Banff's Best Easy High-Alpine Hikes: Sunshine Meadows (Gondola-Assisted) and Parker Ridge

Normally in the Rocky Mountains, reaching open, treeless alpine meadows at 2,200+ metres elevation requires a steep 3-to-4-hour uphill climb through dense forest. In Banff, however, two extraordinary trails let you step straight above the treeline in under 20 to 40 minutes: Sunshine Meadows (where a summer gondola and chairlift do 500 vertical metres of climbing for you) and Parker Ridge along the Icefields Parkway.

1. Sunshine Meadows (15 Mins West of Banff Town, Ride the Gondola + Standish Chairlift)

Located just 15 minutes west of Banff Town off Highway 1 (with a free summer shuttle bus departing directly from downtown Banff hotels), Banff Sunshine Village operates its high-speed 8-passenger Gondola AND the Standish Express Quad Chairlift from late June through September for summer hikers:

• Zero Uphill Grind to 2,400 Metres: the gondola and Standish chairlift carry you straight to 2,400 metres (7,875 feet) elevation, dropping you on a wooden viewing deck looking down onto three shimmering alpine lakes (Rock Isle Lake, Grizzly Lake and Laryx Lake) straddling the exact Continental Divide between Banff and Mount Assiniboine Provincial Park.
• The Rock Isle Lake & Twin Cairns Loop (3.5 to 6.5 km, 1.5 to 2.5 Hours, Gentle Rolling Paths): walk down the gentle trail to the circular island in the middle of Rock Isle Lake, then loop past Grizzly and Laryx Lakes through meadows carpeted in July with glacier lilies, western anemone and scarlet paintbrush (and glowing golden yellow with larch trees in mid-to-late September).

2. Parker Ridge Trail (On the Icefields Parkway, 5.4 km Round-Trip, 2 Hours, Only 250m Gain)

Driving the Icefields Parkway? Stop at the Parker Ridge trailhead (118 km north of Lake Louise, just 9 km before the Columbia Icefield). Because the parking lot already sits at 2,020 metres elevation, just 35 to 45 minutes of easy, steady switchbacks (only 250m of vertical gain) puts you on a windswept 2,270-metre alpine ridge looking straight down onto the colossal, 9-kilometre-long river of ice of the Saskatchewan Glacier pouring into a milky-turquoise glacial lake.