Bald Hills in Jasper National Park

The Bald Hills in Jasper National Park isn’t the most interesting hike, but it’s incredibly stunning from the top. You can make short work of this hike powering up to see the views in a half day as well.

This view is the #1 reason we decided to hike the Bald Hills in Jasper National Park. Once you get to the top, you overlook the whole valley holding Maligne Lake. The colors of both the mountains and lake are absolutely stunning.

As gorgeous as this view is, I still don’t entirely recommend this hike depending on your particular trip itinerary. Maligne Lake is a long way out from the town of Jasper, but I definitely recommend going to the lake and maybe even taking out a canoe.

If you have extra time and energy, the Bald Hills hike is definitely worth it for the view. The reason I don’t entirely recommend it, is the hike itself is rather boring.

The trail for the Bald Hills in Jasper National Park is lackluster, but the views are worth it!

You’re just hiking up an old road that finally narrows into a trail for what seems like forever. We definitely aren’t the only ones that were less than thrilled with the hike, but we were all swept away with the final views!

What you need to know about this hike:

• Trailhead: it’s located at Maligne Lake.
• Elevation: 2,228′
• Mileage: 8.2 miles roundtrip
• Rating: Moderate
• Food, snacks, and bathrooms can be found at Maligne Lake

This hike may have seemed extra long as well because we started our day hiking Cavell Meadows, and had been up most of the night before photographing the night sky.

From that stunning hike we drove hours to Maligne Lake and went canoeing. After canoeing, we hiked the Balds Hills before finally finishing the day at Maligne Canyon.

Needless to say we don’t vacation well, we tend to go hard for way too many hours trying to see absolutely everything.

So bearing in mind our utter exhaustion hiking up this little mountain, I’d still recommend it in part just based on the stunning view. However if you’re short on time, I’d opt for more scenic hikes along the Icefields Parkway. Cavell Meadows, Parker’s Ridge, and Wilcox Pass are pretty much nonstop views for much less effort.

(Tip: It’s always good to have layers in the mountains, the photo below was taken in July, and I was super happy to have my coat!)

The other benefit to hiking the Bald Hills is we got a welcome relief from the sheer amounts of people. That could have been because we started out late in the day. But in any case we enjoyed the less crowded trail. All in all, I think the view speaks for itself, and I would definitely do it again.