Things To Do With Your Kids: Hiking – Grassi Lakes Trail

LOCATION: Trailhead begins on Spray Lakes Road, just 2 kms past the Nordic Centre on the left, down a hill.
ELEVATION CHANGE: 250 m
DURATION: 1-2 hours

One of our favourite things to do with Clara (albeit not one we do often enough) is to go hiking. While playing in Fish Creek is an easily accessible option, getting out to the mountains is always fun. There are a number of easy hikes to do with your kids around Calgary, which is great because we worried hiking with a baby or toddler would be a challenge. Being the newbies we were it was difficult to know where to go and what to bring. That is why Grassi Lakes Trail was the perfect first hike for us to do as a family.

Grassi Lakes Trail

About 100m into this hike the path splits into two different trails. The easy route takes you up a gravel access road with a gentle rising slope. The ‘difficult’ route take you through the wooded trail out to the Grassi Lakes Waterfall before a steep accent to the lake.

What To Bring

We did this hike last summer when Clara was seven months old. We put her in a carrier while the other person carried a backpack with diapers, wipes, water and food. We decided to brave the ‘difficult’ route and were thankful that the steep part had steps and a railing. Overall it wasn’t too bad, but I would not recommend it if you’re going up with toddlers that want to walk on their own. We witnessed a few daring people taking strollers up the easy gravel route and while I wouldn’t personally do this it can be accomplished if you have a good enough stroller. The gravel road makes it a tough go though.

The duration of the hike depends on the ability of you and your little ones but you can expect to take 1-2 hours.

At the top there is a bathroom and benches if you’d like to have a picnic. It’s also nice and flat so the kids can run around.

If you’re looking for easy hikes to do with your kids around Calgary, Grassi Lakes Trail is a great one to choose!

If you’re looking for other things to do with your kids check out my post on things to do this weekend with your kids.