Parker Ridge is a fun little hike with big mountain views. The ridge stands above the big bend in the Icefields Parkway. What looks like a decent-sized mountain from the south is only a gentle hill when tackled from its north side. Aside from an optional loop we added, this is a well-maintained Parks Canada trail. The parking lot tends to fill up, but it has a good turn-over.
A wide, obvious trail leaves the parking lot and crosses a small meadow before switch-backs begin rising up the slope ahead. The views of surrounding peaks open up as the trail makes its way up the slope. To the north lies Mount Athabasca (left) and Hilda Peak (center-left).Within half an hour, the switch-backs end and the trail flattens. At the Y ahead, the right branch leads to a viewpoint on a lower summit, and the branch straight ahead wraps around below the peak, leading to a different viewpoint. The most direct path to the peak would be to leave the trail roughly here and head left, but we continued following the trail straight. We will loop back by that line later.This rocky outcropping overlooking the Saskatchewan Glacier is passed just before the end of the official trail. To the left are Mount Saskatchewan Junior I and II. Big Bend Peak is just out of view further left.Beyond the end of the trail, we continued along easy scrambling terrain, traversing below the cliff above until a ramp opened up to the right.An easy gravel ramp opened up at the right side of the cliff, providing access to the broad summit above.Looking back as we make our way across the broad summit plateau. GPS mapping labels the peak as being in the lower area off to the left, so we continued hunting for the highest point.After a bit of meandering and standing on large rocks, we picked the spot where no neighbouring rock appeared higher from our vantage point. Content with our meandering of the summit plateau, we looped back to the trails ahead. The main trail back to the parking lot descends down to the right, but we’ll add a detour to the viewpoint on the lower summit by continuing straight ahead first.This viewpoint is a fine place to admire Mount Athabasca (center) and Hilda Peak (right); the detour only adds 20 minutes to the hike.
We made it back to the parking lot in just over 2 hours. I found the views at the top as good as at the viewpoint along the loop and, if I did this one again, I would skip the loop in favour of a direct line to the top. Parker Ridge is a fun little saunter and a nice option for a short day, or for a group with mixed abilities.
Peak Bliss 