Hike-A-Biking Heiko’s Trail
Heiko’s Lake to Mountains trail has been a world class hike since it was first established in the early 2000’s. The trail has three distinct passes and takes you from valley bottom to high alpine. It is also a popular route for accessing the Three Sisters hiking trail.
On Saturday a group of us decided to do the hike and take our mountain bikes along. We went from Island Lake to Hartley pass, this is the preferred direction with a bike.There is a fair amount of hike-a-bike involved and takes about the same amount of time to do as hiking it. Here are a few pictures of Saturdays adventure ride:Stephan and Carl pushing up Tamarack Trail toward the first pass.
A view of the Lizard Range and Island Lake from the top of the Tamarack/Mt.Fernie pass.
Carl and Shaun having a break and taking in the view near the first pass, in behind Mt. Fernie.
Behind Mt. Fernie with Windy Pass in the upper center the picture.
The top of Windy Pass and the Junction to Rocky Road, which goes over Mt. Fernie and drops into Alpine Trails.
Shaun checking out the inside of his eyelids.
Stephan navigating the narrow single track from Windy Pass (second pass) down into Fairy Meadows.
Shaun from Colorado, with Fairy Meadows in the background.
Carl and Stephan at the top of the Three Sisters Pass, which is the highest pass well above treeline. Carl has a big shit-eating grin on cuz the climbing is over and the epic downhill decent is about to start!
Chilling at the Three Sisters Pass.
Crossing one of two Bisaro Canyon Bridges.
The boys checking out the Bisaro cave.
The total ride/hike from Island Lake Lodge through Heiko’s Trail and then over Hartley Lake Pass and back to Fernie took us a little over eight hours. This included several breaks and a mandatory afternoon nap at the top of Windy Pass. Shaun from Colorado commented that this was one the the top epic rides he’d ever done.
If you have an adventurous soul and have a good mountain bike, then you better add this one to your bucket list!