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Easy, alpine cruise on Jumpingpound Ridge
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Crest of Jumpingpound Ridge
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Prairie Crocus
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Shooting Stars
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The Front Range, from Jumpingpound Ridge
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Meadow atop Jumpingpound Ridge
Jumpingpound Ridge
Here’s one of the Canadian Rockies’ easiest, most convenient trails: a blessedly undemanding, scenically captivating, foothill ridgewalk usually available by June. You’ll begin hiking after a mere one-hour drive from Calgary. The path quickly lofts you above treeline, where constant scenery will pull you onward.
Jumpingpound is popular with mountainbikers, but hiking is equally rewarding here. The broad, level, grassy ridgecrest often allows effortless striding. The views are vast—out across the prairie and deep into the Rockies’ front range. Wildflowers—including moss campion, alpine forget-me-not, and rock jasmine—are abundant.
Want a short, simple, round trip? Begin and end your hike at the Jumpingpound trailhead. We prefer to hike 17 km, one way along the entire ridgecrest between the Jumpingpound and Dawson trailheads. This necessitates a two-car shuttle (unless you’re willing to hitchhike), entails an elevation gain of 640 m, plus an elevation loss of 976 m, and requires 6 to 8 hours hiking time.
You’ll find complete directions to Jumpingpound Ridge in Where Locals Hike in the Canadian Rockies. It’s Trip 45, on page 231.
Posted on June 19th, 2012.
Tags: Alberta, Banff, best hiking blog, Calgary, Canadian Rockies, Canmore, Don't Waste Your Time in the Canadian Rockies, front range, Jumpingpound Ridge, Kananaskis Country, Kathy and Craig Copeland, Opinionated Hikers, Where Locals Hike in the Canadian Rockies.
When traveling outside Canada, we often say “Banff” when someone asks us where we’re from. It’s just easier, because most people have at least heard of Banff National Park, while relatively few are familiar with Canmore. But we wince when we do it, because we love Canmore and feel proud and fortunate to reside here. There are dozens of reasons for that. Among them… Friendships, of course. Our “pit crew” of healthcare professionals, including our chiropractor, massage therapist, and Chinese medicine practitioner, all of whom are superb. The setting. Where else can you step out of the bank, or the grocery store, or the hardware store, and find yourself staring up (literally up) at a massive wall of peaks? A small commercial centre, clustered around an authentic Main Street, that is — in our opinion — among the two or three most atmospherically pleasing in Canada. An energetic, adventurous, athletically-charged, core population. … But the primary reason we’re enthralled with Canmore is that our backyard affords some of the best hiking in North America. We were reminded of that yet again when we recently left our house after a late lunch, drove only a short distance, and began hiking—at 3 p.m.—into the headwater basins of James Walker Creek. Our article about it will appear in the Calgary Herald in August. Meanwhile, here are a few photos from that hike. They articulate precisely why, for us, Canmore will always be home.
Posted on August 19th, 2011.
Tags: Alberta, Banff, Banff Canmore, best hiking blog, Bow Valley, Canmore, Canmore Banff, Canmore hiking, Canmore hiking trails, Canmore Main Street, Canmore real estate, downtown Canmore, hiking Canmore, hiking trails in Canmore, James Walker Creek, Kananaskis Country, Kathy and Craig Copeland, life in Canmore, living in Canmore, Opinionated Hikers, real estate Canmore, real estate in Canmore, the Calgary Herald, Where Locals Hike in the Canadian Rockies.
