Three days exploring the Egypt Lake area.
August 10 – 12, 2025.
Last year in 2024 we expanded our family trip, trip members Laura, Margaux and I, to be a three day trip up from our traditional two day trip. We had a very successful experience with our first three day trip through Peter Lougheed Provincial Park in Kananaskis Country. That hike though was a replacement for a planned trip to Egypt Lake which we canceled due to rain. While thoroughly enjoyable the 2024 hike was not exactly what we were planning. The goal of our three day hike to be able to hike to a single campground and stay two nights and use the campground as a base for doing some day hikes into the surrounding area. The trip in 2024 involved moving both nights to a new campground. This year I was lucky to be able to book two nights at Egypt Lake campground and with better weather this time around we were able to enjoy an amazing three days exploring the area surrounding Egypt Lake.
I have been to the Egypt Lake area four times in the past. The first time was back in 1993 which similar to this trip had the group hiking in over Healy Pass and returning the same way. I would not return to the area again until 2019 with Volcano our retired sled dog. The plan for that trip had been to hike up the Redearth Creek Trail and then travel clockwise around the Egypt area staying at Pharaoh Creek CG, Egypt Lake CG and finally Balls Pass Junction before returning back down the Redearth trail. I then returned to the area in 2020 with Micah when we hiked Section C of the Great Divide Trail. On that trip I was fortunate to see a small pack of wolves complete with some juveniles. The last time I hiked in the area was in 2021 with Siobhan. We did a point to point hike starting at the Vista Lake TH on Hwy 93 south. We first hiked to Shadow Lake CG then to Balls Pass Junction and finally Pharaoh Creek CG. We left hiking over Healy Pass to our car that had been shuttled for us to the Sunshine Village parking lot. In contrast to myself neither Laura or Margaux had been to Egypt Lake.
Our preparation for the trip was very straightforward almost routine. Laura prepared fried rice for the first evening. Always nice to be in the backcountry with real food. I had dehydrated food for the evening of day 2 already prepared, my homemade cannelloni. Backpacking with Margaux always involves a little extra planning but it is worth it to have her along. We pack up her meals and snacks in individually Ziploc bags which helps make meal times pretty simple. Also on the packing list for Margaux are a sleeping jacket, rain jacket and a mat so that she is not sleeping directly on the ground.
A little extra wrinkle in the lead up to the hike was that I offered to be a trail angel for some friends coming from Vancouver to hike Section C of the Great Divide Trail. I had hiked Section D of the Great Divide Trail with Lilian and Sarah back in 2022 and while we have not been able to organize another trip together I have acted as their trail angel on a couple of trips. For this trip they had decided to leave their car at the end of their hike near Field BC. I drove to the trailhead and picked them up plus another friend and brought them back to my place in Canmore. They spent the night sleeping either in the spare room or our camping trailer before catching a ride to the start of their hike in Kananaskis in the morning. I was not able to provide the morning shuttle ride as we were headed out on our hike to Egypt Lake at the same time.
What we learned:
- staying in one location for multiple days was a great decision for us
- backcountry desert is a nice perk
Day 1 Sunshine Village Parking Lot to Egypt Lake CG
Day 2 Day hike to Whistling Pass and Scarab Lake
Day Egypt Lake CG to Sunshine Village Parking Lot