Wilcox Pass Trail in the Canadian Rockies

View from the Wilcox Pass Trail, Canadian Rockies, Sept. 2012

I’ve been thinking again about my time in the Canadian Rockies this past September.  One of our favourite trails was the Wilcox Pass Trail off the Icefields Parkway, just south of the Columbia Icefield.  We only had time to walk the start of it—an hour and a half in total— because we had a long drive ahead of us.  Someday we’d love to return and hike the entire trail.

From the Wilcox Pass Trail, Jasper National Park, Sept. 2012

The path climbs pretty quickly, through forest, to a ridge where you can look down over the Parkway on one side and up across meadows to mountains on the other.  These are wonderful sweeping views of the land.

Wilcox Pass Trail, Alberta, Sept. 2012

We saw several other people out enjoying the day.  One we spoke to was a man from Homer, Alaska who told us that this past winter had brought extremely heavy snow to his home.  What a contrast with Toronto which, last year, had only a dusting of snow and which, up to now, has had only a few melted inches.

Mountains seen from Wilcox Pass Trail, Canadian Rockies, Sept. 2012