If you’re looking to get your fill of trail kilometers, Golden is a great place to set up your base camp. Golden is perfectly situated near 6 national parks with a plethora of trails in its own right, so you can’t really go wrong, unless you’re really bad with maps and directions.
Here are my favourite 30+ km runs to hit in the Golden area are:
Would the Iceline Trail live up to the hype?
This thought rang loudly in my head as I hopped in my truck destined to find out for myself. Since noting its appearance in Explorer Magazine's top 25 hikes in BC I had been craving first-hand validation.
It’s amazing how quickly spring comes to our valley! Not too long ago it seemed like we had to skate along sections of the rotary trails and now we’re able to cruise all of the singletrack trails with barely a puddle to dodge.
Somehow I get into a lot of fun situations with the “great ideas” my friends toss my way. The latest grand plan was to run from the top of the Gondola at Kicking Horse Resort to Gorman Lake. This is a pretty signature route in Golden as a traverse of the Dogtooth Range so, needless to say, I was keen! Here are a few things I wish I knew before I strapped on the shoes for the day of adventure...
Some might say the Moonraker Trails in Golden are sooo 2005 but I’ve always liked me a bit of retro and, honestly, I can’t even call those gems-of-trails old school. So, without further ado, here are my top 5 reasons to run in the moon(rakers).
The Now and the Future
Golden is sandwiched between two impressive mountain ranges, so there’s no doubt that amazing Alpine trail running is a “thing...” and only getting better.
The current alpine running options are primarily focused in the Purcell Mountains, to the west of Golden and based from Kicking Horse Mountain Resort. The resort does not currently permit “uphill traffic” during summer operations on the resort trails for safety reasons (downhill mountain bikers and a grizzly bear refuge) so you can access the alpine with a quick gondola ride.
Trail running just got even better!
While there are literally hundreds of kilometers of every possible trail running option in Golden, we also have a secret weapon... six national parks located within an hour of our little mountain mecca: Banff, Jasper, Kootenay, Yoho, Glacier and Mt. Revelstoke.