thousands of years ago. We found these difficult to find, but read that they are just before the falls (on the left). It is recommended that you keep your hands off the pictographs, as the oils on the skin could damage them.

After the falls, the rock walls rise up steeply on either side. I spotted some metal loops embedded in the rock, signs that this is a popular place for mountain climbing. We stuck to firm, level ground, following the creek bed on its slight rise. The walk was rocky and occasionally wet.

The promise of pictographs kept my interest, but after almost an hour of jumping from stone to stone over icy water with no sightings of these ancient drawings, I started losing interest. I sat down on a boulder and declared that I was done. But when I looked ahead of us, I saw a cave in the distance, up a steep hill.

Interested again! We decided to take the trail as far as directly below the cave and then turn around to head back. But as we stood looking up at it, it was obvious that other people had made the climb into the cave. We headed up the hill.

It was a lot more steep than it looked, but my husband managed to get far enough to stick his head inside and take a look. He yelled over that there was nothing to see but that it smelled pretty bad. His guess was that it was probably full of bats. I decided I could skip that thrill but took pictures as he slid back down.

We started the walk back. The ice was beautiful. The sun was hitting it just right making the icicles and icy patches sparkle. Walking down the trail was much easier.

And then we found it. A pictograph! It was hard to see, but there it was, a red drawing of a man and a deer.Very cool and worth every minute of the hike. I recommend giving this hike a try. And if you want a unique experience, take a guided ice walk instead in the winter.