Flipper, I envy you living so close to the mountains and being able to hike daily in them. My wife and I either walk or run every day (except for the two days a week I play hockey with a bunch of old guys).
I would be comfortable carrying my D7100 on day hikes but our Alpine treks involve carrying gear to last 11 days (we are not carrying sleeping bags, tents or cooking equipment) so that is why we are trying to limit our weight.
Many years ago (40) I cross-country skied around Banff and Lake Louise for a couple of vacations and also we camped near Banff with our kids when they were young. We enjoyed many beautiful hikes in that area.
I have a friend who lives in Canmore, are you anywhere near there?

My wife and I have hiked the Tour of Mont Blanc twice. It is a 105 mile 11 day trek with accommodation in mountain refuges and occasionally in small hotels in villages. We carried all our gear in our backpacks and since we are now both 70 we try to limit the weight. We are planning on hiking the GR5 (Geneva to Nice - actually we will only walk half which should take about 14 days). After this long preamble, I will get to the point!
We have a Canon S90 which we bought in 2010 and found it great for trekking because it fits in a small case which I can attach to my clavicle strap and can access it without difficulty. Last year we bought a D7100 and enjoy it but it is both too bulky and too heavy for our proposed trek.
My question is whether we would benefit from an upgrade to our S90? Generally we would be interested in landscapes in good light. Our experience is that long telephotos are not very useful for this application.
I know the Canon SX50 is a great camera (my son-in-law has one) but too bulky for carrying on a clavicle strap.
I would appreciate any suggestions. Would successors to the S90 offer much advantage?
I would like to keep under $500 and am comfortable with refurbished. I like to shoot in raw.
We wrote a report of our experience and a link follows:

http://hiking.topicwise.com/doc/MontBlanc2012

I'm looking forward to your suggestions.

Check the Nikon P7800.
Major features: 28-200 focal range equivalent,
external flash shoe, ability to shoot raw, ability to shoot fully manual, view finder as well as a nice size screen, screw thread lens which allows filters and lens hoods to be attached, articulating screen that flips up and down 180 degrees as well as back to front 180 degrees, small enough to fit in a jacket pocket. I had looked for an ideal small camera for about 5 years and this one met all my requirements. Also since you have a 7100, you may have a large flash you can use with this camera. The retail price on this camera is above 500 but Adorama had some Nikon factory referbs for 349.00. I bought one of these and there wasn't a hint of a scratch. Mine came as clean and nice as if it were brand new.