When Is the Best Time
The best time to visit Manning Park is from April to September. All trails for hiking are closed during the winter, but cross country ski trails are open of course.
Review and More Tips
We decided to hike the Heather Trail to Big Buck camp for the first night. There are these birds there called Whisky-jacks very friendly and intelligent, it was nice to share our camp with them The following day we past Big Buck Mountain continuing on past the other Brothers to the Kicking Horse camp.
The weather, as expected was cold, wet, and windy. It made for some interesting hiking through Windy Peak – you will want to watch your steps there very carefully. At Windy Peak we were in the clouds so unable to take in the incredible view and were quite happy to drop in elevation while heading into the covered area of the camp to get out of the worst part of the weather.
The following day we headed back and while we still battled the wind the clouds had lifted and we were amazed with the scenery around us. Making it back to Windy Peak – we were very surprised at the height of the drop off that just the day before we were standing at. Dropping back down in elevation we were again hammered by heavy rains, but it is to be expected this time of year.
Best time to hike this one is mid-June to August when all the wildflowers are out and the weather is a little more friendly, but trade-off is it is a heavily traveled trail. It was a fantastic time – very enjoyable.
by Rattle Heade
