Day-hikes
If you haven't travelled to Jasper on the Icefields Parkway, remember that several of the national park's top trails can be accessed from this road: the Wilcox Pass Trail in particular, is one of the finest half-day-hikes anywhere in the Rockies. If you just want a simple stroll closer to town, then think about walking the Old Fort Point Loop , the Maligne Canyon and the easy path on the eastern shore of Maligne Lake . If you're at Maligne Lake and want a longer walk, one of Jasper's best day-hikes, the Opal Hills Circuit (8.2km round trip, 460m vertical ascent), starts from the picnic area to the left of the uppermost Maligne Lake car park, 48km east of Jasper. After a heart-pumping haul up the first steep slopes, the trail negotiates alpine meadows and offers sweeping views of the lake before reaching an elevation of 2160m; the trip takes about four hours, but you could easily spend all day loafing around the meadows. The Bald Hills Trail (5.2km one-way; 480m ascent) starts with a monotonous plod along a fire road from the same car park, but ends with what Mary Schaffer, one of the area's first white explorers, described as "the finest view any of us had ever beheld in the Rockies"; allow four hours for the round trip, which goes as high as 2170m. To get to the trailhead for another outstanding day-hike, Cavell Meadows (3.8km one-way; 370m ascent), which is named after a British nurse who was executed for helping the Allies during World War I, drive, cycle or taxi 7.5km south on the Icefields Parkway, then 5km along Hwy 93A and finally 14km up Mount Edith Cavell Road; there's a daily shuttle bus from Jasper and it takes bikes so you can ride back down. Note that if you're driving, an alternating one-way system has been instigated to reduce traffic flow up Mount Edith Cavell Road every day from 10am to 9.30pm between mid-June and mid-October: contact the park information centre for latest timings. The walk's scenery is mixed and magnificent - but the hike is popular, so don't expect solitude. As well as Cavell's alpine meadows, there are views of Angel Glacier and the dizzying north wall of Mount Edith Cavell. Allow two hours for the round trip; the maximum elevation reached is a breathless 2135m. Further afield - you'll need transport - another superlative short, sharp walk starts from Miette Hot Springs, 58km northeast of Jasper. The Sulphur Skyline (4km one-way; 700m ascent) offers exceptional views of knife-edged ridges, deep gorges, crags and remote valleys. Be sure to take water with you, and allow two hours each way for the steep climb to 2070m. The trailhead is signed from the Miette Hot Springs complex, reached from Jasper by heading 41km east on Hwy 16 and then 17km south; in the past the shuttles have made the trip in summer - check latest timetables. More soothing, and a good way to round off a day, are the springs themselves, the hottest in the Rockies - so hot in fact they have to be cooled for swimming; there's one pool for soaking, another for swimming, with massages by appointment and not included in pass price (mid-June to early Sept daily 8.30am-10.30pm, $5.50 or $7.75 day-pass; mid-May to mid-June and early Sept to mid-Oct daily 10.30am-9pm, $4.50 or $7 day-pass; tel 866-3939 or 1-800/767-1611, www.parkscanada.gc.ca/hotsprings/ ). You can hire bathing suits, towels and lockers for an extra $3-5. Other trails from the springs make for the Fiddle River (4.3km one-way; 275m ascent) and Mystery Lake (10.5km one-way; 475m ascent).
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