Craving a little adventure you can fit into an afternoon? This easy hike is only an hour’s drive from Calgary and is the perfect way to get back into hiking after a long winter season. Considered a pretty easy route, it can get a little crowded, but you’ll be rewarded with peaceful forest views and a super creepy bunker at the end.
What To Expect
Heart Creek has a few different trails you can access from the parking lot. Heart Creek Trail will take you up and away from the highway, but it’s still a straightforward route. Expect a relaxed, forested walk ideal for dogs and families with young kids. The pathway has a few wooden bridges and even a little waterfall at the end. The out-and-back trail is about 4 km and can usually be completed in under two hours.
Heart Creek Bunker Trail runs parallel to the highway (but you can’t see the road) and is another easy trek to warm up for hiking season. Enjoy a forested pathway, lovely views of the valley, and ever-stunning sights of the surrounding peaks. Similar to the other route, this out-and-back trail can be done in less than two hours and only goes on for about 4 km total. The difference is what you’ll find at the end, and it’s pretty spooky.
The Abandoned Bunker
As the name suggests, Heart Creek Bunker Trail leads to an abandoned Cold War-era bunker. If you want to venture deeper, make sure you bring a strong flashlight or headlamp — it’s really, really dark.
The bunker cave was blasted into the side of the mountain back in the 1960s with the goal of creating a secure vault for government documents and records. The Heart Creek Bunker starts as a tunnel that leads to five excavated “rooms.” However, the project ended up being too costly, and the idea of a mountain vault was abandoned.
Now the bunker has been reclaimed by nature. You can safely explore within, but be careful of slippery areas and wildlife… like rats. The back of the tunnel has some graffiti and (we suspect) two small reflectors you can see from the mouth of the cave. It’s just a guess, but how else would you explain what looks like two glowing red eyes in the darkness? Right?
Make sure you dress for the weather and carry microspikes in case it’s still icy. As always, plan ahead and check the Alberta Parks website for the most up-to-date trail conditions.
Happy hiking, Calgary!
Where: Heart Creek Day Use Trailhead, Bighorn No. 8, Alberta
Distance: 4 km, 1.5 hrs out and back
Difficulty: Easy
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