Natural Bridge & Emerald Lake (winter hike)

Emerald Lake is a natural glacier lake in the Rockies but less touristy than Lake Louise or Moraine Lake. You cannot see turquoise water during winter, but the views of surrounding mountains are still spectacular, and the trail around the lake is usually well packed. From Field, it takes around 15 minutes to arrive at the parking lot. The lake is visible from the parking lot and a wooden bridge crosses a portion of it leading to the Emerald Lake Lodge and a restaurant called Cilantro on an island. On the way to the lake, don’t forget to stop by the Natural Bridge. In winter, when the Kicking Horse River is frozen, you can descent to the river bed and look at the rock formations of the bridge from underneath, which is unique and pretty spectacular experience.

Then keep driving to the lake and take a loop around it (when the lake is frozen, there are plenty of shortcuts right through it, and you can observe well-known peaks from perspective which is not easily available in summer.

More pictures are here: