Grotto Canyon Family Friendly Hike

Our Grotto Canyon family-friendly hike starts out at Grotto Pond situated on the 1A Hwy close to Exshaw Ab. The canyon is somewhat of a hidden gem, as it is beyond the Grotto Pond. The pond consists of some great fishing and nice picnic areas as well as bridge paths for an added feature. Here is where your hike begins at the parking lot. Head west down a wooded path to a creek bed. The paths wind up the creek bed for ways and then turn to a rocky surface.

The hike itself is about 2+ hrs. 7 km Round Trip. I recommend that your kids be of an age where they can walk distances on their own as it does get a bit rough.

Easy to moderate hike with an elevation of 980 ft.

Essentials for Hiking

• Good grip hikers or shoes
• Water
• Snacks
• Suntan Lotion
• Band-aids
• Bug Spray

Also may read: The benefits of trekking poles

Grotto Canyon Family-Friendly Hike

Some great sights along the way. Before a curve, if you look to the left you will see a wall with 500-1,000 yr old Indian paintings on it. It can be hard to find as over the yrs the paintings have faded significantly. Please do not touch them as it adds to the wear and tear of these historic finds.

As you venture on you will come across hoodoos and caves. The cave is a bit hard to get to with loose gravel before it. We never did get up to it, although my son tried his best. lol. As you come close to the top there is a climbing wall used for climbers with hook attachments for the ropes. A weeping rock wall as well and to the right of that, you can venture up to the falls.

Conclusion

The falls are not huge by any means but cool non less. The amount of water may depend on winter runoff. It was a very hot yr so the creeks dried up early.

Overall, It was a very enjoyable hike. Happy hiking.

Grotto Canyon Ice Walk

Winter is a fabulous time to visit Grotto Canyon with the canyon floor frozen over and the frozen falls are a spectacular sight. We hiked up past the cave up the snow-covered rocky creekbed. A nice little extra walk viewing the mountain peaks along the way.

The hike was approx 8 km, rated as easy however Micro Spikes are highly recommended. The sense of security walking on the ice and climbing up to the falls makes the hike so much more enjoyable.

Kahtoola Micro Spikes are by far the best quality, a bit more money but are far superior than of $20-$30 spikes.