Hiking the Emerald Lake Loop – Yoho National Park

The Emerald Lake Loop in Yoho National Park is an easy loop trail, perfect for any skill level! Emerald Lake is great stop in the Canadian Rockies if you want a relaxing walk in nature with beautiful views. The whole loop around the lake takes roughly 2 hours to complete. We stopped at Emerald lake on the second day of our Canadian Rockies road trip. You can read our full itinerary here!

About Emerald Lake

Emerald Lake is a very picturesque turquoise lake. Right next to the lake there is a lodge and cabins that you can stay in for a hefty price. There is a restaurant at Emerald Lake Lodge called the Cilantro Café. They also offer canoe and kayak rentals.

This post will focus on the Emerald Lake Loop, which is a loop trail around the lake, but there are also other hikes of varying difficulties that you can access from the lake.

About Emerald Lake Loop

Emerald Lake Loop is a nice easy hike with very few ups and downs. The trail is best accessed from May to October. Dogs are allowed on the trail, but they must be kept on a leash. The first portion of the trail is paved, making it accessible to everyone. The paved section has many beautiful viewpoints, so you still get a good experience even if you can’t do the whole loop. We saw several families with young kids in strollers using this section with ease.

Walking the Emerald Lake loop takes about 1.5 to 2 hours. We spent about 2 and a half hours on the trail because we stopped to take lots of photos and for a snack break by the meadow. The trail is 5.2 kilometres long, with minimal elevation gain.

Getting There

Emerald Lake is located about a 15 minute drive from Field, BC, and is accessed from the Trans Canada Highway. From the Trans Canada Highway, turn on to Emerald Lake Rd. When you get to the parking lot, you will see a big wooden bridge leading to the Emerald Lake Lodge.

Hiking Emerald Lake Loop

The trail starts out paved, and turns to gravel as you get to about the half way point.

As you walk around Emerald Lake there are a lot of good photo ops of the lake at different angles.

When you get about opposite from the starting point there is a nice meadow area where you will have the opportunity to see some wildflowers if you are there at the right time of year.

Along the trail there are lots of nice wooden benches to stop at. We decided to stop at one of the benches in the meadow for a snack and to enjoy the view.

The end portion of the trail is very forested and therefore not as flat as the rest of the trail. It is still fairly easy to navigate, but it might be a bit too rough if you need a fully accessible trail. The accessible portion of the trail offers more than enough incredible views to be worth your time if you have to turn around at that point.

When we did this hike there were very few people at Emerald Lake which really enhanced our experience. I recommend visiting in the morning before it becomes more crowded.

If you are planning to visit the Canadian Rockies, I recommend checking out my post One Week in the Canadian Rockies. In that post you will find my one week itinerary, providing suggestions of where to stop and where to stay! I also provide a cost breakdown to show how affordable the Canadian Rockies can be!

Looking for more?

If you are looking for another easy hike in the Canadian Rockies, check out my post on Path of the Glacier Trail!