Sherbrooke Lake & Niles Meadows

Emerald Lake is one of the great natural treasures of Yoho National Park and it is on our Must Hike List, but Sherbrooke Lake, according to Tim Jensen (The Best Day Hikes in the Canadian Rockies), is a place to enjoy nature at its best in quiet, for those seeking solitude. In other words, it's not as popular as Emerald Lake. We shall see.

Tim also suggests that the "most rewarding part is the trail from Sherbrooke Lake to Niles Meadows." The trail continues from the north side of Sherbrooke Lake and is a lot more strenuous as it follows the Sherbrooke Creek and passes a few beautiful waterfalls and crosses two subalpine meadows.

The trail originated in 1911, to provide access to the 6th annual Alpine Club of Canada mountaineering camp, which convened at the north edge of the Niles Creek meadow.

Sherbrooke is the third largest lake in Yoho. It is 40 feet deep, and is usually frozen until late June.

Glacially formed and fed, its waters change color from clear, blue-green, to silty gray as the glacial melt season progresses. I'm glad be got to see it when it was blue-green.

The trail follows the east shore.

Beyond the lake's inlet, the trail ascends beside a small canyon that contains a waterfall.

Looking back, south, at the waterfall, lake and the surrounding mountain peaks - awesome!

The range of mountains in the middle contains Mt. Niles. It looks far away, as viewed from the end of Lake Sherbrooke, but it turns out that we will it again, up close, at the north end of Niles Meadow. 

Emerging into the first meadow, a subalpine wet meadow. We had to cross numerous streams using footbridge, bridge and old logs.

Niles Meadow, with Mt. Niles in the background. The white rock in the bottom left corner of the picture is where we sat and ate our lunch. 

View down the meadow from our lunch rock.

Leaving Niles Meadow and viewing the mountains at the south end of a valley.

Two waterfalls just over the ridge from Niles Meadow, viewed on the way back.

Close up of the waterfall on the right. The waterfall on the left is at the very bottom left of the picture.

Another waterfall viewed on the return journey.

Recrossing the "first" meadow.

Same picture as the 5th one above. It got rather hazy in the late afternoon.

Beautiful Sherbrooke Lake in the late afternoon. 

We were on the trail 7 hours and travelled over 11 miles. We climbed the equivalent of 215 floors. It was a great day!