Wilcox Pass
The Columbia Icefield is a 325-square-kilometer (125-square-mile) frozen sea feeding the Saskatchewan, Columbia and Athabasca rivers. Barely visible from the Icefields Parkway, it inspires exuberant outbursts from passing motorists.
But what they glimpse is a mere sliver of the icy vastness you'll see while hiking to Wilcox Pass. You'll also appreciate fuller views of the Athabasca and Dome glaciers, between two prodigious peaks: 3493-m (11,452-ft) Mt. Athabasca and 3460-m (11,350-ft) Snow Dome.
The problem with Wilcox Pass is people. Too many of them. Like all the world's best places, this one is inundated every tourist season. Tens of thousands more visitors ply the Icefields Parkway each summer than did even a few years ago. Hundreds more hikers are flocking to premier destinations like this one. Expect to share Wilcox Pass with at least a dozen others. Count on hearing the rumble and whoosh of traffic for fully half the ascent.
To add a skosh of adventure and a smidge of solitude to your Wilcox Pass hike, you have several options, all of which are described in this singular guidebook: Don't Waste Your Time in the Canadian Rockies, The Opinionated Hiking Guide. Buy it. Read it. Learn not only where to hike in the Canadian Rockies, but where not to hike, and how to get the greatest possible return-on-investment when hiking to destinations like Wilcox Pass.
Go to http://www.hikingcamping.com/hike-rockies.php to learn more about Don't Waste Your Time in the Canadian Rockies, The Opinionated Hiking Guide.
