Canyon Creek Trail

A little over month ago, my friend Sarah over at Stop Nothing But Time and I started walking together.  It started off with a quick loop around my neighbourhood, and has now progressed to a 5km+ walk on a trail near her house every morning (and even some evenings too). 

We got to talking about our mutual love for nature and the outdoors and together we decided to create a "Summer Bucket List" of hikes that we would like to complete.   Here's the first trail that we knocked off the list:

Canyon Creek Trail 

LOCATION: Canyon Creek Trail is located about 18 km down Willow Creek Road in Hinton, AB - you take your first turn (right) between km 8 & 9 (this is called the "A" road), then continue to km 18 where you will find the beginning of the trail (if you're directionally challenged like myself, no worries, there are signs that point you to where you need to go). 

DIFFICULTY LEVEL: Moderate - I would give it about a 3/5 for difficulty.  The terrain is a good mix between hills and flat trail.  The trail has quite a few fallen trees but Sarah tells me that the trail is generally cleaned up around the start of the season - looks like we beat the clean up crew there this year! 

DISTANCE/TIME: The trail is 3km, but due to the terrain it can take anywhere from 2-3 hours to complete (it took us 3 hours, but we stopped to admire the view/take photos quite frequently). 

The trail was well marked with a "you are here" sign a couple of times throughout (which again, being directionally challenged I really appreciated).  This is us at the half way point. 

It genuinely surprised me that something so beautiful existed down the dusty old logging road that takes my husband to work each day. 

The trail had a couple of foot bridges along the way, which made for great photo ops. 

The trail even had stairs at one point.

After completing the first trail on our bucket list, we gave each other a much deserved high five.   

CONCLUSION: Would I do this trail again?  Absolutely!  I would probably wear long pants and sleeves though due to the prickle bushes (and first mosquitoes of the season!).