While staying on the Icefields Parkway near Sunwapta Falls, we took a fantastic hike along from a trailhead just south of the Columbia Icefields Discovery Centre. This hike took us up and along the Parker Ridge trail, with mountain and glacier views.
The very beginning of the hike took us through some pine forest, but we very quickly emerged above the tree line, where we had spectacular views of the mountains (and finally – more or less clear weather! woo hoo!)
The hike was fairly steep, starting at an elevation of 6,500 feet (2,000m) and climbing about 1,000 more feet (300ish meters) in just 1.7 miles. This was tough, but certainly do-able for us.
All the way up, we got amazing views. As soon as we cleared the trees, we could see the pretty spectacular Mount Andromeda and Hilda Peak to one side, which I kind of thought was going to be the “big view” of the hike. (spoiler: it wasn’t!).
The beautiful (though maybe not as impressive looking) Nigel Peak was on another side.
Just to add to the coolness of this hike, a fellow hiker pointed out to us a bunch of rocks with ~350 million year old fossils on them! (confirmed by the Park Ranger later because there were tons and we weren’t sure if that was REALLY what we were seeing!)
After some switchbacks and a final push steeply up, we arrived at the ridge, where we had a great view of more mountains along with the amazing Saskatchewan (yep, had to spell check that one!) Glacier.
We walked along the ridge trail for a while, then the path narrowed and became rocky.
We nervously walked a little bit further, then C decided to stop and sit with the little ones while A and I continued to the end.
I was a little nervous with us walking along that edge, and there really wasn’t much to see at the end that we weren’t already seeing, so we headed back to meet the other boys and stopped at a slightly safer spot for a snack.
We headed back, and it was a nice walk back, downhill but not uncomfortably steep. We had a brief stop as a rock ptarmigan (I think?) crossed the path along with her little chickies.
It was amazing how camouflage they were, if you couldn’t see them moving they were almost invisible! All the better to hide from the birds of prey searching for them from above, I’d assume.
As we headed back down the path towards our car, the clouds had cleared and we had great views of Hilda Peak, in front of Mount Andromeda.
It was a really amazing hike – interesting, scenic and just the right amount challenge and distance.
