Black Prince Lakes Trail

Black Prince Lakes Trail is a hard, 6.1-mile (9.8-km) out-and-back from Black Prince Day Use Area to a high cirque basin and back. Plan about five hours. The mapped line climbs roughly 570 metres from the trailhead to its upper end. It follows the established forest approach to Warspite Lake, then continues on an unsigned route beside Warspite Creek, across meadow and cairned boulders, and steeply past Warspite Cascades into open alpine terrain. This entry’s route ends at the mapped basin; it does not promise a clear path to the lake shore.

The opening approach is the easier part: a broad trail and old road through forest lead toward Warspite Lake. The signed Black Prince Cirque interpretive loop to that lake is a separate, shorter outing. For the upper lakes, continue beyond the far side of Warspite Lake on a faint, unsigned continuation. Cairns help across the boulder field, but this is not a maintained, signed path. Keep track of the creek valley and be ready to retrace if the cairns or tread become uncertain. The upper route line is best treated as an approximate guide to the described basin, not an official track.

The steepest work comes above the creek and beside the cascades, where the tread gets rough and loose. The route then opens into a broad cirque below Mount Warspite, with views back down the valley and across the moraine. A moraine ridge can obscure the lake, and its water level changes: some visits find only small pools or no obvious lake. The stored endpoint is the basin, not a guaranteed lakeside turnaround. The route distance here includes the day-use approach and return, and stops before any ridge or summit extension.

Glaciers carved the bowl and left the terminal moraine that now divides the basin. In wet conditions, pools can merge visually; in drier parts of summer the water may retreat. Summer flowers add color to the meadows, including glacier lilies reported in the upper valley. The cascades, boulder field and shifting lake basin make the upper half feel more like a rough alpine route than a conventional day-use trail.

Black Prince Day Use Area has pit/vault toilets and no food service was found at the access. A Kananaskis Conservation Pass is required for vehicles parked in the area. Dogs are allowed on leash. Alberta Parks lists a 35-person group limit for the signed lower trail; no separate limit for the unsigned continuation was found, so large groups should confirm the rule before setting out. The upper valley contains serious avalanche terrain; do not treat this summer route as a winter hiking line.