Mount Edith Cavell (3,363m), Angel Glacier & the Path of the Glacier / Cavell Meadows Hike

Twenty-nine kilometres south of Jasper Townsite (turn onto historic Highway 93A just south of town and wind 14.5 kilometres up narrow, switchback Cavell Road; note: Cavell Road is open from mid-June to early October and trailers or RVs over 7 metres are strictly prohibited on its tight hairpins, so always check Parks Canada road status before driving up), you step out of your car at 1,750 metres elevation directly at the foot of the sheer, 1,300-metre vertical black quartzite north wall of 3,363-metre (11,033-foot) Mount Edith Cavell, named in 1916 in honour of heroic British WWI nurse Edith Cavell.

1. Walk 1 (Easy & Paved, 20 Minutes): The 'Path of the Glacier Trail' (1.6 km Round-Trip)

Even if you only have 45 minutes, the Path of the Glacier Trail gives you the highest dramatic-scenery-to-effort ratio in the entire Canadian Rockies:

• The Winged 'Angel Glacier' & Iceberg-Dotted Cavell Pond: follow the wide, paved path for just 800 metres (70m elevation gain) up the rocky glacial moraine (which was completely buried under hundreds of feet of ice just 100 years ago). Ahead of you, clinging to a shelf 300 metres up the sheer black cliff face of Mount Edith Cavell, is the Angel Glacier, whose central ice body and two spreading lateral arms look unmistakably like an angel with outstretched wings. Directly at the base of the cliff lies milky-green Cavell Pond, dotted with floating white-and-blue icebergs. (Important safety rule: admire the pond from the upper viewing platform and never walk down to the water's edge, as falling glacial ice can trigger sudden displacement waves).

2. Walk 2 (Moderate, 2.5 to 3.5 Hours): The 'Cavell Meadows Trail' (7 to 8 km Round-Trip, 370m Gain)

If you are a hiker visiting between mid-July and September (once early-summer snow melts off the upper meadow to protect fragile alpine plants), branch left off the Path of the Glacier trail onto the Cavell Meadows Trail: climbing steadily through subalpine spruce forest, you emerge onto an open, rolling alpine ridge at 2,135 metres elevation, where meadows carpeted in white mountain heather, purple fleabane and red Indian paintbrush look straight across at the wings of the Angel Glacier and the summit of Mount Edith Cavell at eye level.