It’s hard to believe that it’s half way through July and we’ve only managed a single trip to Jasper National Park this summer. But what a trip it was. We’ve longed to hike the Cavell Meadows trail for many years but for a variety of reasons the trail has been closed (bear activity, caribou activity, poor weather, poor early season conditions, poor late season conditions) preventing our access to the alpine section of this must do classic Jasper National Park dayhike.
Cavell Meadows is a relatively short 8km loop (elevation gain ~ 300m) that gets you above the treeline in short order and out onto a patchwork of subalpine and alpine meadows in the shadow of Mount Edith Cavell (3363m) and Sorrow Peak. In addition to the peaks, two glaciers are apparent from the trailhead: Cavell Glacier dips into the meltwater pond at the base of Mount Edith Cavell and Angel Glacier dominates the face of the mountain hanging between the two peaks. The remnants of the smaller Ghost Glacier is found higher up on the north facing flank of Mount Edith Cavell.
In addition to the gob smacking backdrop you have a good chance to catch the meadows in bloom with wildflower displays starting early July until mid August. Unfortunately for our trip we missed the first bloom by about a week. This area is also excellent Grizzly and Mountain Caribou habitat so keep an eye out for ‘others sharing the trails’. If all this wasn’t enough excitement you are pretty much guaranteed to witness Angel Glacier calve at some point during your hike. If you do not see the glacier calve, you’ll definitely hear it (think big boom or crack then lots of tumbling rock noises as water, ice and rock fall hundreds of feet).
- Cautionary Note: Glaciers are potentially dangerous environments and need to be treated with a healthy dose of respect. From the parking lot you can walk up to the toe of Cavell Glacier quite easily. Late summer conditions create ice caves that may be big enough to park a minivan in. These caves while intriguing and beautiful are unstable and liable to collapse without warning please do not go in them. Further, it is also possible to hike beneath the overhang of Angel Glacier to the waterfall. You can probably see where this is going… Ice blocks the size of a house have fallen from Angel Glacier and ended up in Cavell Pond. You do not want to be in the way!
Cavell Meadows shares the trailhead with the more popular, and far less strenuous, Path of the Glacier trail creating a figure eight trail configuration that can be completed easily in one day. The Path of the Glacier trail is an excellent interpretive trail providing park visitors with information regarding glaciation and the alpine ecosystem. Save the Path of the Glacier trail for your return.
After a short climb from the parking lot the Cavell Meadows trailhead branches off the Path of the Glacier trail crossing a boulder field (full of Marmots) before ascending through old growth forest. Near the treeline the trail branches off creating a direct strenuous route or an easier switchback route to the top of the loop. We recommend the trail be done clockwise (i.e. strenuous route up) to save your knees the pounding on the way down.
If you are not pressed for time we’d recommend a rest/lunch stop at the cairn/marker located at the top of the loop (pack a sweater you’ll need it if the wind is up) before veering to the northeast and climbing to the viewpoint (please do not feed the Marmots, squirrels, or Chipmunks). There is the option of continuing to the summit (~2590m) for dramatic views of the valley below.
Mount Edith Cavell is named after a British nurse who helped Allied forces escape German occupied Belgium during the First World War. For this heroic act Cavell was executed by the Germans in 1915 with the mountain named in her honour in 1916.
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