{"id":147,"date":"2015-03-11T09:18:38","date_gmt":"2015-03-11T15:18:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/?p=147"},"modified":"2019-03-16T12:02:15","modified_gmt":"2019-03-16T18:02:15","slug":"parker-ridge-trail-banff-national-park-canada-7-29-14","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/?p=147","title":{"rendered":"Parker Ridge Trail & the Saskatchewan Glacier, Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada (7-29-14)"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is\u00a0SPHP’s favorite\u00a0short day hike in the Canadian Rockies!\u00a0 If you only have a couple of hours to spend while in the area (simply tragic!), this is the hike to take.\u00a0 The Parker Ridge trailhead is located 2.5 miles S of the Banff and Jasper National Parks boundary at Sunwapta Pass.\u00a0 The trailhead is at a small parking lot immediately adjacent to the\u00a0southbound side of the Icefields Parkway Hwy 93.<\/em><\/p>\n

Lupe set off from the trailhead at 9:43 AM on this clear, calm day.\u00a0 The temperature was already a very pleasant 63 degrees F.\u00a0 The 2.7 km trail to the top of Parker Ridge starts out just below tree line.\u00a0 It immediately starts to switchback up the ridge through a scattered forest of small conifers.\u00a0 The trail climbs steadily the entire way at\u00a0a pretty\u00a0easy pace, rising above tree line about halfway up.\u00a0 Total elevation gain is about 250 meters (820 feet).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Lupe<\/a>
Lupe on Parker Ridge, Banff NP, Canada, on 7-29-14. This photo looks E down the canyon and away from the Saskatchewan Glacier.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Once the trail reaches the crest of Parker Ridge, it continues a short distance to a\u00a0series of viewpoints along the steep edge of the huge valley to the S.\u00a0 While the scenery is gorgeous in all directions, the main attraction is the spectacular view of the Saskatchewan Glacier flowing down into this valley from the Columbia Icefield.\u00a0 Continuing along the trail just a short distance heading E, away from the glacier, actually gets you to the best views of the glacier due to the curvature of the valley and topography of Parker Ridge.<\/p>\n

\"Although<\/a>
Although the views are gorgeous in all directions, the main attraction on Parker Ridge is the fabulous view of the Saskatchewan Glacier.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lupe, of course, was very cooperative in posing for a few photos with the Saskatchewan glacier.\u00a0 She stayed up on Parker Ridge quite a while enjoying the fabulous scenery and keeping a sharp eye out for marmots.\u00a0 Although there had been only a few vehicles at the trailhead when Lupe started out, before long people started arriving in droves.\u00a0 When Lupe got back to the trailhead just before noon, the parking lot along the Icefields Parkway Hwy 93 was nearly full.<\/p>\n

\"P1050358\"<\/a>
Lupe on Parker Ridge, Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada on 7-29-14<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Links:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Next Adventure<\/span><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Prior Adventure<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Parker Ridge & the Saskatchewan Glacier, The Icefields Center & the Athabasca Glacier, Banff National Park, Canada (7-27-13)<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Want more Lupe adventures?\u00a0\u00a0Choose\u00a0from\u00a0Lupe’s 2014 Canadian Rockies & Beartooths Adventure Index<\/strong><\/span><\/a>,\u00a0Dingo Vacations Adventure Index<\/a><\/strong><\/span> or Master Adventure Index<\/a><\/strong><\/span>.\u00a0\u00a0Or subscribe free\u00a0to\u00a0new Lupe adventures<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/span>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is\u00a0SPHP’s favorite\u00a0short day hike in the Canadian Rockies!\u00a0 If you only have a couple of hours to spend while in the area (simply tragic!), this is the hike to take.\u00a0 The Parker Ridge trailhead is located 2.5 miles S of the Banff and Jasper National Parks boundary at Sunwapta Pass.\u00a0 The trailhead is at … Continue reading Parker Ridge Trail & the Saskatchewan Glacier, Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada (7-29-14)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":150,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[105,32,30,31,106,57,104,45,46],"class_list":["post-147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2014-canadian-rockiesbeartooths","tag-american-dingo","tag-banff-national-park","tag-canada","tag-canadian-rockies","tag-carolina-dog","tag-columbia-icefield","tag-lupe","tag-parker-ridge","tag-saskatchewan-glacier"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/adventuresoflupe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/P1050357.jpg?fit=1651%2C1238&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=147"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20820,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147\/revisions\/20820"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}