Black Prince Cirque

Elevation: 1820 m
Elevation Gain: 120 m
Black Prince Cirque is a popular hike in Alberta’s Kananaskis Country. The trail makes its way up to scenic Warspite Lake which rests in the glacier-carved basin below Mount Black Prince’s sheer northeast face. Mount Black Prince was named for the HMS Black Prince, a Royal Navy Cruiser which sunk with all hands aboard during WWI’s Battle of Jutland. Edward of Woodstock was the original Black Prince and was the eldest son of King Edward III. He famously wore black armor into battle and was heir apparent to the English throne before succumbing to dysentery in 1376.
My Ascents:
July 2 2022
Trailhead: Black Prince Parking

Following a spectacular Canada Day hike with friends in K-Country, we spent an awesome evening at the Boulton Creek campground where we enjoyed ice cream 🍦, craft beer 🍺, good company and an earworm 🎵 of an interpretive program ("communication is all around us"). Thanks to the miracle of children, we woke early the next day to adjudicate the crystallinity of the gravel pad below our camping trailer 😐. While sifting through pea shale proved a fun way to start the day, the adults among us soon grew weary and decided that another hike was in order. Lise suggested nearby “Black Prince Cirque” and the rest of us quickly agreed that this little hiking loop would provide a welcome escape from the campground’s “crystals.”

LEFT: After a 20 minute drive, we arrived at the well-marked “Black Prince” trailhead, ready to unleash our children (from left to right: Penny, Mera, Victoria and Andrew) upon the Canadian Rockies once more! This is, supposedly, an interpretive loop, however, you need to print out the information ahead of time if you’d like to take advantage of it. It seems that our $90 Kananaskis fees are not sufficient to provide a handful of pamphlets to trailheads on weekends… 🙄
RIGHT: Shortly after leaving the trailhead, we crossed Smith-Dorrien Creek (which proved rather vigorous thanks to warm temperatures and an abundance of snow in the alpine).

The elevation gain to Black Prince Cirque is modest, however, nearly all of it comes on this one hill. As was the case yesterday, this bit of up produced a reasonable amount of whining from both kids and adults. 🙃

Atop the hike’s only significant hill, the “kids” saw fit to take advantage of a bench that Kananaskis has yet to remove. My favorite part about this photo is how the "children" have arranged themselves in order of happiest to most miserable-looking. 😂

LEFT: Soon after the bench, the trail split as the loop began. Following it in a counter-clockwise direction, we soon crossed fast-moving Warspite Creek and watched uneasily 😐 as our children attempted to find a way to fall into it.
RIGHT: “The Captains” lead the way…

LEFT: Higher up, a boulder field provided the day’s first good views towards impressive Mount Black Prince…
RIGHT: … in addition to providing opportunities for unnecessary scrambling! 🧗‍♀️

Not long after we started the hike, we arrived at seasonal Warspite Lake and were treated to a wonderful panorama. Click to see larger. It’s possible to continue up the valley towards the Warspite Cascade and Black Prince Lake from here but we, like most who set out on this hike, elected to enjoy our lunch here before starting back down.

LEFT and RIGHT: Mera takes advantage of bouldering opportunities around the lake while a local resident looks on with some concern. 👀

Mount Black Prince reflected beautifully in Warspite Lake’s colorful waters.

An impressive outlier blocks the view of larger Mount Warspite to the south.

Mount Black Prince looks formidable because it is (just ask Sonny Bou).

LEFT: Looking up-valley beyond the Lake towards Hermione Peak.
RIGHT: Another successful two-family hiking photo (thanks to some acrobatic boulder-hopping 😎 and my camera’s 10-second-timer). I really should get some sort of Bluetooth control for my camera but the challenge of a good 10-second-timer dash is hard to pass up!

LEFT: The girls challenge themselves to another round of bouldering after lunch (while Andrew probably prospects for “crystals” nearby).
RIGHT: After a pleasant lunchbreak, most of our group started down while Mera elected to (inadvertently) run away 😑. Remember: carry out anything that you brought up with you!... 🤣

LEFT: There’s really not much to say about the hike down from BPC. It was fast. Despite the minimal effort expended on this hike, it was scenic and, more importantly, provided the justification required to treat ourselves to “Algonquin Canoe” ice cream 🍦 at the Boulton Creek Trading Post for a second day in a row!
RIGHT: We have lift-off (thanks to the aforementioned ice cream). Guess we’ll need to pick a bigger hike to tire out Mera next time… 🤷‍♂️